Why is my Ornate Box turtle only eating meal worms?

Question

My turtle will only eat meal worms. Ive tried bannana and carrots. Celery too but it still seems to not eat it. Its about maybe two years old maybe less, does that effect its diet?

Answer 1

Thea gave you excellent advice! The only thing I would add is to dust his worms with a vitamin supplement such as Reptivite.

Answer 2

Of the items you listed, only mealworms are semi-natural and healthy for the turtle.

Box turtles eat 75% worms, insects, snails, arthropods, carrion, etc. The rest is a mix of grasses, leaves, plants, berries, mushrooms, etc.

In captivity, you can best simulate this by offering a three-part diet.

About 1/3rd (or less) 'cheap meat'- weight-loss dried cat food (well soaked), cooked chicken, hard-boiled or scrambled eggs, etc.

About 1/3rd (or more) worms, crickets, 'yard bugs', etc.

About 1/3rd salad- dark leafy greens, mushrooms, berries, yellow squash, etc.

Some basic guidelines:
- what would it find in the wild?
- keep each meal small- not much bigger than the size of its head
- only one meal a day, or less! At two years old, I'd be skipping a couple days a week.
- use a DASH of powdered reptile vitamins a couple times a week, and a DASH of calcium suppliment once a week.
- not every meal has to include all things.

A sample weekly diet might look like:
- Mon- tablespoon of soaked catfood pellets, wad of turnip greens
- Wed- wad of earthworms and frozen/thawed strawberries
- Fri- small salad with mushrooms, endive lettuce, pieces of squash and small bits of whatever other veggies I have around, and about 1/4th of a hardboiled egg (basically- part of my lunch salad!)
- Sun- Cooked bits of chicken or organ meats, maybe some crickets

I try to offer two different things each meal, and not repeat within a week.

You may also need to review other issues, such as cage size, temps, humidity, etc.- these guys want pretty high humidity, for example, and don't eat well when it is dry out.

http://ww.boxturtlesite.info

Answer 3

Box turtles can be stubbornly carnivorous but a varied diet is always better for long term health. Mealworms have a pretty bad calcium to phosphorous ratio so firstly I would suggest introducing some earthworms (boxies usually love them) which are far more nutritious. You can try silkworms and even crickets. You can feed the crickets and mealworms healthy greens before you feed them off which will help somewhat. My box turtle favours red fruit like cherries and strawberries and also sweet melon. He shows more interest in these when I have fasted him for a least a day or two before. Good luck .

Answer 4

Baby box turtles, up until about the age of 2, are strictly carnivores, which means that they eat only protein. They will eat insects such as lightning bugs, meal worms, night crawlers, pill bugs (rolly polly). After the age of 2, they start to eat more vegetation but still eat worms, bugs, etc.