Box Turtle owners! Which is best: Crickets or Mealworms?

Question

I have a box turtle and he is awesome. I feed him mostly mealworms, and occasionally crickets. Sometimes his stools contain the exoskeletons of the worms he eats, even though I try to feed him freshly molted worms. I am worried this is bad for his digestive system. Would crickets be better? I have also fed him cooked, diced chicken, but he doesn't do as well with it.

Any suggestions or experiences of other box turtle owners?

I do feed him greens and fruit with every buggy protein serving, so you know his diet is balanced. :)

Answer 1

.http://boxturtlesite.info/diet.html

Answer 2

I own 2 box turtles and 1 South American Red Foot Turtle. Turtles do eat meal worms in the wild along with other exoskeleton bugs and ectra. If there is no blood in your turtle's stool, it is no harm for it to eat the meal worms.

The skeleton remains of the worm that goes through your turtles digestive track also helps it keep its intestines clean, like humans do when they take extra fiber or eat raw veggies. You can also buy the soft body meal worms that have no exoskeletons to feed your turtle. Both types of worms can be kept in a refrigerator and it will not kill them, just make them dormant. You can also raise meal worms in a large container like a 5 gallon fish tank. Add about 2 inches of corn meal in the tank. Cut a raw potato in half and lay the exposed sides down on top of the corn meal in the tank. The meal worms eat the corn meal and also eat the inside of the potatoes as they have the moisture these worms need. After a while you will see that the meal worms become cacoons and will hatch into small black beetle type bugs. Keep the remains of the potatoes in the tank and add another potato cut open. The beetles will continue to eat on the inside of the potatoes and lay eggs in them. Once they hatch, they become meal worms again (small ones hard to see). These worms will continue to eat and grow to regular size meal worms and the process continues again.

As far as veggies, do not feed your turtle iceberg lettuce. This will cause diahreea because this type of lettuce is mainly water based. Feed your turtle Romain lettuce, turnip greens, peas, pealed carrots (as they have vitamin k in them). You can also purchse turtle pellets from a pet store. These turtle love the pellets that have the different fruits in them. You can also get vitamins from the pet store to add on its foods or in its water.

Hope this helps :-)

Wildlife rehabilitator for 14 years

Answer 3

Crickets are the best source....Mealworms can NOT eat a whole in the stomach, thats superworms...mealworms should really be kept to a minimum

Answer 4

You would have to ask your turtle which is better, I've never tasted either... seriously, both are fine sources of protein, you're turtle may just prefer one over the other. Exosceleton is feces nothing to be concerned about.

Answer 5

night crawlers are really good for them since thats what they mostly eat in the wild and they're slow like the turtle. crawlers are a +++! and theyre free! just go dig some up outside.

Answer 6

my box turtles goes crazy over mealworms...he ate 10 smaller sized ones before. hes too slow for the crickets but he does like them too....mine also likes hamburger and dandylions and lettuce too.

Answer 7

I'm no expert, but I don't think the worms are at all bad for his digestive system.

Answer 8

crickets would be best. mealworms can eat a hole in his stomach if you dont pinch the heads off! crickets are also more fun to catch!!!!!

Answer 9

earthworms are good also canned dog food (chicken based)
favorites are tomato and cantaloupe, strawberries

Answer 10

how bout lettuce they love lettuce and but stay away from tomatoes and carrots and avacadoes ect............