Reptile & Amphibian Forums

At what point in the life of a baby do you wean them from a mostly carnivorous diet? Mine are [almost] 3 & [almost] 4 y/o. I feed them a variety of balanced commercial boxie foods as well as fresh fruits & veggies (they LOVE corn-on-the-cob). I also give them grubs, worms, and meal worms maybe once a week, and pill bugs are always on hand. Given a choice, they'd eat nothing but the "meats," but I know it's not good for them to eat too much protein. Their shells look normal and they are growing. Is it OK to feed them additional protein items, and if so, how often? They enjoy it and they're fun to watch, but I don't want to harm them. Any guidelines for this?

my almost 4 yr old goes nuts every time i drop a pinky mouse,rat pup,or pretty much any rodent the snakes don't want that week.she might get 3 or 4 a month,on top of superworms,crickets,scraps of fresh lean meat(chicken,pork,venison,rarely beef),fruit,and her wild greens and wild mushrooms.she gets a healthy calcium shot from the vermin,and it's just freakin' awesome to have a boxie that will run down a rat pup.
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1.1 cb spotted turtles (parker(f),stinky(m))
0.0.2 cb baby razorback musks (way too cute)
0.0.1 cb baby eastern mud (also ridiculously cute)
0.0.1 cb reeve's turtle (george)
0.1 cb '09 eastern box (bella)
3.6 ltc eastern box breeders
0.1 cb'06 eastern box(nanners)
1.2 cb'08 kenyan sand boas(1 albino,1 anery,1 normal)
1.0 cb'08 jungle carpet
1.1 stenodactylus geckos
0.1 redeye croc skink
1.0 cb '03 homo sapien(kaelan,6)
"jesus is coming-when i count to 3,everyone jump out and yell SURPRISE!!"

I like to think how they would eat in nature. Of course they will love to eat insects or a dying baby bird, or a nest of baby mice, but those things don't come along every day. As hatchlings and yearlings, box turtles are pretty sedentary, but as they get older they start to move around a lot and need to eat more-so they begin to eat anything that is edible-fallen fruits, forbs, carrion, mushrooms, leaves, spiders.

If you feed meats/insects as 50% of their diet-they will still be hungry and will eat the fruits and veggies as well. Those fruits and veggies have nutrients that protein does not, so it's important they eat them as well. At 3-4 years old, yours can begin to eat an adult's diet. Just feed them every other day instead of every 3rd day.

I feed my adult turtles every 3rd day. The meal contains a protein, fruit, vegetable, greens and occasional mushrooms. For example-their last meal was cooked, lean ground beef (with added calcium), mulberries (they are ripe now in the Midwest), grated and steamed sweet potatoes and romaine lettuce. Their next meal is already planned-superworms, grated fresh carrots, apples and romaine. All summer long I vary the foods. I do this so hopefully they will get all they need to remain healthy. They seem healthy. They are always heavy going into hibernation and come out every year looking great.
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Tess Cook
www.boxturtlesite.info

Tess - Thanks for the info. I feed them about every-other-day. That is, I give them their "official" food on that schedule (I mix commercial food with fruits or veggies). I don't usually add any protein to that mix, though. I give them their live foods a few times a week, but not on a particular schedule with regards to their other feedings.

I've been hesitant to feed them too much protein, but do you think once or twice a week is OK?

About how many critters per turtle per feeding is the right amount? Say I'm feeding them grubs [or super worms] -- should I limit them or let each turtle feed until full?