My Gelatin Box Turtle Food (FOR Box Turtles, not Made With...)

[Mmathis]

I know you've all been dying to see how my new turtle food idea is working out.........right?

Well, first of all, let me say that THEY LOVE IT!

It's a little more work up front, but this batch I just made will feed them for several weeks (they get fed every other day). So, instead of having to fix their food each time, I just grab some cubes from the freezer, let 'em thaw, and serve!

And I can vary the ingredients each time, too, so they won't get bored.

This batch contains:

Green layer (entree) is -- spinach, bell pepper, carrots, corn, commercial boxie food (pellets), a couple of sardines (no salt added), olive oil (will get cod liver oil for future use), and Herp vitamins & minerals (powdered). Mix with gelatin.

Tan layer (dessert) is -- apples, pears, carrots, banana baby food, and blue berries (they LOVE BB's!). Mix with gelatin.

Then proceed like you would for any layered gel recipe. Normally, I wouldn't make it in layers (too much extra work), but I was so excited and wanted to put EVERYTHING in there, but didn't want all the flavors to cancel each other out -- yeah, like the turtles would care......

The cats got to sample the extra sardines from that can

And NO, I didn't try any of it -- too disgusting -- but I figured there'd be at least ONE someone who would ask that, sooooo.....

My "helper," Scout was very disappointed that the "dessert" batch wasn't the one with sardines......

 

[j.w]

Good job TM and if it would have been for water turtles I would have passed it on to my friend up the road

 

[Tula]

We have two box turtles who live at our school during the school year. I should pass along this recipe to the teacher who cares for them. She feeds them a wind variety of fruits and vegetables....and worms

 

[Mmathis]

Good job TM and if it would have been for water turtles I would have passed it on to my friend up the road

I'm not sure what the differences are between land turtle & water turtle diets, but I'm sure it could be adapted. I do think that water turtles only eat when they're in the water, so they'd have to be sure the food wouldn't foul the water.

It might be something fun to try, anyway.

We have two box turtles who live at our school during the school year. I should pass along this recipe to the teacher who cares for them. She feeds them a wind variety of fruits and vegetables....and worms

As long as she has access to a freezer, it might be perfect. Personally, I would continue to feed them the worms, alive....not that it would make any difference in the overall picture, but they LOVE to "hunt" and eat live food. Consider it an enrichment for them, LOL!

 

[j.w]

I'll let her know about it and she can try or not

 

[Mmathis]

I'll let her know about it and she can try or not

Tell her you can add just about anything you want -- ingredients aren't carved in stone. I just used what I know my turts like to eat.

 

[Catfishnut]

That was an awesome idea Turtle Mommy! Very ingenious, practical and nutritious! That might have been a menu entree to try out on my iguana that I had when I was a kid. He might have loved it.

Gordy

 

[Mmathis]

That was an awesome idea Turtle Mommy! Very ingenious, practical and nutritious! That might have been a menu entree to try out on my iguana that I had when I was a kid. He might have loved it.

Gordy

Speaking of your iguana reminded me of our cats and something to consider.... Since animals can be set in their ways, offering them a different food or a different FORM of food than what they're used to might require that you gradually introduce them to anything new. Our cats are picky eaters and spoiled (!), but an animal that's an omnivore or one that's a herbivore, who knows what they'll go for. Just have to experiment.

The turtles, on the other hand...... My boxies are omnivores and in nature would feed on anything that looked appetizing whether it was dead & rotting or alive & wiggling -- they go for anything that moves [that they can catch] or anything that smells good to them, from fresh or rotting fruits & veggies to carrion. Some animals ONLY eat live foods, and will ignore anything else.

So, @Tula & @j.w. , remind your friends to keep this in mind, though I know turtles will eat stuff like pelleted food and floating food sticks (aquatic turts). For more information on specific recipes, I would suggest doing an online search. Box turtles need about 50% protein in their diets. Babies need more, and that number can lessen as they age. And there are foods that shouldn't be fed, or should be used infrequently -- spinach is one of those, but it's all I had at the time.

And again, as to the actual recipe, I'm sure there are some that can be found online. As to the proportions, I just guessed -- boxies require a certain percentage of protein in their diet. I used Knox unflavored gelatin and used a full 4 packets per recipe [and that's still in the experimental phase as this was only the 2nd batch of gel-food I've made]. From there, I sorta followed the directions on the box. I chopped all my ingredients [blender] then mixed them together well. Then added the gelatin. For one batch I used some flexible ice cube trays -- that's why the ones in the pic are so uniform and smooth. With the remainder of the mixture, I used a large, square casserole dish. I froze the ones in the ice cube trays and popped them out. I just refrigerated the mix in the casserole and once it was well set, cut it into squares [not as uniform or pretty, but the turts won't mind]. If you've ever made Jell-O Jigglers, you know what I mean. Then I portioned them out, put them in sandwich size Zip-locks and put them in the freezer.

