Am I feeding my box turtle the right food?

[bucksanchez]

We have a box turtle we found last month. We've made a habitat pen for him in our back yard. I've fed him the variety of the following for the last month:
crickets; meal worms, leafy green lettuce, kale, sweet potato shavings, apple, bananna, strawberries.

I know you are not supose to feed him banannas & strawberries very often at all...it's just not healthy. Yet, these 2 are some of the only things he does eat consistantly. He does love the crickets & meal worms. Sometimes he'll pick at the sweet potato shavings. But I never see him eating any of the lettuce or other salad stuff.

Shouldn't he be? What am I doing wrong? He's still active; crawling around and he's still using the restroom in his water dish.

Thanks!

 

[terryo]

Hi. Welcome to the forum. What kind of boxie is he? Do you have any pictures?

 

[dmarcus]

Hello and welcome to the forum. I can't help much with answering the question you asked as I am not familiar with box turtles but if you know what kind of boxie you have or photo's, I am sure Terry or some of the other boxie owners will be able to help you..

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi bucksanchez:

Welcome to the forum!! May we call you Buck?

Where are you located?

All the literature tells us that box turtles, when young, eat a variety of "meat" items (bugs, worms, etc) and that they get more vegetarian as they get older. But, I can tell you that in my experience, they never lose their taste for the bugs and worms.

Some box turtles will really go for red or greef-leaf lettuce (that's a type of lettuce) and others won't touch it. Some will eat zucchini and other veggies, and others won't touch it.

I offer my box turtles a nice variety of fruits and veggies, trout chow, night crawlers, crickets, etc. but not all on the same day. If they don't eat the veggies, then ...oh well... at least I've given them the opportunity.

I also include bananas and strawberries in the mix.

After you've become accustomed to our format here on the Forum, I'd love to see pictures of your little box turtle and of his habitat.

 

[bucksanchez]

Thanks everyone so far responding. This is my 1st forum to join. Yes, we took a few pics....I will try to load them to my pc today & post. I have no idea what kind of "boxie" he is. I think he is a he because he seems to have a bit of a tail. I read (and saw a pic) the females have hardly any tail. We live in North Texas and we found him near a field by our house. He's turning out to be really fun! The kids love him. Thanks and stay tuned for pics. Maybe you can tell me more. I have not taken him to any exotic vet.
Our turtle's name is Buck! The kids say his design looks like a buckshot.

Toni

 

[earthyman71]

you might want to check out www.aboxturtle.com for some great feeding lists and care sheets. i have babies, juvies and teenagers and an old guy or two. i always offer them earthworms and mix up fruits and veggies. they all seem to have different tastes - much like people. good luck!

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[Saloli]

if you would like i can put my ebt food list up which by the way i'm still working on