I just got an Eastern Box Turtle!!!!

[Cantra]

She's still young the people who gave her to me said they had her for 5 years and that the people who had her before them had her for 2 years, so she's only 7 years old. the first people who had her had been on a walk in florida and found a nest of turtle eggs and took two of them home with them. Only one of the eggs hatched.

I've have an outside area for her for whenever its not to cold for her to be outside (which is almost all year round except late october-febuary) and an inside tank for when its to cold for her to be outside. Only things i really want to know is how long will she live? What should i feed her to keep her the most healthy?

 

[Bllib]

I used to feed mine meal worms, lettuce, fruits, even hotdogs. That was a while ago before turtle were popular to keep as pets. I think box turtle can live at least 25 years??? You could probably do a search on google and find out more accurate info. Good luck

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Congrats on your new EBT! I have 4 of them that I keep in an outdoors pen year round. You could do the same with your new turtle seeing how you live in a Texas. Your turtle should hibernate just fine in the winter and I highly recommend that you let it do this and not bring it indoors during the winter. Box turtles are one of those species that does poorly if kept indoors their whole lives. They need a cooling period or they become stressed and it will weaken their immune system and shorten their lives. Here's a link to my outdoor pen so you can get an idea. Make sure when keeping it outdoors that it has plenty of shade to escape the heat as well as a shallow pan of water to cool off in. These guys don't like really hot temperatures.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102081&page=3

I feed my box turtles chopped tomatoes, grated carrots and squash, raspberries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, rose petals, dandilions flowers, earthworms, crickets, grasshoppers and on the rare occasion tuna and lean canned dog food. My turtle can also free-range on anything growing in their pen.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

I think box turtle can live at least 25 years???

Try 50-100 years.

2 of my females I've had more than 20 years. When I got them they were probably around 20-30 years old at the time.

 

[Cantra]

How big will she get?

 

[Vicious_Fish]

About 6-7 inches SCL.

 

[dzb912]

my box turtle loved strawberries bananas and blueberries

 

[Cantra]

I've been experamenting with the different foods mentioned here for what she likes the best and so far she likes bananas, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, meal worms, and apples. things she doesn't like are crickets, blueberries, blackberries, earthworms, raspberries.

is there any supplaments that she might need? My mom said that they need calcium supplaments and i haven't been able to get it yet and from what i've been told by those who owned her before she's never been given any supplaments of any kind.

 

[rmorse]

I've been experamenting with the different foods mentioned here for what she likes the best and so far she likes bananas, tomatoes, carrots, strawberries, meal worms, and apples. things she doesn't like are crickets, blueberries, blackberries, earthworms, raspberries.

is there any supplaments that she might need? My mom said that they need calcium supplaments and i haven't been able to get it yet and from what i've been told by those who owned her before she's never been given any supplaments of any kind.

keep trying on the earth worms....they love them.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

keep trying on the earth worms....they love them.

Yeah, mine go nuts for them. Just keep the diet varied and add vitamins to the food every now and then. Box turtles are very prone to Vitamin A deficiency so make sure they get get grated carrots or squash with every meal.