Do foxes eat turtles?

Do foxes eat turtles? See which animals eat sea turtles and tortoises 

Animals eating other animals is something rather obvious in the animal kingdom. Turtles eat small fish, insects, veggies (are tomatoes good for turtles to eat?) and plants, whereas animals such as sharks, some species of snakes, and birds prey on pet turtles. But what about foxes? Do these carnivorous creatures eat turtles? And if so, how often does it happen that these reptiles become the prey for not so much domestic dogs? 

Well, the short answer is yes, they do eat turtles. In fact, they are more interested in eating turtles than, let’s say, crocodiles and alligators, or even snakes. It is all due to the fact that they are better equipped to fight off the ultimate defense of a turtle, namely their hard shell. Still, you must have many different questions as far as the relationship between a fox and a turtle is concerned. 

Luckily for you, in this article I am going to tell you all there is about foxes eating turtles, how dangerous these mammals are for our reptiles. Besides that, I will also use my decades of experience as a turtle owner to tell you how they hunt turtles, what are the most threatened species, and what other animals eat turtles. 

What exactly do these animals eat?

The interesting thing about these animals is that they do not necessarily focus on turtles. Obviously, when they stumble upon a turtle nest or they find a specimen that is appropriate for them, they surely will take advantage of this opportunity and enjoy the meal. Nonetheless, they usually have other plans for their meal. However, it is important to notice that being a scavenger, the animals look at many different options.

1. Bugs and insects – Beetles, grasshoppers, caterpillars, silkworms;
2. Fruits and vegetables – Blueberries, cherries, blackberries, mulberries, apples, raspberries, grapes, corn, barley, green beans ; check if your turtle can eat mushrooms ?
3. Domestic and wild birds – blackbirds, robins, starlings, doves, pigeons, chickens, water fowls.
4. Small mammals – rabbits, very small dogs and puppies, small cats and kittens;
5. Human food – anything that we eat might as well be a meal for a wild canine. They even eat throwaway food as well as some of the things we treat as junk.

How can a fox hunt and eat a turtle?

Together with coyotes, they are distant relatives of a dog. These animals scavenge a lot and they are pretty great at it. Thanks to their incredible sense of smell, they are capable of sniffing out the nest of a reptile and then eat turtle eggs, or turtle babies. Noteworthy is the fact that they are even capable of eating adult turtles if they find the right opportunity and catch a moment before turtles protect themselves by using one of their most effective methods – retract to the turtle shells.

It is important to remember that the main goal of a fox is to get into a nest or near it to eat baby turtles or the hatchlings. They are not going to attack it with an adult turtle inside or nearby. You see, rarely it happens that this animal eats a turtle, mainly because they are much harder to kill. They simply know how to bite, their jaw is strong, and the shell is not something these scavengers can easily overcome. That is the reason why most of predators’ prey are baby turtles with less skilled combat skills and softer shells as well as eggs. 

Turtle hunting is mostly based on their sense of smell

When searching for the food, foxes and other dog-like wild animals tend to base their information on the sense of smell. As a result, they can look for a scent for hours and once they get this, they will follow it until they reach the source of the smell. Since they are cunning animals, they are not going to attack once they get to the prey.

As a result, turtles may feel safe for a while, but at the same time the predator will definitely stalk a turtle and wait until it goes to sleep or leaves the baby turtles alone. Besides that, foxes have superior hearing skills and, as a result, they can identify their prey long before they see it.

What other carnivorous mammals and the rest of animals eat turtles? 

Sadly for turtles, there are many other animals that like to eat turtles. Do crocodiles eat turtles? Alligators and crocodiles will definitely look for an easy meal, especially if somehow they find themselves in the same habitat. Besides that, larger snakes may look at baby turtles, hatchlings, or turtle eggs. Noteworthy is the fact that as far as baby turtles and turtle eggs are concerned, these two have a much larger spectrum of enemies – starting from such small animals as ferrets and skunks, and ending on opossums or weasels. Even a raccoon can eat hatchlings or slightly older, yet still young turtles. Most of these predators apply to tortoise hunting just as well.

Although tortoises do not have to worry about maritime predators, turtles and aquatic turtles surely do. And it doesn’t look better in the water, which is the primary domain of many turtles. There, both smaller turtles as well as bigger sea turtles cannot catch a break. A lot of people wonder do sharks eat turtles? Well, the answer is yes. They fall victim of white sharks and killer whales. A dolphin may also prey on these reptiles, just like some of the more aggressive crabs – the best example is a crab species known as Ghost crabs.

Here, it is important to remember that turtles are… cannibals. Yes, some turtles eat turtles! Usually, such a situation occurs if we are dealing with quite a gigantic turtle that is swarmed with many smaller turtles. If, additionally, the larger reptile is hungry, it will most definitely eat smaller turtles. 

These creatures have enemies in the air just as well. Do hawks eat turtles? Crow, vulture, heron, crow, owl, crane, eagle, and much larger like hawks – all these small and large birds dine on turtles.

Obviously, let’s not forget about other canines

Besides foxes, there are other large and medium-sized dog-like canines. One of the best examples are coyotes, which similarly to the animals in question tend to hunt turtles. Primarily, their goal is to find nests and eat away all the eggs. However, if they find baby turtles or even juveniles, they will most definitely go for it. 

Now you know whether foxes eat turtles! 

There are surely a lot of enemies out in the wilderness as far as turtles are concerned. Neither can they feel safe in the freshwater nor on the land. Even aerial animals like to eat small adult sea turtles as well as turtle eggs and hatchlings. Out of all these predators, foxes are quite sneaky and cunning and, because of that, they are considered one of the largest threats to smaller reptiles as well as their eggs. 

Still, these mammals have plenty of other things to hunt on, so saying that a turtle is the primary goal of a fox is a big understatement. Their diet is much more diverse than most of us think, so we should not believe that the only animal foxes eat are turtles. It doesn’t change the fact that quite often smaller species like box turtles often fall prey to natural predators in many parts of the world. One of the few exceptions may be a snapping turtle, one of the turtle’s most aggressive representative, which more often is the predator than the prey.