Got a Box Turtle - *pics &update pg 3 *

[Goat_Walker]

ok, so i now have a box...turtle....tourtousie....thing.


ANyway - I went and talked to a guy who knows about them but i forgot to ask if it would be best to have him in an aquarium or a rabbit cage with a plastic bottom and wire top .

SO - Aquarium or rabbit cage???? I have the heat bulb, light, and all that jazz

 

[kla37]

Are you sure of what it is? A turtle needs an aquatic environment, a tortoise needs a terrestrial one.

 

[dinahmoe]

although a box turtle does not need an aquatic environment.
post a picture of it and go online and read,read,read.reptiles can get deformaties if they are not taken care of properly and that all depends on its breed.some are vegetarian,some are not and feeding alot of animal protien to a veggie tortoise is damaging.

go to a site called-kingsnake.com and you can find out everything from housing to pictures of what you may have and even talk to experts about it.

 

[kla37]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Box_turtle

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/midorcas/research/Contribute/box%20turtle/boxinfo.htm

Here is some more info. I've only had red-eared sliders, I didn't like having them in an aquarium in the house they were very messy and stinky! Maybe box turtles would be better since they don't need water to live in!

 

[HeatherLynn]

We have had several over the years. We have always used an aquarium. Not so much to keep water in but to provide the right environment. I mix clean soil and mulch and put that over a layer of gravel. In that I actually will put small plants. Little ferns, ect. I might mulch those with moss from our woods. I might put large leaves in that it can hide under and I do mist now and then. We bury in a shallow water bowl also.

I have always provided crickets, worms, ect just a variety of 'meat' and then veggies and fruits. Mine have always done very well. Usually we end up keeping injured ones who have not yet healed through the winter so keep in mind we have never kept one for more than 8 or 9 months. They are always released again when we think they can best make it on their own but they seem to be in pretty fair shape.

 

[Goat_Walker]

I thought he was a tortoise when i first got him because of the shell being domed instead of oval/flat. The guy i talked to said he was a box "turtle" but does not need water to get into like a "turtle" ive had red ear sliders before. He said for right now I could just use hay for bedding as long as i watch the heat lamp

 

[sourland]

Check your local wild life laws. Here in NJ, box turtles are considered an endangered species and it is illegal to possess them. Far cry from when I was a kid and had a pen in the back yard with 20 or more. We always released them every autumn. They love fruits (strawberries are a real favorite), vegetables, moistened dog food, meat scraps, just about everything they are omnivorous.

 

[hollyclyff]

A large plastic tote is a much better habitat for a box turtle than either an aquarium or a cage. Definitely not the cage. That is if it is truly a box turtle. If it is native to your area, it would be best to build a pen outdoors once the weather warms up. You need to find out exactly what kind of turtle it is - there are different species of box turtles too. I have two eastern box turtles and I keep them outdoors in a 12 x 6 pen year round. When they were hatchlings I kept them in a big tote in the house during the winter, but I let them hibernate now. I don't see them from about Nov - March. Of course you can't just throw this one outdoors at this time of year.

I wouldn't use hay bedding for a box turtle. When I kept mine inside I used a mixture of clean bagged soil (with no perlite) chopped leaves and that coconut bedding that comes in a brick at the pet store. I can't remember the name of it, but you soak it in water and it expands. And have a dish of water that it can climb in and soak. And a hiding place away from the lamp.

 

[hollyclyff]

Here are some pics of my turtles' homes over the years.

This is the only one I could find of the indoor container.

Here is their original outdoor pen (6 x 3) where they lived the first few years.

And this is their big new pen (12 x 6) we built this past summer.

 

[Goat_Walker]

Ill try to get a picture up today or tomorrow. he is so old most of the pattern on his shell has flaked off and what is left is faded. His bone colored shell ( where the color is gone) is also covered in scratch marks. I found a pic that looked like it might be a winner - eastern box turtle