I found a turtle in the mountain near my house & I took it home. What shall I feed it?

Answers:
My turtles will eat most of the stuff I eat. They are box turtles. Do not feed it ice burg lettuce. They love eggs, bugs, tomatoes, cheese, meats, etc.. I have one that loves cheesecake.

One of mine I found because he was ran over buy a car. Took care of him and had him for 9 years now. The others I found in town either in the road or almost in the road.

---

Well it depends on what kind it is. however most turtles eat crickets, fish, worms, lettuce, carrots. etc.

---

It depends. My aunt gives hers frozen chopped up vegetables, and worms as a treat. Just give them about a half cup every day. Good luck! and im sure that you could google it and find out more.

---

Put it back, Do you even know what type of turtle it is, they hibernate now, how would you like some huge stupid thing to come pick you up and take you home, It is wrong put it back some turtles are on the endangered or threatened species list, what is wrong with you. If you want a turtle at least go buy one that was bred in captivity

---

Depends on what kind of turtle it is. If it is a land and water turtle, it will eat fish, fruits, and some vegetables like corn on the cob, squash, spinich, all fresh of course. If it is only a land turtle, it eats roughphage, bugs, insects, and some fruits. ask your local vet to be sure, turtles carry various disease, must be careful handling them, they are somewhat difficult to care for as well.

---

most all turtles/tortoises love veggies and fruits. lettuce, carrots, spinach, strawberries, ect. but you should go online or to a pet shop and findout what type of turtle you have annd then mabe you can get a better idea of what kind of food you should feed it.

---

If you live in the US what you did may very likely be ILLEGAL. Put it back where you found it. If it was in the road you can put it next to the road.

---

bring it back to the mountain.

get one from a pet store when you have the knowledge and resources to take care of the little guy properly

---

Vegetable,carrot.

---

Hi

First it was not lost,, so you did not find it.. you took it from its home!

You SHOULD put it back..

Since I doubt you will do this

THen I suggest You get on the task on identifying the poor thing..
Oncec you find out what type of turtle you have
Call A pet shop or local University Herpetology department or
Even your High school or Middle school biology teachers

Get some advice

Do not put the thing back out in the cold.
Wild Turtles hibernate in winter if you dump him out in cold he will die

Good Luck.. and the next time you "find" something out in the wild,, uninjured.

PLEASE.. leave it there!

Wismom

---

1. To answer this, we REALLY need to know what species. In fact, if you don't know the species, you really can't give it the care it needs. You can describe it to us (the helpful elements are back shell color, shape, pattern if any; belly shell- same thing; head and neck color and pattern) and we will try to help, or you can look for it in the photo galleries of http://www.tortoise.org or http://www.austinsturtlepage.com. (FYI- I'd guess it was a box turtle.)

2. It honestly is illegal to collect wild turtles in many parts of the country. Sadly, most species are endangered, and many that are not endangered are still covered under various game laws. Sure- it is unlikely you'll get busted, but the laws are there to protect the animals, so I appreciate the spirit of most of these laws. (Box turtles are a good example of this- they are 'spread out' enough that if you remove one from the wild, it could mess up the breeding chances for three or four other turtles.)

3. Pet turtles are actually a lot harder to care for tham people think. Everyone thinks these are cute, easy care animals that eat anything while they really require pretty elaborate set-ups to provide the right habitat. It can easily cost $100 to set-up a simple turtle tank the right way.

Don't believe me? How long do most of the pet turtles you know about live? The average pet turtle in the US lives 6 months to 2 years, with some lasting 5 or 6 years. This sounds OK until you realize that they should live for about 30 years easily!

4. Pet turtles are hard to care for- strike one. Wild caught turtles are even harder to care for- strike two. Turtles are yet harder to care for as we move into fall- a lot of pet turtles will die in the next few months from poor winter care- strike three. You don't even seem to know the species right now, so you can't offer the right care anyway- strike four. I'd release it!

5. IF you decide to keep it, AND you can figure out the species, you can use the care sheets at http://www.austinsturtlepage.com. to figure out the complete diet.

6. A diet primer:
Pond turtles, like Painted turtles, Red-ear sliders, and other sliders, cooters, etc.:
- High quality turtle pellets
- Aquatic insects, worms (blood worms are good for young turtles), and snails
- Small fish, crustaceans, shellfish, crawdads
- Older pond turtles will eat some dark leafy greens (you may have to lightly boil them to get them to sink in the tank a little)

Box turtles in the wild eat 75% insects, bugs, worms, snails, etc. The rest is a wide variety of grasses, vegetation, fungi, fruits and berries, etc. They make good box turtle foods at bigger pet shops that you can supplement with all kinds of stuff.

DO NOT USE light green head lettuce, hamburger, hot dogs, or most dog or cat foods with turtles.

---

I had turtles when I was a kid (painted and box turtles) I gave them raw hamburger and lettuce. They love raw hamburger!!