live foods and torts

[Jerseynox]

i know nothing about torts i know boxies(a little) so my question is do torts eat live foods, bugs, worms? i ask this question because i found a post on Clist for feeder Dubia Roaches (heres the post http://toledo.craigslist.org/pet/2137953551.html )
i plan on getting some for my boxies and wood. i sent dude an email to get info for us to meet up and i thought to myself i bet a few other(by others i mean people here) may be interested in this too, so i suggested that he may want to post here & gave links & sent email. then i thought about it and thought i remembered seeing torts are herbivores.

so now im curious are all torts veg heads???

 

[moswen]

nope, boxies and red foots eat meat: worms, crickets, bugs, roaches,... all the "swimming turtles" are meat eaters but i think they would have a hard time with a roach lol...

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

All tortoises will occasionally grab a bug or a worm, but the key word here is "occasionally"...when it rains, the earthworms come to the surface and my Hermann's and Iberian'll grab one from time to time, and ignore them other times. My Iberian ate a small snake once (that I know of), as well.

Box turtles*, redfoots and yellowfoots are much more enthusiastic hunters.

*[video=youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhcV-lKbEwU [/video]
(Warning: some may find this video kinda disturbing! I, personally, feel that it's a better idea to offer a pre-frozen, then thoroughly thawed, mouse...)

I figure whatever they, themselves, can catch is an appropriate part of their diet...that probably comes down to about .01-.02%, annually, in the case of my Europeans....for my daughter's box turtles, meat is a considerably higher ratio, between their weekly chopped beef-heart/etc., and what ever bugs, worms, grubs, snail and slugs they catch out in the yard.

 

[Tom]

Boxies and water turtles have no problem taking down a roach. I breed many species of them to feed to my insectivores. All of my tort species are strictly herbivores.

 

[redfoot925]

My red foot seems to enjoy those canned crickets they sell

 

[Madkins007]

Heck, wild Red-foots eat termites and butterflies! If the wild guys can catch a butterfly, I doubt they would have a problem with roach. It would be worth a try!

Decades ago, I had some Tiger Salamanders and lived in a rental house with a mild roach problem. I had SO MUCH fun catching those dang things and feeding them to the salamanders! If they can catch and eat a roach, I don't know why a Red-coot couldn't.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

I recall reading in one of my tortoise books about the author coming across several redfoots glomming onto a dead cow, but I'm fairly certain that they kill very few cows, themselves...

 

[cindmill13]

Ya many baby turtles are attracted towards live food and they do eat worms. Only thing is NEVER feed your Turtle with any WILD WORMS.
You can feed him with live blackworms, mealworms, bloodworms, midges, mosquito larvae, tubifex, etc.

 

[cindmill13]

Ya many baby turtles are attracted towards live food and they do eat worms. You can feed him with live blackworms, mealworms, bloodworms.
Only thing is NEVER feed Turtle with WILD WORMS.

 

[cindmill13]

Ya many baby turtles are attracted towards live food and they do eat worms.
You can feed him with live blackworms, mealworms, bloodworms, midges, mosquito larvae, tubifex, etc.

 

[cindmill13]

Ya many baby turtles are attracted towards live food and they do eat worms. Only thing is NEVER feed your Turtle with any WILD WORMS.
You can feed him with live blackworms, mealworms...

 

[cindmill13]

Ya many baby turtles are attracted towards live food and they do eat worms. You can feed him with live blackworms, mealworms, bloodworms, midges, mosquito larvae, tubifex, etc.