- Vegetables and Fruits to Feed to Box Turtles. A wide variety of fruits and vegetables should be offered to your box turtle daily in order to provide a balanced diet.
- Insects to Feed to Box Turtles. A variety of fresh and natural prey items are the best types of insects for your box turtle. ...
- Commercial Diets for Box Turtles. There are commercial box turtle diets available that are marketed as nutritionally complete, but you should also supplement them with a variety of fresh foods.
- Vitamin and Mineral Supplements for Box Turtles. The need for adding vitamins and supplements depends on the diet and housing (outdoors versus indoors).
Does a box turtle make a good pet?
While common box turtles can make good pets, it’s not recommended that they be given as pets to children or first-time pet owners. This is because of the complexity of their care requirements and the fact that these turtles become stressed easily and don’t need to be carried everywhere or fiddled with all the time.
What type of food do box turtles eat mostly?
What Vegetables Can Box Turtles Eat?
- Radish Tops
- Romaine Lettuce
- Savoy
- Shredded Squashes
- Spinach
- Sweet Potatoes
- Swiss Chard
- Thawed Frozen Mixed Vegetables
- Turnip Tops
- Watercress
How do you take care of a box turtle?
- Make sure your terrarium’s water and air temperature is about 86 degrees Fahrenheit and that your baby turtle has access to both land and water.
- Make sure the water isn't too deep. ...
- Even the smallest turtles should have a terrarium or aquarium no smaller than 29 gallons, no shorter than 4 feet long, 18 inches wide and 18 inches tall.
When do you feed your box turtle?
What to Feed Your Box Turtle
- Vegetables and Fruits to Feed to Box Turtles. A wide variety of fruits and vegetables should be offered to your box turtle daily in order to provide a balanced diet.
- Insects to Feed to Box Turtles. ...
- Commercial Diets for Box Turtles. ...
- Vitamin and Mineral Supplements for Box Turtles. ...
What is safe to feed a box turtle?
Acceptable vegetables that should represent a high percentage of the box turtle's diet include collard greens, beet greens, mustard greens, broccoli, turnip greens, alfalfa hay, bok choy, kale, parsley, Swiss chard, watercress, clover, red or green cabbage, savory, cilantro, kohlrabi, bell peppers, green beans, ...
How often should I feed my box turtle?
An adult box turtle should be given meals at least three times per week, with meals every other day or every third day. Consult with your veterinarian if you're not sure about the frequency. Juvenile and baby box turtles should be fed daily and given vitamin and calcium supplements at least three times a week.
What can you not feed a box turtle?
If it's created for humans to eat, avoid giving it to your turtle at all times. Avoid feeding your turtle raw meats, feeder fish and fruits, except in limited cases. Kale, romaine lettuce and anacharis or waterweed are the best vegetable and plant staple foods. Use turtle pellets as your protein staple.
What do you feed a wild caught box turtle?
Because box turtles are omnivores, they need a varied diet. Keeping them outside allows them to supplement what you feed them with what's in the environment. Fresh vegetables, fruits, insects, low-fat meats, and pinky mice are some foods that can be offered.
Do box turtles need to be in water?
Box turtles need constant access to water for drinking, wading, and soaking. Your turtle should have a water-‐filled dish or pan large enough for it to soak in but shallow enough for it to easily climb in and out of. The depth of the water should be one quarter to one third of your turtle's shell height.
What is the best bedding for box turtles?
Newspaper, butcher paper, paper towels, or commercially available paper-based pelleted bedding or artificial grass made for reptiles (commonly called “reptile carpet”) is recommended. Some people suggest using straw, hay, or alfalfa pellets, as box turtles like to burrow.
What is a turtle's favorite food?
Plant food sources. Plant-based food sources for your pet turtle should mostly be leafy greens like collards, dandelions, and mustard greens. Some of these vegetables, such as chives, parsley, and spinach, contain high levels of chemicals called oxalates, which you should avoid.
Can I keep a box turtle I found?
Box turtles can make great pets if cared for properly. Before bringing any pet – reptile or other - home, be sure to do research to learn about its requirements, so that you can properly care for it. Most box turtles do not get very large (unlike tortoises).
How long can a box turtle go without eating?
A so-called “sub-adult” turtle (six months to one year old) can't go more than a day without eating. An adult turtle should eat, on average, every 2-3 days.
What human food can turtles eat?
They especially like leafy green veggies, so kale, collard greens, and mustard greens are both healthy and delicious for them. They'll also chow down on carrots, squash, green beans, and peas. As far as fruits go, you can give them bananas, apples, and pears, among other things.
