Box Turtle and Tortoise Discussion :: I need more help.

[RR38]

I know all of you guys are probably tired of me posting for your help, but here I go again. I recently moved my eastern box turtle into a new cage. She was in a 20 gallon long fish tank, but I built her a new wooden setup that 48"L X 18"W X 18" H. Well since I moved her in there two weeks ago she hasent eaten a thing.
Now I should mention she was having problems eating when I first got her a couple months ago, she would only eat strawberries. But I finally got her to eat other things. She was eating a "salad" of sorts, it had different mixes of strawberry, blueberries, balckberries, apple, corn, collard and mustard greens, carrots and some dandelion flowers and greens, and it also had either earthworms, grasshoppers or mealworms mixed in. But all of a sudden she just stopped eating. I have looked over every possible cause of her hunger strike I could think of. I havent changed her eating schedule, I feed her every other day at 10:00 AM. She dosent look sick to me. She has heathly looking bright green eyes, with no swelling, puffyness or drainage. She dosent have any nasal discharge either. Her beck isint overgrown. She dosent have heavy breathing. I keep her setup temperature at a range of 75 to 78 at the cold end with a warmer end of 80- 82, with a humidity of 70-75 percent. I am at a loss here. Is she just stressed from the move? I would of thought she would be comfortable by now with her new setup. How long can she go without eating? I have 5 other turtles, 4 RES and a southern painted, and have never had this much trouble with them. I know boxies slow down this time of year and dont eat as much, but she has just quit eating all together. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Russell

[jay2487]

maybe she still ahsn't gotten used to the new setup yet?
I know when i changed the setup for my RES it took a few days before they started eating again.

[RR38]

maybe she still ahsn't gotten used to the new setup yet?
I know when i changed the setup for my RES it took a few days before they started eating again.

Thats kind of what I thought, she had to get used to the new surrondings, but its been two weeks. It just seems like somethings wrong.

[jenaero]

The warm end isn't warm enough. Should be closer to 90F. Fixing that should help.

[RR38]

The warm end isn't warm enough. Should be closer to 90F. Fixing that should help.

Okay, is that all you see that I am doing wrong?

[jenaero]

Sorry, i had very little time to reply earlier.

Boxies do slow down this time of year even with steady warm temperature.
If you can get him to eat a few days a week he'll be fine.

Try slow moving live prey.. boxies can't ignore that most times. Earthworms, silk worms, butter worms. Don't mix it with anything, just put it down in front of him and step out of his view.

You could also give crickets a try. Take the back legs off so that they can still walk, but not jump. I wouldn't be surprised if he chased them around a bit.

[RR38]

Sorry, i had very little time to reply earlier.

Boxies do slow down this time of year even with steady warm temperature.
If you can get him to eat a few days a week he'll be fine.

Try slow moving live prey.. boxies can't ignore that most times. Earthworms, silk worms, butter worms. Don't mix it with anything, just put it down in front of him and step out of his view.

You could also give crickets a try. Take the back legs off so that they can still walk, but not jump. I wouldn't be surprised if he chased them around a bit.

Thanks jenaero, I will try the moving prey. I do already know she dosent like crickets, she never has. I will try the worms though. By the way whats a butterworm?

[jenaero]

They carry them at most pet stores.. they look like pinkish/orange maggots.. but not nearly that gross lol. They'll tell you how to keep them in your fridge. My boxie was hooked on them and they've got a good calcium content I think.

[imderanged]

My boxie was doing the same thing to me. When he finally ate , he ate waxworms.

PS, your Boxie has green eyes? I've never seen that, mine's eyes are brown.

[RR38]

My boxie was doing the same thing to me. When he finally ate , he ate waxworms.

PS, your Boxie has green eyes? I've never seen that, mine's eyes are brown.

Something I have noticed about eastern boxie eyes, every turtle I have found in the wild has green eyes, and every captive born turtle has brown eyes. I am sure its just coincidence though. This is another reason though I think Buttercup was taken out of wild by her old owner.

[jenaero]

I've heard that eye colour is related to sex. I can't remember where I read/heard it or even which sex has brown and which has colour. Not sure how accurate it is. You could probably google that.

[imderanged]

I've heard that eye colour is related to sex. I can't remember where I read/heard it or even which sex has brown and which has colour. Not sure how accurate it is. You could probably google that.

Males eyes are supposed to be red, but I don't think that they are red from birth. I actually have tried to look that up and cannot figure out when they are supposed to "change"

[RR38]

Figured I would give a update to everyone who helped me. I finally got buttercup to eat after a month of her starving herself. Sadly she is back to only eating strawberries. I got her pond/waterfall system built that I wanted. It has a shallow end of 2" and a deep end of 4". The deep end is big enough for her to "paddle" around. I also have a strawberry bush in with her that is doing well. Everything is going well so far. Well there is the update, thanks to all of you that have given me advice. I would post some pictures by my camera broke

[Terryo]

Isn't there any way you could post a picture of that water set up. I would love to see that.

[RR38]

Isn't there any way you could post a picture of that water set up. I would love to see that.

I will try and borrow a camera and take a picture for you guys. Its pretty basic. I used a clear 18" X 18" rubbermaid container as the "pond", then I stacked up a couple rocks around a zoomed pump with a waterline that runs water over the rocks back into the pond. Like I said very basic. Although part of the pond is pretty deep for her (4 inches). She actually goes in there and wades in the deep part, didnt know that boxies could swim... well its more of a doggie paddle . Also learned that strawberry bushes dont do very well in a indoor setup, they are dying. I actually think that my 48" 5.0 UVB bulb might not be enough "sunlight", I thought about buying one of those plant bulbs for planted aquariums.