Both of you guys, be sure to let me know if your friends try this and how it worked -- especially with the aquatics turtles!

Oh, and this would be PERFECT to use if you ever had someone turtle-sitting for you!

 

[j.w]

TM I am gonna copy all this down and send it to her in an email. Thanks for the recipe and all the extra tips too

 

[Fishylove]

The water turtles that I have had over the years, i will see come up and snag fish pellets other than that, I suspect that the decline in minnows, some were do to them and the rest I'm sure it was the bull frogs.

 

[Dave 54]

Speaking of feeds TurtleMommy how are your gelatin fish cubes going down with your fish, well I hope ?
Val is dying to find out as she wants to make some for our koi using your recipes for Goldfish then tweaked a bit for koi
We'll keep you posted as to how we get on with it at a later date

Dave

 

[Tula]

Another thing our school box turtles love, is hard boiled eggs We saved many eggs left over from our Easter egg hunt and they were in heaven!

 

[Mmathis]

Speaking of feeds TurtleMommy how are your gelatin fish cubes going down with your fish, well I hope ?
Val is dying to find out as she wants to make some for our koi using your recipes for Goldfish then tweaked a bit for koi
We'll keep you posted as to how we get on with it at a later date

Dave

Working out very well! At first, I would put a couple of small cubes in the tank, and it might take several hours before they made a dent. I'd have to remove the excess. But now, when I put them in, they disappear!

Another thing our school box turtles love, is hard boiled eggs We saved many eggs left over from our Easter egg hunt and they were in heaven!

I've never tried eggs! Will have to do that -- thanks!

 

[C. Carl]

Speaking of your iguana reminded me of our cats and something to consider.... Since animals can be set in their ways, offering them a different food or a different FORM of food than what they're used to might require that you gradually introduce them to anything new. Our cats are picky eaters and spoiled (!), but an animal that's an omnivore or one that's a herbivore, who knows what they'll go for. Just have to experiment.

The turtles, on the other hand...... My boxies are omnivores and in nature would feed on anything that looked appetizing whether it was dead & rotting or alive & wiggling -- they go for anything that moves [that they can catch] or anything that smells good to them, from fresh or rotting fruits & veggies to carrion. Some animals ONLY eat live foods, and will ignore anything else.

So, @Tula & @j.w. , remind your friends to keep this in mind, though I know turtles will eat stuff like pelleted food and floating food sticks (aquatic turts). For more information on specific recipes, I would suggest doing an online search. Box turtles need about 50% protein in their diets. Babies need more, and that number can lessen as they age. And there are foods that shouldn't be fed, or should be used infrequently -- spinach is one of those, but it's all I had at the time.

And again, as to the actual recipe, I'm sure there are some that can be found online. As to the proportions, I just guessed -- boxies require a certain percentage of protein in their diet. I used Knox unflavored gelatin and used a full 4 packets per recipe [and that's still in the experimental phase as this was only the 2nd batch of gel-food I've made]. From there, I sorta followed the directions on the box. I chopped all my ingredients [blender] then mixed them together well. Then added the gelatin. For one batch I used some flexible ice cube trays -- that's why the ones in the pic are so uniform and smooth. With the remainder of the mixture, I used a large, square casserole dish. I froze the ones in the ice cube trays and popped them out. I just refrigerated the mix in the casserole and once it was well set, cut it into squares [not as uniform or pretty, but the turts won't mind]. If you've ever made Jell-O Jigglers, you know what I mean. Then I portioned them out, put them in sandwich size Zip-locks and put them in the freezer.

Both of you guys, be sure to let me know if your friends try this and how it worked -- especially with the aquatics turtles!

Oh, and this would be PERFECT to use if you ever had someone turtle-sitting for you!

I do the same and freeze in ice cube trays but without the gelatin. I find it works great.

 

[Mmathis]

Wow, this is an oldie for me, LOL!

@C. Carl There are so many ways to feed the critters. The reason I use gelatin is that it holds everything together after the food has had a chance to warm up (I don’t like to feed too cold or frozen food to my turts).

And, hello and welcome to our group! Why not go over to our “introductions” topic and tell us a little about yourself! Do you have a pond? What other critters do you keep?