Do turtles eat lettuce?
In addition to most lettuces, turtles tend to enjoy leafy green vegetables — think kale, spinach, collard greens, etc. Not only will your turtle love these, but they're also filled with important vitamins and minerals.
Can box turtles eat dog food?
Never feed your turtle cat food or dog food. It has too much protein and can cause long term damage.
What are some good foods for box turtles?
The following list is a variety of fruits and vegetables (listed in no particular order) that have good calcium to phosphorus ratios and are suitable for box turtles to have included in their diets. Dark leafy greens, such as collard greens, mustard greens, parsley, endive/escarole, dandelion greens, beet tops, spinach, ...
What do box turtles eat?
Box turtles are omnivores, which means they will eat a variety of both animal and plant-based foods. The proportions of animal versus plant-based food items will depend on both the age and the species of box turtle that you are feeding.
What is the best ratio for calcium for turtles?
The items with the calcium greater than 1.0 are those which have a good ratio and should be emphasized in the diet. As an example, bananas (a favorite of many turtles) have a ratio of 0.3:1 (which is low) so this means they should be fed in moderation.
Is Spruce Pets peer reviewed?
The Spruce Pets uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the fact s within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Carmel, B. and Johnson, R. Nutritional and Metabolic Diseases.
Do box turtles eat fresh food?
There are commercial box turtle diets available that are marketed as nutritionally complete, but you should also supplement them with a variety of fresh foods.
What animal-based protein foods I can offer my turtle?
When offered, some appropriate animal-based protein sources include grasshoppers, crickets, mealworms, wax worms, silkworms, moths, slugs, earthworms, and hard-boiled eggs. Commercially available reptile pellets provide an excellent protein source. Live prey, such as crickets and various worms, should either be raised inside by the owner or purchased from a pet store, bait store, or reptile breeder. Collecting insects from outside to feed pet turtles is generally not recommended, as fertilizers and insecticides on insects can be toxic to turtles.
What do box turtles eat?
Box turtles are omnivorous, meaning that they eat both plant- and animal-based foods. Some box turtles, like the ornate box turtle, eat insects. They have a sharp eye and keen sense of smell. Young, growing box turtles, up to 4-6 years of age, tend to be primarily carnivores, while adults tend to be herbivorous (eat only plant matter).
What types of plants I can feed my turtle?
Most (80-90%) of the plant material fed to box turtles should be vegetables and flowers, and only 10-20% should be fruit. As a rule, dark, leafy greens should make up the largest part of the diet. Yellow, red, and orange vegetables can also be included. Avoid light green vegetables, including iceberg or head lettuce and celery, as they are composed mainly of fiber and water with few nutrients. The inner, light-colored parts of some vegetables are less nutritious than the darker green outer leaves, so they should not be offered.
Do I need to give my box turtle vitamins and minerals?
Most veterinarians recommend lightly sprinkling the vegetable matter offered to the box turtle with a calcium powder (calcium gluconate, lactate, or carbonate) 2-3 times per week. In addition, a light sprinkling of a multivitamin-vitamin mineral powder made for reptiles is also recommended weekly, especially if it contains vitamin D 3 which can be toxic to turtles if over-supplemented. The best way to ensure reptiles are consuming the supplements is to dust them onto small portions of their vegetables, and feed those dusted portions first.
What are box turtles' water requirements?
Fresh clean water should be available to box turtles at all times. Box turtles not only drink from the water bowl but will also bathe in it. Provide water in a shallow dish, crock, or pan that cannot be easily tipped over, and ensure the dish has some sort of a "ramp" (such as a rock, log, or commercially available turtle ramp) that allows the box turtle to easily climb in and out for soaking and drinking. The water level should reach up to its chin when its head comes out of its shell. Change the water daily, and clean the water bowl frequently, as many box turtles will defecate or eliminate in their water bowls.
How to keep a box turtle hydrated?
Change the water daily, and clean the water bowl frequently, as many box turtles will defecate or eliminate in their water bowls. You can mist your turtle with a water sprayer, too, a few times a week as well to help keep it hydrated.
How old are box turtles?
Young, growing box turtles, up to 4-6 years of age, tend to be primarily carnivores, while adults tend to be herbivorous (eat only plant matter). As a guideline, your box turtle's diet should be about 50% plant-based material and 50% animal-based material. Different breeds of box turtles have slightly different nutritional needs.
What Do Water Turtles Eat?
You should understand that feeding an aquatic turtle is not the same as feeding a land turtle.
