Ornate box turtle will only eat worms.please help!

[DeceivedPants28]

So my girlfriend brought me home an ornate box turtle a little less than a month ago. She has had a Russian tortoise for about 6 months now so we have general knowledge of how to care for one. I am pretty sure she is a girl due to her tiny tail and flat belly and she isn't that old. She's probably only about 3-4 inches. She will only eat worms (Nightcrawlers and super worms) and occasionally a few bites of strawberry. I have tried lettuce, kale, and cucumber and she won't even look at it. Is this normal for a juvenile turtle or should I be concerned. I give her 3-4 superwoms a day. Is that too much or too little? Any help is appreciated. Thank you guys. And her name is Yoshi cuz I had an awesome childhood lol

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello
Is it a wild box turtle or captive breed box turtle ? If it's wild box turtle it's hard to tame them . If it's captive breed box turtle cut the greens real small and feed them first if he eats the fruit or vegys then give him a small worm it will learn just like children learn to eat vegys or no candy ( meat ) .

 

[DeceivedPants28]

She is a wild caught turtle. She eats the worms like crazy. She will eat 4-5 superwoms a day and still be hungry for more. I tried to starve her a couple days then offer her letttuce and she still wasn't interested

 

[Tom]

@terryo is the master of the box turtle diet!

Terry can you help us out?

 

[wellington]

Welcome. If your girlfriend took it from the wild, it should be put back where it was found.
Assuming it was bought, chop the worms up and mix with greens. S/he will have to eat the green to get to the yummy (Ick) taste of the worm. As she eats the greens more and more, you can stop adding the worms to them.

 

[DeceivedPants28]

She picked it up on a busy highway very far from where I lived. She saw it almost got hit so she picked it up. Putting it back would be next to impossible due to how far away it is. I have a good habitat for her and it is spacious and she seems happy with the habitat. (She's not trying to escape through the glass) she just won't eat veggies. I've had people tell me that juveniles will turn down veggies and eat mostly only meat due to protein intake. Don't know if this is true or not

 

[Yvonne G]

Young box turtles are more carnivorous. They eventually start eating more vegetation as they get older. Just buy different type animal protein for the turtle to offer a bit of variety. Night crawlers, grasshoppers, crickets, meal worms. I chop up fruits and veggies then put a couple pin head crickets on top of the pile. As the turtle bites at the cricket it also gets some of the fruits and veggies and eventually will eat that too. Here's a recipe I use sometimes:

Box turtle food



In food processor:
1 head of Collared Greens
1/2 head of Romaine Lettuce
1 green bell pepper
2 yellow crookneck squash
8 large strawberries

I microwaved til cooked, then mashed-
2 sweet potatoes
1 butternut squash

I mixed all this, then added-
1 22 ounce can of Alpo Beef Chunks in Gravy
2 tablespoons calcium carbonate
1 tablespoon Reptile Vitamins with beta carotene

And this one:

BOX TURTLE JELLO

Yams (slightly cooked, then mashed Pedigree can puppy food (not too much)
Thawed peas & carrots Meat*
Fruit*

Put in food processor & mix until it forms a very thick paste. They eat it voraciously, as do the adults. I also feed soaked Reptomin and live foods.

*Meat – beef liver, chicken parts
*Fruit – strawberry, peach, banana, mango, etc.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

BOX TURTLE BRITTLE


1 Ripe cantaloupe or honeydew 1 cup mashed fruit/berries*
1 can low cal dog food or cooked 2 cans snails thoroughly rinsed
ground turkey 1 ½ cups chopped leafy greens*
2 tsp RepCal calcium with Vit. D3 2 tsp RepCal Herptivite multivitamin

Mash the banana and/or berries and add chopped melon. Add low cal dog food or ground turkey and mix thoroughly. Add snails, chopped greens, calcium powder and vitamins. Mix thoroughly and freeze in individual meal-sized portions.


*Greens – dandelion, endive, escarole, collard, swiss chard, bok choy, romaine lettuce
*Fruits/berries – banana, pear, apple, strawberry, blueberry, raspberry, mango, kiwi

 

[DeceivedPants28]

Thank you so much that's very helpful! I will have to try these

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Box turtles eat a wide variety of foods in the wild. A huge variety. That includes all kinds of bugs - earthworms, slugs, moths, crickets, pill bugs, you name it- mushrooms, overripe windfall fruits and berries. They eat carrion, mice, eggs, vegetables, mulberries, strawberries, melons, tomatoes. Zucchini, pumpkin, apples, sweet potatoes.
Corn, beans, edible flowers...

Cooked chicken & fish & boiled eggs are good, too. Mine won't eat lettuce.

Wild caught turtles often don't recognize supermarket produce as actual food. Grow your own or get it from the farmer's market.

That turtle should have an outdoor habitat where it can enjoy the sun & rain & hunt for bugs. You may have difficulty in the winter because it will want to hibernate.

 

[terryo]

WC Ornate Box turtles are the hardest to acclimate into captivity, IMHO. They seem to like live food more than the Eastern's or Three Toeds. . My Ornate would only eat strawberries and meal worms for a long time, but chopping up the food helped to start her off with the greens and fruit. Even thought I had her since she was tiny and she lived for 32 years, she was the hardest to take care of.
I feed mine just about the same as Yvonne. That's a good diet with a variety of food

 

[cmacusa3]

Mine eat mixed veggies, they love corn on the cob, insects, any and all fruit. Give it some time and I bet she will start eating other stuff.

 

[DeceivedPants28]

So its not weird that she will only eat worms? I just gotta slowly get her into veggies? Will it affect her health drastically if she only eats worms for a long time before getting used to veggies. I don't want to force her to eat veggies and stress her

 

[cmacusa3]

If she is eating then I wouldn't worry

 

[DeceivedPants28]

Corn on the cob is a good idea. I'll have to try it.

 

[Eric Zukowski]

My ornate loves tomatoes. Defiantly do not starve your turtle to try and get it to eat other things offer it a variety of foods and whatever it eats it eats. I have had turtles that lived almost exclusively on worms. Good luck