Live food, how much, how often?

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gerberwoman

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hi there again!
so im having trouble finding good info on amounts to feed bernie my ten year old plus ornate box turtle, i've had him a week. he is VERY much into hunting, i am offering him salads every day but he wants things that move. today i dropped 6 small crickets in his habitat and im pretty sure they are all gone! yesterday he ate four tiny waxworms and two giant mealworms. am i overfeeding or is this ok?
thanks!
( i tried to make a little piece of salad look like it was alive and got the tip of my finger bit pretty hard for my puppeteering efforts!) not sure he was fooled and accidentally nailed me or if it was a warning and a punishment not to try to fool him again???!!! im guessing the latter!
 

jojodesca

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Box turtles prefer to eat the bugs and worms...but as you know this isn't entirely ideal. They need a variety of fruits and veggies along with the protein to have a balanced diet. What I do with my 4 boxies is prepare them a mixture of 50% veggies, 30% fruits and 20% protein. if you find that your boxie is eating mainly protein you can omit the protein every other time you feed. Basically i feed my boxies every 2 days. btw Ornates seems to be aggressive eaters..so he probably thought your finger was a worm wearing a leaf cape..lol.....
 

kimber_lee_314

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I like to feed mine 50% protein, 30% veggies, 20% greens, and 10% fruit. I mix up this ratio (usually using chicken, turtle chow, bloodworms, turkey, cooked eggs, sometimes dry cat food ... for protein) and feed it to them 3 times a week. Of course they love superworms and nightcrawlers the best, so I feed them once a week. I have a lot of box turtles, so it's hard to feed live food all the time, but it's such a treat for them, I can't help it. :) So basically it's every other day (Mon, Wed, Friday and then either Saturday or Sunday.) This system works well for me, but you should experiment a little and see what works for you. Good luck! :)
 

lisa127

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I lean more towards 50% protein as well. I do not believe 20% is anywhere near enough. I like a ratio of 50% protein, 25% veggies, and 25% fruit.
 

Saloli

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Generally speaking for Terrapene regardless of species ( of those that have been studied) their wild diet consists of about 50-60% animal the remainder being plant and fungal in origin. Though the specifics very by species, subspecies and location. I would suggest looking at actual papers and herpetological publications not just care guides as some are either to simplified or to general because most try to cover both the American and Asian Box Turtles which are very different animals.
 

lisa127

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gerberwoman said:
thanks for this input. question....50% protein even for a ornate who is at least ten years old?


Yes.
 

earthyman71

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this is what seems to work for my guys and keeps them happy, healthy and reproducing.

they are offered a bit of greens and some sort of fruit every day and then every other day, i give them earth or meal worms.

i have boxies that will never touch greens or fruit, some that love greens and/or fruit and all love their worms.
 

Saloli

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The amount of animal to plant does not decrease much from hatchling to adult when compaired to other members of the family. Though there is a deffinate lacking in the knowledge of the natural diet of hatchlings and juveniles.

I forgot to mention that there are alway arthropods, annalids, and crustaceans as well as fungi in the pen and the tank with Franklin. The adults and subadults get feed fruit, veggies, and some sort of animal food generally three times a week some times more or least depending on weather and time of year.
 

jojodesca

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The reason I say 20% is because more often three toeds will only eat protien. Mine prefer it but in order to get a balanced diet I tend to give them less so they eat their veggies and fruits. Just to clear that up.
 

Yvonne G

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I have always started out my baby box turtles on worms and animal protein.

This year my hatchlings consist of several ornates, a gulf coast, an eastern and several 3-toed. They are in a plastic tub outside and right next to a baby Texas tortoise (in his own tub).

One morning I was feeding a mixture of chopped leafy greens, squash and cactus to the Texas baby and for the heck of it, I put down a spoon-ful in the baby box turtle habitat. They all came out and ate it. So now, every morning, I give them the Texas tortoise's greens and they eat it every day.

I have never been able to get box turtles to eat greens before. I don't know what changed, but I'm glad to see them eating this, as its easier to come by than worms and etc.
 

Saloli

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emysemys said:
I have always started out my baby box turtles on worms and animal protein.

This year my hatchlings consist of several ornates, a gulf coast, an eastern and several 3-toed. They are in a plastic tub outside and right next to a baby Texas tortoise (in his own tub).

One morning I was feeding a mixture of chopped leafy greens, squash and cactus to the Texas baby and for the heck of it, I put down a spoon-ful in the baby box turtle habitat. They all came out and ate it. So now, every morning, I give them the Texas tortoise's greens and they eat it every day.

I have never been able to get box turtles to eat greens before. I don't know what changed, but I'm glad to see them eating this, as its easier to come by than worms and etc.

Where did you get a baby Texas Tortoise from? I haven't seen on in years. One of my uncle's neighbors had one that lived on their property ( it wasn't a pet). As box turtles get older they tend to get a greater appreciation (for lack of a better way to put it) of their veggies kind of like most humans. They also tend to eat better kept inside if provided white light lamps ( 5000-6500k lighting) as well as the required UVB, and heat lamps. This is because they fill in missing parts of each other's emitted spectra. So basically food looks more like it should. If you are thinking this is bright it isn't what most heat and UVB lamps produce is very low light levels compared to even a forest with 60% canopy cover.
 
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