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Curious about box turtle |
| This is what our member has to say: I was at the zoo today and watched a box turtle eat a mouse!
As most of you know I'm a snake-person and so excuse ... |
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03-02-2005, 03:59 PM
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Curious about box turtle
I was at the zoo today and watched a box turtle eat a mouse!
As most of you know I'm a snake-person and so excuse the ignorance... I was surprised; I thought turtles and tortoises were vegetarians or maybe fish-eaters. 
It was pretty interesting to watch!
Here's a picture: not great quality cuz I had to take it through the glass, but the light pink tail of the mouse is sticking out of it's mouth.
This turtle was being housed in the same enclosure as a Chinese Water Dragon.
Is this an unusual pairing?
See pics
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Andrea
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03-02-2005, 04:26 PM
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Eastern box turtles are veggies. And I do not think that pairing one with a water dragon makes sense as there environments are different. Is it possibly an Asian Box ?? I really am not sure as to how an Asian would pair. Did the zoo identify which type of Box it was ?,,,,,none the less,,,great pics.
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03-02-2005, 04:27 PM
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Ooops,,,,Eastern Box will eat an occasional earthworm so it is possible to take a mouse
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Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "
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03-02-2005, 04:50 PM
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North American box turtles are omnivorous. Protein from earthworms/bugs and so forth should make up nearly half their diet. Some are more carnivorous (like the Desert box) and some are more herbivorous (like the Eastern box). In the wild scavenging is pretty common, when its available. I'm sure they would eat rodents if you let them, but should probably be done so in moderation.
Asian boxes are also omnivorous, but tend to eat more meats. Mice is probably the simplest whole-prey source of nutrition for the zoo.
All tortoises I can think of off hand are vegetarians. Some are even more specific than that, eating only grasses, and not much for broad-leafy vegetables.
D
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03-02-2005, 05:17 PM
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That looks like an asian species of turtle. I know my snapping turtles ate mice
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03-02-2005, 10:39 PM
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Yeah, that's a malayan box turtle. They're not related to the american ones though. They're also more aquatic, so I'm surprised to see it on land. He even looks a little dry. As for eating mice, maybe a pinkie, but I don't think an adult mouse would be a good idea, they're not THAT carnivorous. Is it possible its a worm and not a mouse? They love worms.
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03-03-2005, 03:03 AM
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Thanks everyone: it is some sort of Asian variety: I'll go back and get the Latin name for you. I usually see it in the water, but it just came out to eat this mouse (not a pinkie!). I'm sure it was a mouse because I saw it lying in there before and saw the lower half of it's body sticking out of the turtle's mouth... by the time I got over my surprise and pulled out my camera only the tail was sticking out, though.
It must have been feeding day in the Vivarium because a lot of the enclosures had handfulls of dead mice dropped into them.
The Brazilian Rainbow Boa enclosure had about 6-9 mice dropped in a pile for 3 BRBs! I guess they don't worry about who eats them all or if each animal gets enough... or if they swallow substrate. (Talyn would make quick work of that pile of mice and STILL want more! -- Q wouldn't have a chance!)
Boy my snakes have a great life -- carefully weighed, thawed rats (not mice!), warmed up just right and dropped in front of their nose (even wiggled to make the "kill" more interesting) all in a safe plastic container with NO feeding competition.
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Andrea
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03-03-2005, 07:40 PM
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That's so interesting. I never thought a malayan box turtle would go for a full sized mouse like that. Cool  Scientific name: Cuora amboinensis
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03-06-2005, 04:19 PM
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As for the original question; Terrapene often will eat a mouse. Basically, if it moves and they can over power it they will eat it. This goes for all of the Genus. I include rodents in the diet of my Boxies, sparingly, since the normal food items aren't exactly healthful in long term affects. Nothing surprising, nor harmful.
As for Cuora, I haven't the slightest idea on what's good, so Matt, you better be right. heh.
Zane
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03-09-2005, 02:51 PM
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by furryscaly
Scientific name: Cuora amboinensis |
Yes, that's exactly it! I went to the zoo again today to check and that was the Scientific name for this mouse-eating turtle.
You really know your stuff furryscaly!!!
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Andrea
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