How to keep baby turtles from eating?
Aquatic baby turtles are sloppy eaters, and they relieve themselves in the middle of their meals. Therefore, they are bound to dirty their aquarium. #3 Give your turtle feeder fish and crickets for some meals. #4 Feed baby turtles two or three times a day. #5 Remember to leave your baby turtle’s food in the tank for half an hour ...
What to feed a baby turtle?
So, here are some pointers on how to feed baby turtles: #1 First, Feed land baby turtles, a combination of commercially produced food and fresh leafy vegetables, such as lettuce and cabbage, and make sure you chop the food into tiny pieces. #2 Feed your aquatic baby turtle in a smaller feeding tank. Aquatic baby turtles are sloppy eaters, and they ...
What is the best way to feed an aquatic turtle?
Feeding an aquatic turtle small live fish helps to stimulate the turtle and give him some exercise.
How to keep turtles from knocking over?
There should always be freshwater in a bowl that the turtle can easily access and not easily knock over. Take care to make sure that the water stays clean and replace it now and then .
Why should you clean your turtle's food?
Whenever you give them food, you should make sure to clean the feeding area. This is because leftover food decay, and this is not healthy for a turtle.
Do turtles eat pellets?
If you are trying to replicate how a turtle would feed in the wild, however, the pellets are less authentic than fresh greens and insects. If you use pellets, try to make them part of a balance with fresh food. Think of pellets as forming the only the foundation of the diet.
What temperature do box turtles need?
Heat. Common box turtles require daytime temperatures of around 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit with a basking spot that’s around 85 to 90 degrees Fahrenheit. At night, the temperature can drop to between 65 and 75 degrees Fahrenheit.
How much light do box turtles need?
Without it, they can develop metabolic bone disease and even die. 2 Box turtles need around 12 hours of UVB lighting per day either via natural sunlight or a UVB lamp.
Why do turtles have a bad bone?
The most serious ailment among many turtles is metabolic bone disease due to insufficient UVB exposure. 2 This painful condition can lead to weakened bones and death.
Why are box turtles declining?
Around the world, box turtle populations are declining. Because of this, many states have laws against keeping wild box turtles as pets. The population decline is just one reason to get a captive-bred pet box turtle from a reputable breeder or rescue organization.
Why don't box turtles wake up?
If an unhealthy box turtle hibernates, it might not wake up. That's because bodily functions slow during hibernation, so box turtles that are sick will potentially be unable to fight the illness while in their deep sleep.
How tall should a box turtle be?
The pen should have walls that are at least 18 inches tall with an overhang to prevent the turtle from climbing out.
What does it mean when a turtle eats lettuce?
If your turtle experiences frequent respiratory infections, it could be a sign of vitamin A deficiency. 2 Avoid feeding iceberg lettuce to a turtle with a respiratory infection.
What do Wild Turtles Eat in Ponds?
Again, this depends on the type of turtle and the habitat it lives in. Turtles are omnivores and will eat almost anything they can get their mouth on.
What do turtles eat?
But in general, it is safe to feed most wild turtles earthworms, grasshoppers, crickets, peas, chopped up apples, carrots, pears, romaine lettuce and most leafy greens (like collard, mustard, and parsley). Different types of turtles need different diets ...
Where can I find crickets?
You can easily find crickets, earthworms, mealworms, guppies, and rosy red minnows at your local pet stores and bait shops. I have even found earthworms at my local Walmart! Pet stores also often have duckweed, water hyacinths, and water weeds. Fruits and veggies can be found at your local grocery store!
What are some foods that snapping turtles can eat?
Here are some foods that are safe for wild snapping turtles; Aquatic Plants: duckweed, water hyacinths, water weeds, water fern, water lettuce, yellow pond lilies, and bog moss.
Why are sea turtles different from freshwater turtles?
Sea turtles are like freshwater turtles because they too have a unique diet for each species, but they are also very different. Some sea turtles keep the same diet throughout their entire life while others change what they eat when they grow into adulthood. A sea turtle’s diet varies by age and species.
What kind of food do turtles eat?
Pellets: when you identify the type of turtle you found, you can check pet stores (in-store and online) for pelleted food made specifically for that kind of turtle! Pellets can be a great food because they contain both plant and animal matter!
Can turtles eat carrots?
Carrots are an excellent vegetable for turtles! If you are feeding a wild turtle or a pet turtle, you should grate the carrots into bite-size pieces so they can eat them. Be careful not to feed too many carrots to a wild turtle though.
