What is a good method of weening my baby Easterns off live crickets? That's about all they will eat--live foods. They also will eat dead crickets but won't touch veggies or other foods. Any suggestions? I'd like for them to eat healthy foods. The turtles are almost 1 year old. Thanks!
Weening Baby Easterns off Live Food
- Thread starter austinl01
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do they eat any other live bugs such as worms mealworms roaches and beatle? normally id say mix her greens with chunks of moving cut up worms but if they will only eat crickets then that doesnt work very well as a suggestion
Box turtle hatchlings rarely eat anything but live foods. I don't start my babies on fruit or greens until they are almost a year. If you chop up some red leaf lettuce or a strawberry, and put some cut up worms on top of them they might get some of the lettuce or fruit too. I usually make a mix of greens, veggies, sweet potato, carrots, some fruit and venison for the babies to try and start them off on reg. food.
oh yeah sweet potato (microwaved for 1 min and cooled) and strawberries/bananas are usually the treats they can hardly resist 
yes live foods are especially important at this stage, you cant deny that a variety in diet is important, even at a young age
I started off by placing worms or reptomin on top of a piece of lettuce, or a pulled a switch-o-roo (worm, then when she got close, put lettuce in her face). She eats everything now.
wheres the "like" button
EricIvins said:
How do you make them healthy? I'm afraid they aren't getting enough vitamins and minerals.
do you kow that term you are what you eat? this applys to feeders if you buy crickets from petco they are pretty much cardbord with legs, thats why many of us feed our insects a good diet so that when our turts eat them they are eating seconf hand nutriants, the BEST thing you can do is catch bugs from the yard (make sure no one sprayed) but wild caught are far better then store bought, in stead of storing your mealworms in sawdust how about oatmeal? there are many thing you can do
Yes, I've been feeding them crickets from PetsMart. I feed the crickets box turtle food that I bought at the store. What do you all suggest feeding the crickets before giving them to my boxies? Thanks a lot.
I feed red wigglers too...I put them in a bin with greens (dandelion, escarole..etc.) These are for hatchlings and juvies. I have a Three Toed since she was one month old. No matter what I do she will only eat pill bugs, wax worms and red wigglers. She was two years old this past Summer, and I even put her in with the big guys and let her see them eat...nothing. Believe me, I have tried everything including not feeding her for 4 days, and then giving her the mix I make for my other guys. So until she goes in with the adults, even though I still try, that's what she eats every day. She seems very healthy to me. I sprinkle some vit. on her "bugs" and worms. We call her bratty girl.
The term is "gut feeding" You simply feed the prey animals food before you feed them to the box turtles. I am not sure but I don't know if crickets will eat greens, you can feed the apples and such and then feed them to the box turtles.
crickets will eat greens although they will probibly go bad before they can finish them, think of grass hopers they are one in the same pretty much. and i believe the term in "gut loading" LOL
OK, thanks, all. Here are some pics of my high colored Easterns. They are a bit younger than 1 year. I found a couple earthworms out in the garden today and let them have a snack.
OMG! That's adorable. I love when they fight over a big worm. What do the parents look like? I always start looking in the Spring for a high red male. I have one very high in color that I got from Cory. He was born in Sept.
austinl01 said:
Crickets will eat just about anything,I get crickets from Petco every week, I feed them mostly mazuri, dry cat food, dry dog food, crumbled by using a pair of pliers, For moisture they get iceburg lettuce, collards,and leaf lettuce, no water other than the greens. the crickets I feed this week are the ones I got last week.and the meal worms I raise are based in layena which is full of good stuff with halved potatoes cut side down on the layena.The pill bugs and snails eat what ever they find in the enclosure,The worms are outside and I have no idea what they eat except the copy paper I have laying in stacks to attract them to the surface so I can have easy access to them. Len
Here are the parents.
Thanks a lot for the information. Austin
Turtulas said:
Thanks a lot for the information. Austin
WOW im jealous... they and the babaies are spectacularly colorerd very cute babies
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