found a turtle! don't know what to feed!

[lute]

my grandpa found a baby turtle. looks to be like a box turtle or something. she's only the size of a quarter. i'm taking her home. i've had a turtle before(red-eared slider) but that was years ago and i don't remember what to feed them.

any other advice would be great!
THANKS!

[Karen]

Special turtle food from the store is your best bet - she's too little for fish quite yet, and we don't know what plants she'd eat.

[lute]

Special turtle food from the store is your best bet - she's too little for fish quite yet, and we don't know what plants she'd eat.
i'm off to the store! :D thanks Karen!

[Jessika]

Its illegal to own a turtle under 4" in length on the carapice, and even more illegal to take one from the wild and keep as a pet. Baby turtles are really good surviving on its own in the wild and foraging for itself. Your absolute best bet is to just let it go on its own in the wild. No commercial food will ever be as good for it. Turtles are carnivorious, especially hatchlings. Find out the exact breed of it, and then search for that breed specific diet for it. Commercial turtle food is ok, but home made diet is better, and on its own in the wild is the best.

[dab_20]

Its illegal to own a turtle under 4" in length on the carapice, and even more illegal to take one from the wild and keep as a pet. Baby turtles are really good surviving on its own in the wild and foraging for itself. Your absolute best bet is to just let it go on its own in the wild. No commercial food will ever be as good for it. Turtles are carnivorious, especially hatchlings. Find out the exact breed of it, and then search for that breed specific diet for it. Commercial turtle food is ok, but home made diet is better, and on its own in the wild is the best.

I agree. I would just let the turtle go, it's his best bet for a happy life. Maybe you could get one of those turtles at the pet store if you really want one?

[Chilli]

As hard as it will be, I agree that its best for the turtle to be in the wild.
I'm unsure if it's illegal, though. Here in Arkansas they don't say its illegal, but I know for certain its that way in Missouri (I live close to the Arkansas-Missouri line... and i know you don't live in Missouri, Lute.).
Petstore turtles do have quite a pricetag (box turtles here at Petco are around $70-some), but at least he would be domesticated.
Good luck on whatever you decision may be. :)

[Jessika]

My point is that it is illegal in the entire US to own a turtle under 4" in carapice length, regardless of where you live, species, etc.

[king2005]

My point is that it is illegal in the entire US to own a turtle under 4" in carapice length, regardless of where you live, species, etc.

yes & no.. You can breed your 2 turtles & produce baby turtles.. you just cannot sell those until they are 4" in length.

If your gonna break the law & keep him, go to this site www.turtletimes.com/forums There are PROs there & they will tell you that store bought foods isn't enough & they are not designed for Box turtles, usually only RES.

I'm one of the common snapper Pros on there :)

[Jessika]

yes & no.. You can breed your 2 turtles & produce baby turtles.. you just cannot sell those until they are 4" in length.

If your gonna break the law & keep him, go to this site www.turtletimes.com/forums There are PROs there & they will tell you that store bought foods isn't enough & they are not designed for Box turtles, usually only RES.

I'm one of the common snapper Pros on there :)

Well of course, but "technically" if the tortoise/turtle is native to your area, you need a license to keep it as a pet to begin with. You can have squirrels as pets in Japan, but not here in the US because they're native, you get what I'm saying?

[king2005]

Well of course, but "technically" if the tortoise/turtle is native to your area, you need a license to keep it as a pet to begin with. You can have squirrels as pets in Japan, but not here in the US because they're native, you get what I'm saying?


Yes, but not every state is the same.. On TT there are soooo many people all over the usa with Box turtles. They'll know the laws best.

[Jessika]

I used to work at PetCo and we worked closely with people who were cracking down on stuff like this because these people would come in to buy stuff for their tortoises they found in their backyards and such.

In the United States, it is illegal to take any wild animal from their habitat and keep it as a pet. Yes, people do it, but that does not change the law.

I tried to find specific information but sources were hard to come by (especially when all the links that came up pertained to owning Exotics such as Tigers and Bears lol!)

http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer?pagename=adopt_exotics
http://www.houstonzoo.org/Wild_Animals_Not_Pets/Index.aqf

Wow finding information is a lot harder than it looks

EDIT: Ahha found something useful finally!

http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/statbook/indian.html

To obtain permits: http://www.fws.gov/permits/

Federal Law handbook:
http://ipl.unm.edu/cwl/fedbook/index.html

[buttercup132]

:confused: Box turtles are really common pets where I live though I dont think there illegal where I live then.

[Jessika]

:confused: Box turtles are really common pets where I live though I dont think there illegal where I live then.

"Box Turtles" are not a species of turtles, they're just the land tortoises all lumped into one category. There are MANY different species of tortoises. Some are native to certain areas, some aren't. Some are illegal to own without a permit, some aren't. It just depends on your local laws and what species you wish to keep as a pet. I suggest calling around or even searching online for local conservation laws for your area. Though you live close to me, so our wildlife would be relatively the same, I can not imagine our laws would differ a whole lot.

EDIT: Oops, I meant LUTE lived relatively close to me, sorry ;)

[lute]

i had no idea it was illigal to keep such a small turtle. so many people have pet box tutles around here. i'll let her go. :)