Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My baby turtle has still not eaten to my knowledge. I have tried everything including leaving him alone. He has come out a few times but has not eaten. I am throwing worms in there in the substrate. Do you think he is eating them?

Not sure what else to do. It will be 3 weeks on Saturday since I got him. I am looking for some tricks to get him to eat.

Thanks, Linda

You probably handled him a little too much; that's probably why he hasn't eaten. Try to give some small crickets--mine loved it. And from now refrain from taking holding or taking him to soak.

I have met with success in situations such as this by putting a young turtle in a separate container, such as a rubbermaid 3 gallon storage tote, put a small quantity of water in the container so that only a small pool forms in one corner, and then putting in one or two slow-moving but live food items. Wax worms or small slugs work well.
I make sure that the turtle sees the food.
Then, I place the lid on the container LOOSELY and step away for 10 minutes or so.

In this way, the turtle gets privacy, stimulation of moving food, and I can easily determine whether or not the food has been consumed.

Thanks, I will try this. Does the container need to be dark so he can't see out?

I just wanted to mention that I haven't handled him alot but don't think its healthy for him to go days without water as he has been drinking and seems fine otherwise.

Linda

Opaque (non-see-through) is best, yes. I had found silver-gray ones at Lowes' which I used for this purpose.

Try small sow bugs/roley-poleys. My hatchlings loved them and still do after two years (now they eat the biggest ones).

I really, really like this one. They'll eat when there hungry, my three new borns end of august haven't eaten yet and they look fine run all over the place. They look at worms, maggots, wax worms, small red worms and even act like their going to eat....but they don't. I had to males that didn't eat for 3 months then they got hungry and ate. They'll eat when their hungry.

alan

Turtles are always hungry. If there is one thing that stands out in turtles is: they are always hungry.... If they are not eating, then there probably is something wrong. Maybe the environment or relocation stress.

If they are not eating, then there probably is something wrong.
Their proably not hungry. My turtles have had food and water when ever they want it and I don't think their stressed espically if they are all stretched out in the water laying under plants or chasing one another around. Their happy I can see their faces their happy not hungry and if they get hungry food is there.

alan

That assertion makes me laugh out loud!!!

My entire group of turtles haven't eaten in over a month, and they won't eat for the next 6 months.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with them: they are readying themselves for hibernation, and they stop eating by the 2nd or 3rd week in September. This happens every year: they stop eating at the beginning of autumn, they hibernate, and once they emerge, they don't start eating again until April or so.

Oy.

Paradon, what is the nature of your experience with box turtles?

Experience? I just keep them.... If you keep them warm they shouldn't hibernate, or at least a lot wouldn't. I try keeping some warm throughout the winter and they still eat. My red-eared sliders eat like a pig, so I've only fed them 3 times a week. I've cut it down to twice a week. My general experience with turtles is that they tend to eat...and they can eat a lot. You can feed them later and they will eat again, and again, and again...if the water temperature is right.

I did help someone raise some babies. Some of them were dying because he has been giving them too much live food, the protein. He had giving them veggies. I'm not sure what veggies he's been giving them, but I told him too feed some live food, and it worked. All of them were sold later.

then box turtles. I own several and they have never refused food. They actually beg like a dog.

I really thought it was going to eat a waxworm last night. It
stalked it and reached for it but then walked away. I am wondering if I am leaving it alone too much now that is has had time to acclimate. I read that baby turtles should be soaked daily and allowed to warm up as often times they will not come out of hiding. I have also added a red 40 watt reptile bulb for night in case maybe he was getting too cold.

What do you think, make him wake up or leave him alone and hope for the best? His weight was 52 grams and he is now 51 grams.

Thanks, Linda

That is not a weight difference worthy of worry.

Keep trying with the live food morsels and be patient.

How big is the cage? Maybe he/she feel kindda in-secured. I had my baby in opaque plastic sweater box and within a week he came around and started eating. For some reason mine didn't eat the red wigglers in the beginning. But will eat crickets, rolly polly, sow bugs, roaches and things like that. Surprisingly, he will eat the salads, but refuse earthworms. [chuckle]

At this point I'm not sure what is going on to honest.... Turtles usually come around pretty quickly if you set them up right.

Try giving him a little bit of soaked, low-fat, dry, dog kibbled. I know they can't resist that. That's my box turtles' favorite treat. I only give it once in a while, though. It's really not good for them.

Do you have UVB light? I think you do, but I can't seem to recall....

In the beginning several days after I got my baby I just fill his water dish with clean water and place him it. He seems to enjoy in the beginning, and then I put food out for him.

What I think is maybe yours was kept outside. Sometime that could be a bit stressful for some individual, but these things bounce back pretty quickly. Try making the room brighter...as bright as you can get it. I know somebody who kept a baby leaf turtle in her bed room with low-watt heat lamp and UVB, but one day it stopped eating. So she moved it to the room that was brighter and warmer where the rest of her animals were. It began to eat well after that.

I wonder if he/she has parasitic infection...? That's another possibility....

