Won't eat! And other Qs!

Kirby goodson

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Apr 14, 2016
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Jax, FL
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So I kind of have a few questions.
I've had my "Tut" for about a year now. My fiance came home from work and found himself stepping on her in the gravel driveway and decided to bring it to me. We don't really know where she came from. We always seen turtles all over NC but usually there were creeks or ponds nearby, but there's no water near his house for a few miles. It was very small when he brought it to me, bigger than the size of a quarter, but not quite as big as a silver dollar. Its shell was almost flat as well.
All of the pet stores told us it was an american box turtle, but I don't think it looks anything like an american box. I didn't really trust them much about it because its illegal to sell turtles in petstores in NC, so they didn't really have much experience with them.
With that said, I don't know how old my Tut is, or whether its a boy or a girl. We've always just called her a she. We also, like I said, have no clue what she is.
She's very to herself, she always hides beneath things. But when I put her in her tank, she doesn't burrow. Shed rather hide beneath our curtains or under the stacks of magazines I have under my bed. She also doesn't like heat very much it seems. Everyone says to keep them very warm, around 80°-100° in a section of their tanks. She doesn't like that. She always goes away from it. She hates her tank, she always tries to claw her way out, so I tried covering the glass because I heard that putting a turtle in glass is torterous, they think they can go through it or something.. But even when covered she still scratches at the glass. She can swim, but she doesn't very much like to be in water. Every few days she'll come out from under the bed and run around the room, I water her and (try to) feed her every day.
But now feeding her is becoming a real task. When we first got her, she didn't eat for maybe three days. I read up to give her veggies and seldom fruit, Rollie pollies as well, but she wouldn't touch any of it. She worried me. I remember going to the gas station and picking up an egg sandwich, going home and getting tut out, leaving both the sandwich and tut on the bed, coming back and tut had eaten a great deal of the egg from my sandwich! That's when we learned that she loved meat. That's the only thing I've ever been able to get her to eat besides her turtle pellets, which she stopped eating about a month ago for some reason. I've given her strawberries, grapes, cherries, apple, lettuce, carrots, so on an so forth. She doesnt eat it though. I've tried mixing veggies with her meat, but she outsmarted me and refused to eat any of it. She usually eats chicken, ocassionally tuna. She doesn't like bugs. She's also very slow, I know she's a turtle.. But, some say they'll catch live bugs and stuff but she's like.. Really slow. Even when she "runs"

But for the past going on two weeks, I haven't been able to get her to eat anything. She drinks a lot of water though. I've tried buying her different foods and turtle treats and all sorts of things but she isn't interested. I've been giving her carrot water though which she seems to enjoy. That's it though.. Could someone help me find out what's wrong with her, what kind of turtle she is, about how old she may be, and the gender??
She's worrying me to death!! 20160418_155529.jpg 20160418_155552.jpg
 

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Yvonne G

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Tut looks like a little eastern box turtle to me. Is the bottom shell black/dark?

Box turtles require a more humid/moist environment and they eat animal protein along with fruit and vegetables/greens. I would get a real large plastic tub/bin and set it up with about 4" of soil or something Tut can dig into to bury herself. Then place a plant saucer down into the substrate so she can go swimming. Put lots of plants around inside the tub for shelter from the lights and for hiding places. Box turtles do better if the light isn't too bright (thus the plants). It's not safe for her to be on the floor. She needs to be in her own, dedicated habitat. Make it big enough with enough hiding places and she'll soon settle down and be quiet. It's not possible yet to tell the sex, as she's just a baby.

It looks like her back toe nails are starting to grow long and curl. In box turtles, this is the first sign of metabolic bone disease (MBD). The turtle needs calcium and vitamin d3, but don't use too much or she won't eat it.
 

Kirby goodson

New Member
Joined
Apr 14, 2016
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
Jax, FL
Tut looks like a little eastern box turtle to me. Is the bottom shell black/dark?

Box turtles require a more humid/moist environment and they eat animal protein along with fruit and vegetables/greens. I would get a real large plastic tub/bin and set it up with about 4" of soil or something Tut can dig into to bury herself. Then place a plant saucer down into the substrate so she can go swimming. Put lots of plants around inside the tub for shelter from the lights and for hiding places. Box turtles do better if the light isn't too bright (thus the plants). It's not safe for her to be on the floor. She needs to be in her own, dedicated habitat. Make it big enough with enough hiding places and she'll soon settle down and be quiet. It's not possible yet to tell the sex, as she's just a baby.

It looks like her back toe nails are starting to grow long and curl. In box turtles, this is the first sign of metabolic bone disease (MBD). The turtle needs calcium and vitamin d3, but don't use too much or she won't eat it.


Yes the bottom of her shell is very dark!
Thank you for helping, she definitely seems to be more at ease in her tub than in her tank. We're going out this weekend to pick up some calcium and D3 for her. Any suggestions of what type of plants I should put in there for her??
 

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