Saturday, July 28, 2012

What to feed a box turtle

Oh little Rexy Boy.
We him.

I get a lot of questions about our box turtle - mostly questions about what we feed him. Truth is that he's a bit of a picky eater. There's all kinds of information online with lists and lists of great foods to offer a box turtle, but Rex isn't fond of much variety. Though I do offer a variety of choices, he has his favorites and walks over {literally} the stuff he doesn't like. His favorite? Hard boiled eggs.


And raw hamburger meat. He tears into this stuff like he hasn't eaten in weeks!


A couple times a week I throw a little handful of frozen corn kernels in the grass and he really enjoys that. I find that he prefers yellow and orange foods the most - he loves cantaloupe too!


After dinner? He goes for a swim in his little pond. And about that pond - it's stocked with little feeder fish that we were sure Rex would gobble up. Instead, the fish flock around him while he's in the water, picking at his shell for bits of food he's dragged in. Rex appears oblivious to them!


Another question I often get is wondering what our cats think of the turtle. Oddly enough, they haven't seemed to notice much. They can see into the atrium where Rexy lives, but quite frankly I think they are more curious about the little fish in the pond than they are of Rex.

But who knows about cats?
I can only speak for the turtle.
Edit: Thanks to a comment from Pris, I'm editing this post to include a disclosure. When I originally wrote this post we were still fairly new to turtle feeding, and Pris is right - they need more greens! I've tried chopping up Rexy's favorites and mixing with lettuce, green beans, peas, carrots, and such and he likes them just fine that way.
 
This post is in no way intended to represent exactly what to feed your box turtle! This was just the way we were feeding Rexy in the summer of 2012.  :o)

14 comments:

Margaret said...

Sweet Rexy. That is spa living. I can only aspire to such a lifestyle.

Anonymous said...

He sure is one cute little Rexy boy x

scrappyjacky said...

I'm pretty sure the cats ARE more interested in the fish!!

Fiona@staring at the sea said...

He's so cute :o) I would never have thought that turtles liked hard boiled eggs!

Karen said...

A tiny turtle was our only pet for many years when we were kids. I still remember that he loved raw hamburger and lettuce! I don't think he was as cute as Rexy though.

Mom said...

Cute little grandturtle! Love his home--one lucky little turtle!

Love you! xo

Becky said...

Nice to learn more about Rex :-)

Unknown said...

Love it you turtle whisperer, you! ;)

Sian said...

Turtle whisperer! Ha!

Barbara@Sweet Serendipity said...

Love hearing about and seeing the pics of Rexy! I envy his habitat!

Alison said...

Boo likes Sweetcorn kernels too!!
Alison xx

Maria Ontiveros said...

So funny to see him go after that hamburger meat.
Rinda

Anonymous said...

I always thought they ate more of a vegetarian diet. That's funny that he'll walk right over what he doesn't like.

Pris said...

Hi, I found your page and thought I would drop some feeding advice. I also have a Western box named Rex!

Your Rexy wants to eat things that aren't the best for him. Hamburger meat is too fatty for a turtle, it can cause fatty liver disease. What you can do is chop a hard-boiled egg finely and mix it with other things for him to eat, like finely chopped leafy greens. He will have to eat the veggies to get the egg he wants. As he gets used to that you can add more veggies and less egg.

It is really important that he get good nutrition and vegetables, and definitely no hamburger meat.

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