How do you egt a eastern box turtle to eat if it's not eating?

Question

she will not eat and i am worried about her.

Answer 1

What are the temps? She should have a warm area where it's 90 F. This can be achieved by a 75-100watt lamp at 10-12" away.

Have you tried a wiggly earthworm or crickets. Live prey always gets them going. Try also rotten fruit (over ripened) strawberries, melons, etc.

Good luck.

Answer 2

When boxies don't eat, you should review the care standards- housing, temps, humidity, etc. as well as the recommended diets.

The Big Three for boxies are
1. Wrong Diet- these guys eat mostly bugs in the wild, but many care sheets suggest a mostly veggie diet.

2. Temps- most people keep them too cool. The flip side of this is that the air is usually too dry. The flip side of BOTH of these is that in an attempt to trap warm, humid air we too often create pockets of stale 'sick' air. Healthy turtles need healthy air.

3. Housing- too often, boxies are kept either in small boxes, or allowed to run loose in the weirdest places- there is a 'tradition' in some places that they can live unattended running around in basements!

Make sure the basic cares and diet are right, then prepare your Secret Weapons... One of these techniques usually works.

a. Strawberries and/or bananas died red. Some really like mushrooms, others like hard-boiled eggs. This is not meant to be a real diet, just a 'jump-start'.

b. Let them roam outdoors- gentle sunshine, warm air, and even a gentle summer rain can do wonders! If you do this, aim for a gardeny/woodsy area more than a yard or grassy area.

c. Back off- once you get a good habitat going, try to leave the turtle alone and avoid looming over it or handling it.

The link below can get you started:

Answer 3

eastern box eat all kinds of stuff in the wild, here in eastern north America they eat, plants,mushrooms,berries, fruits grasses, leaves, an little worms,bugs, slugs they must have a perfect mix of animal protein an vegetation from which they live. all this human food has too much salt an will kill them after a while. go to a good pet store an get the food made for the kind of turtle you have!

Answer 4

when box turtles lose their appetite its likely because they are too cold. i think the nightime temps are too low and they cannot raise their core body temp high enough during the day to maintain a healthy appetite. i suggest you buy several ceramic heat lamps and bulbs and try to maintain the temp at night at 75. with the larger, open air pen the temps may not be maintained as high as you think, even in the day time, so use another lamp or spotlight. try covering part of the open pen with a board or plastic sheeting. this will help maintain the temperature and humidity and remove drafts from the pen which also cool things down.