Do you see any poop? If he is eating, then you should be able to find poop.... But I figured, since you are not new to keeping reptiles, you'd know that already....

Linda,

You've gotten lots of advice here. All I will add is my own personal experience. I'm not a fan of keeping baby box turtles in a nicely landscaped terrarium - not because it isn't a wonderful duplication of a natural environment, but because it makes it too hard to adequately judge how things are really going.

I keep my baby box turtles in opaque Tupperware-type under-bed boxes. I line the floor of the boxes with loose single-ply paper towels - the turtles can easily get underneath if they feel the need to hide. I keep a 100 watt heating element over one end and shoot for 85 degrees underneath it. The other end has half the original box lid in place to keep the humidity decent and drafts out.

I soak the turtles everyday in warmish water for drinking and to aid defecation. While they soak, I clean out the plastic box. After 15 minutes, I return them to a cleaned-out box with fresh moist paper towels and a plethora of fresh super-worms (either small or medium, depending on the turtles size.) Occasionally, I toss in some rolly-pollys. There is also some small tomato bits and slices of banana, which they usually ignore, but occasionally eat. Based on growth rates and size of the turtles, some eat lots, some eat just a little, and others have never been observed eating at all. But they all exhibit some signs of growth in the shell laminae.

The main advantage of this method of husbandry is the ease of cleaning the cage, and determining if they are eating. You count out the worms when you introduce them, and then count the left-overs the next day to see how things went. There is no place for the worms or rolly-pollys to hide (single-ply paper towels only - two-ply will separate when moist and allow the worms to crawl in-between the plys and hide), if they are gone, they were eaten. And left-over veggies and fruits do not get covered in soil/mulch/litter.

This method has worked well for me, but is certainly not the only way to achieve good results. Babies will be moved outside in the spring into a pen where they will start the next phase of life.

Good luck...

The above post does have some merrits and makes some sense to me in my oppinion. Sometimes less is more and a more utilitarian enclosure is easier to asses a new or baby turle or other reptile. I am keeping my in a plastic bare bones tub for there first winter with one end on heat tape and a little bit of water, I had it lined with wet paper towels too originally but one of the hatchlings crawled underneath and suffocated, so now I don't even put paper towels in. I change out the water everyday, and every couple days I throw in some Wardley turle sticks, Zoo Med box turtle sticks and Reptimin sticks which they gobble up and have since day one with no preference for either 3 foods and feed a mix everytime, between those 3 foods I feel there is a plethera of different ingredients plus vitamin D3 but none in reptomin so they don't get too much, they seem to be doing great, very alert and are slowly growing and there shells look great, this spring I will convert them to my boxie ball food that I feed my adults which has a lot of fresh frozen varied ingredients. Not saying my way is the only way or the best way, just telling you what I am doing and how I do it FYI.
Anyway back to the original post, I would suggest that you try some of the turtle sticks above either in shallow water or moistened in a dish, just in case that is what your turtle was used to eating from the previous owner, its just an idea and you may as well try it you have nothing to loose, although I have rarely seen a boxie turn down a small live worm so that is surprising.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

I found out from the turtle community that according to their test Wardley lacks some of the vitamins that they say on the ingredient list. Reptomin and Mazuri turtle food seem to be the best on the market. Although, a lot of turtle keepers prefer to use the Mazuri tortoise pellets for the box turtles rather than the regular turtle food.

My box turtle that wouldn't eat the earthworms now enjoys eating them. But I think he prefers bugs, rolly polly, and woodlice. I've never fed any snails to him yet, but the big female seems to relish them.

I hate to say this but...... but the only choice left is a shrink. A shrink. Yes shrink the food and it will eat. Lighten up people the poor guys not hungry. Period.

Linda I have a baby one year old about the size of yours, he ate all summer, the last four or five weeks he stopped eating, Four or five weeks ago it was seventy and eighty degrees out but he wasn't eating. I didn't panic, he didn't panic and he's still running around swimming and chasing the other turtles and he dosen't hibernate. He's in the house swimming and doing turtle things but he's not eating. He looks happy I can see his little face and he's happy proabably because I'm not trying to get him to eat. The three other babies look at him and start running around too but they don't eat either and their happy, I know I'm happy knowing I did all I could.

I love my little turtles but I draw the line to putting "IV's" in their little wrists.

As I said at the onset lighten up.
Will post photos latter in the week
box turtle lover alan

Linda, I think the turtle is coming up to this 1st year of life. The shell growth shows he is not a hatchling anymore.

The bedding you are using appears to be hardwood mulch and though it is not bad, young turtles like to hide under bedding and wood can be hard and often drying-a better substrate would be a combination of sphagnum moss and peat moss-peat moss being just the further breakdown of sphagnum moss. It can be kept moister.

What temps exactly is the turtle kept at? What is the humidity range? Turtles will eat when their are hungry-as folks have said-but they will not be hungry if the conditions are not right. But it looks like you have everything nicely set up for the turtle. Cut up the red wiggler, or try Reptile TEN floating Turtle sticks, or maybe some live bloodworms. Good luck!
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Tess Cook
www.boxturtlesite.info