Anyone out there have an Eastern Box turtle,if so, what do you feed them?

Answer 1

In the wild, these guys eat about 75% insects, worms, and other 'bugs'.

In captivity, I try to duplicate this with my 3 part diet:

1. About 1/3rd whatever bugs, worms, snails, arthropods, etc. I can findor buy (Avoid mealworms except for an occasional snack- the hard shell is hard to digest!)

2. About 1/3rd 'convenience' meats- things like box turtle chows, weight maintenance cat food (soaked until soft), low-fat dry or canned cat or dog food (do some research on these- a lot of it is pretty nasty), lightly mashed hard-boiled eggs and shells, cooked chicken or other very lean meat, etc.

3. About 1/3rd a mixed salad with mostly dark leafy greens, colorful veggies, mushrooms, and a little fruit- mostly berries.

The daily serving is about the size of the turtle's head (personally, I add about another head's worth of dark leafy greens.) Add a small dash of vitamin powder every 3 days, and a small dash of calcium supplement 1-2 times a week.

As the turtle gets older, or if it cannot easily close its shell, start to skip some meals.

By the way- the big secrets to happy Eastern Box Turtles are:
- big tank, lots of space
- moderate temps- 70's to low 80's
- high relative humidity- around 75-90% (This REALLY gets them eating!)
- 'dappled' lighting with some UVB

Answer 2

Eastern box turtles are omnivorous and will eat a variety of foods including (but not limited to) earthworms, crickets, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots, and mealworms. Try to vary the diet a lot to ensure the animal gets a good variety of vitamins, etc. Good luck!

Answer 3

Box turtles will eat vegetables, fruit, worms, insects or an occasional dead animal. Pretty much what ever they happen to come across, dependent on how hungry they are at the time and what their body is telling them they need.

Answer 4

Leafy greens such as escarole, dandelions, endive, mustard, and collards, NO lettuces or spinach! They aren't good for him.

Hard mixed veggies such as an orange flesh squash the harder the better(acorn,pumpkin,butternut... fresh green beans, fresh peas, parsnip, and green bell peppers, NO broccoli or cauliflower, or avocado!

Fruit such as figs, papaya, mango, pear, and berries. NO bananas, only very rarely as a treat.

Crickets, worms, and slugs.

You should feed more veggies and leafy greens, then bugs, worms or slugs and even less fruit.

Answer 5

You can feed them worms, grubs, mealworms and even many types of vegetation. If you want to give them veggies, though, give them nutritious veggies like romaine lettuce, carrots and stuff like that.

Box turtles can even do well with many types of dog food. Canned or dry.

Answer 6

Just don't rely too much on head lettuce, it's cheaper and it fills them up, but it's low on nutrients.

Answer 7

lutes carrots and all those vegetables thy are vegetarians