enough vitamins?

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Beeliz

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Hi all,
I have been feeding my little 8 week box turtle with earth worms,meal worms,and fruits and veggies(which he NEVER eats) I crush turtle pellets and cover the wet earth worms with that,and then sometimes I put on exo terra multi vitamins on the worms as well,,I also have the calcium supplement powder,but it doesn't say D3 on it..is there a big difference in the calcium powder and the one with D3? I am worried he hasn't been getting enough stuff. I soak him under the UVB light in his enclosure every day for 30 mins,then feed him,and he gobbles down only the insects.,and leaves any veggies or fruit. He has grown, which is great,,but am I doing this right??
thanks
 

terryo

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IMO, you are doing fine. Baby box turtles stay hidden under leaf litter. The only sun they get is filtered through the litter and trees. They only eat any tiny insect that they find in the leaf litter. In the Spring they will eat very small sprouts if there are no insects available yet. I do know some people that have hatchlings that will eat greens and fruit, but none of mine ever did until they were older. What I do now is mash up a little cooked sweet potato, and carrots, and mix it with some canned venison. Eventually I add greens chopped up (escarole, red leaf lettuce...etc.) A chopped up strawberry too. Sometimes they will take a nibble. But at this age they mostly eat worms and insects. You can get some pill bugs too, red wigglers and butter worms. I just finished a 40 gal. breeder vivarium, and I threw in a load of pill bugs and some red wigglers for them to find. There are 4 hatchlings in there, and only one is a very good eater. The others will eat a chopped up red wiggler or pill bugs, but that's it so far. What kind of boxie do you have?
 

Beeliz

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I have a carolina x major,,eastern boxie :) when did yours start to munch the veggies and other stuff?
 

terryo

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They would start eating other foods when they were a few months old. One is 4 months now and is just starting to take a nibble of the food. He's the most agressive eater. He will try anything I give him, but usually only a bite. I have two little rescues that came to me with shell rot, and one is over a year old and the same size as one of my hatchlings that is only 4 weeks. So far I have only gotten her to eat insects...worms and pill bugs, and butter worms. She won't even take a bit of anything else. Just keep trying and eventually she will eat something. But don't worry.
 
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