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Three toed box turtle diet

22 16:48:12

Question
Hi Mark,

I recently found a healthy female three toed box turtle walking down the street, so I kept it.  She chowed the first day on cantalope, romaine lettuce, strawberries, bananas.  But she won't touch any animal protein.  I tried crickets, earthworm, cooked chicken, even bologna.  Any suggestions (without getting ridiculous)?  Should I be worried about it?  Maybe she's a vegetarian :). I'm in S. Florida, I keep her mostly outside in a pen with a frisbee full of water.  She seems to be a little more listless the last couple days, though it might be my imagination.  (I also found a stinkpot musk turtle I'm keeping for a while - it eats all the critters the box turtle doesn't).

Thanks!
Jeff

Answer
In the wild, she'd be feasting on about 70% bugs and such, about 20% tough plants, and only a few 'swets' like fruit.

Try leaving the veggie stuff out for a couple days (and try a deeper water dish so she can soak), then re-introducing the bugs. You may need to remove the stinkpot to reduce competition.

Listlessness could be heat, humidity, full and digesting, or many other things. Double check the basic cares to make sure you've got your bases covered (www.tortoise.org's care sheets are good starts).

You don't mention vitamin or minaeral suppliments- be sure she is getting good amounts of calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, copper, etc.