Found her in my pool filter!

TheWolfmanTom":3ip5fbcl said:

Any baitstore will sell nightcrawlers.
Some walmarts do as well in sporting goods.

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Yea, I thought that too....Here theyseem to only sell stuff for saltwater fishing (shrimp, squid) But I haven't looked everywhere yet!

Well, it has been rainy off and on today so I decided to see waht I could dig up in the flower beds for Lucky to munch on. I found a ton of tiny garden snails, some pill bugs, and a few slugs. And guess what, she ate! Hopefully though she will take the the red wigglers too b/c digging for turtle food everyday will get old, quickly! But I'll do it because I'm such a good slave. I'm just happy that she ate.

Yes, what Tom said. You can get nightcrawlers at any bait store...sometimes you'll find them in 7-11's and stuff like that if your near a lake or river. I live right on the Shenandoah River, so my two little country stores both sell nightcrawlers. (I rinse off the worms, because I read somewhere that the "dirt" they are sold in isn't that great for the turtles to consume, but she loves eating them).

I am thinking I had the same problem getting my turtle to eat when I first saved her. But she eventually started eating. I'm pretty sure it was the strawberries that got her started. That and the nightcrawlers. I had a male once, who wouldn't eat ANYTHING unless it moved. He was a mean sucker though.

What was it that she ate from those lists of things you found in the garden? By the way, mine will even eat dubia nymphs...but you have to figure out a way to slow the nymph down...its way too fast for a turtle to catch. THAT I will leave to YOUR imagination. ;-)

I used to have a dubia colony but I got rid of it before I moved here to FL. They aren't allowed, eventhough I'm sure I could have gotten away with it, I didn't want the dubia to get away from me! :shock: So, on Thursday I saw her eat 1 snail, 1 slug, and 1 pill bug I have no idea what else she may have eaten when I wasn't looking. I have been trying not to bother her too much until she is settled. Yesterday (Friday) morning I offered her a combination of soaked dog kibble and cat kibble (I use a high quality food) and 2 different kinds of canned box turtle food. I made a soupy chunky mixture, "turtle soup" maybe? :lol: Anyway, I did see her take a few bites from a chunk of dog kibble, but again beyond that I'm not sure because I left her undisturbed with the food for a good 30 minutes. There did not seem to be a dent in the amount of food that was there, but I went a little overboard on the amount. She has red wigglers, snails, slugs, and some pill bugs that are crawling around in her bin with her. I cannot say if she has eaten any red wigglers though. I wanted to make things less hands on for me until she adjusted that's why I just threw it all in. As soon as she is more comfortable though it will not be that way beacuse I hate not really knowing how much food she is consuming. Today I have throw in some green and I figured that would be enough because there is live food in there if she wants it. Do you think that offereing her the "turtle soup" every other day is enough? What would you recommend? I hope that she will adjust to the red wigglers because all the fishing here is saltwater, so that means no worms anywhere....

Hah! That will teach me to check for a second page before I post. I didn't read you had already tried the stores before I posted. Sorry. ;-)

I am thinking that will be enough. She has food in there, so she wont starve. You have seen that she will eat, so no problem there. Every other day for now would be fine. I have seen mine goes days without eating. (Kinda upsets me when I waste turtle pellets like that, as they will get old after a day or two.) Also, turtles hibernate. I didn't allow mine to hibernate completely last year, because of her problems. (You never want to let a sick turtle hibernate, so I have read) But during this time she would sleep alot and barely ate at all. I was concerned, but its been about 2 months now that she has been up and active and eating daily again.

Jen, that's awesome that you saw her eat! I know that Grimm eats something because I can tell that she moves her food around but she's pretty shy about eating in front of us...I've only seen her eat once...I think I'm going to try some turtle food too.

My son and I have been doing a ton of reading (there are a few good turtle sites out there) it seems that box turtles do not eat that much and can go a long time with out food. I'm not sure of the exact wed address, but google Bills Box Turtles, he's got a great site with loads of pics and info. We have only been offering food every other day, but she also has bugs in her bin with her; pill bugs, snails, worms...

Wow, I forgot about Bill!!! Most of my turtle knowledge came from him when I got my first turtle. IMHO, he has the best site out there for box turtle care. Here is the link:

http://www.billsboxturtles.com/

it looks kinda likea wood turtle.

Have you tried greens yet? Mine loved having greens every day. In fact I didnt know to give it meats and had it for 15 years and never gave it meats.

You know..... you could ALWAYS put a cover on the filter (like a basket cover) and put a float in your pool. Just a goofy thought.

midkiffsjoy":23itatyw said:

Have you tried greens yet? Mine loved having greens every day. In fact I didnt know to give it meats and had it for 15 years and never gave it meats.

You know..... you could ALWAYS put a cover on the filter (like a basket cover) and put a float in your pool. Just a goofy thought.

Click to expand...

I've tried greens and strawberries....she's really picky, but still super young so we will see. She likes snails and pill bugs and the occasional mushroom or piece of dog kibble right now. Where we found her was in the skimmer basket that is to the side of the pool. It is an ingound pool so I guess she just walked right in? I do try to leave a kick board in the pool all the time now because we are forever finding lizards and frogs. Chemically the pool is fine though, so I guess they are falling in by mistake, kinda like Lucky the turtle.

We have 2 three-toed box turtles. They love meal worms and slugs are a big favorite of Gordon's. The larger one will eat just about any insect it can catch. I've built a table for them not as big as the 4X4 that's suggested because of lack of space. However they seam to like it. I would also suggest not to keep it too moist because it could cause a repository infection. Also keep watch on her eyes. If they seam to get puffy or glossed over with a milky looking substance it could be a vitamin a deficiency and that she is also getting sick. They do sell turtle eye drops but you have to be careful with them because if used too frequently it could cause blindness.