Box Turtle and Tortoise Discussion :: New box turtle!!

A general forum for those with an interest in land-based turtles.

Post Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 10:58 pm   New box turtle!!

Hi everyone!! If you've traveled through the other forums then you've probably seen my thread... I've recently become a proud owner of a bay box turtle :-D

The link to the other thread is... http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11672

But in any case here's a pic...


His name is Squirt, and I just wanted to ask anyone and everyone for some advice and if possible pictures of different aquariums for a box turtle, I know they need land to walk on as well as water but I just want to have a visual to study at if possible!! THANX!!! :-D
Last edited by Aqua8 on Sat Oct 13, 2007 11:59 am, edited 1 time in total.
1 RES: Tortarita :-D
1 Box turtle: Squirt :-D
1 Chameleon: Neptune :-D

Hope is the strongest weapon the heart can hold.
Aqua8
 
Posts: 198
Joined: Jul 20, 2007

Post Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:04 pm   

It's a Florida boxie, right :D

I think they need mostly land area with a small wading pool. I'm not sure if box turtles are commonly kept in aquariums...
2 Chinese Goldenthread turtles ~ Miso&Mafan
1 Chinese Box turtle ~ Chief Lemon
2 Redfoot Tortoises ~ Sheegua & Muugua
1 Toy Poodle ~ Pudding
3 firebellied newts ~ Cassandra, Mr.Poo, and Wiggles.

http://flickr.com/photos/the_naturalist
User avatar
Tenodera
 
Posts: 2886
Joined: Mar 5, 2007
Location: Taichung, Taiwan

Post Posted: Sat Sep 29, 2007 11:16 pm   

yeah, by aqauiums I meant it being filled with dirt/sandon one side, then to the opposite side a shallow end of water... :-D
1 RES: Tortarita :-D
1 Box turtle: Squirt :-D
1 Chameleon: Neptune :-D

Hope is the strongest weapon the heart can hold.
Aqua8
 
Posts: 198
Joined: Jul 20, 2007

Post Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 11:02 am   

When I was doing research on a setup for apollo, I read that boxies prefer an enclosure with opaque sides. Go for a big rubbermaid container, they're way cheaper and the turtle won't be stressed by seeing stuff outside the tank. Here's a pic of my setup, based pretty closely on advice from jenaero

Image

It's a 55 gallon rubbermaid (20 bucks at walmart) with a mixture of topsoil and sphagnum moss (about 6 bucks total from lowes) a rock to eat off of (keeps the beak trimmed) a paint pan with water, and a few hiding places (one is the habba huts you find in the petstore, the other is a plastic flowerpot cut in half, he prefers the habba hut) On top is a barbecue grate, if you have a spare oven rack you can use that, I found mine at Ace hardware for 20 dollars. The lamp is a T-Rex mercury vapor bulb, in a deep brooder lamp from home depot. Check out some of the other recent threads, I think jenaero posted some pics of her new larger enclosure that were pretty cool!

Edit: Forgot to mention, that thing in the middle is a flowerpot heater, it's one clay pot nested in another, with a third, smaller pot turned upside down inside them. You thread a bulb fixture through the hole in the small pot, screw in a 15 watt bulb and it provides a low level heat source in case they get cold at night. I think you can get the fixtures at craft stores, I got mine from Apollo's rehabber so I'm not totally sure.
Napoleon - Western Painted Turtle
Apollo - Eastern Box Turtle
Moxie - Painted Turtle Mutt
RIP Hercules

Katie

I heart my herpies!
User avatar
Starchick
 
Posts: 1399
Joined: Jan 3, 2007
Location: central NY

Post Posted: Sun Sep 30, 2007 10:22 pm   

cool.
ZombieTurtle
 
Posts: 205
Joined: Sep 25, 2007

Post Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 2:04 pm   

i really like the flowerpot heater
Horsepower is how fast you hit a wall. Torque is how far you move a wall

1.0.0 Red Ear Slider-Cujo
0.2.0 part Boston Terrier part Pugs-Hershey and Lilly
Daniel3507
 
Posts: 2152
Joined: Aug 18, 2007
Location: Oklahoma

Post Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 8:15 pm   

how big is your boxie? hard to tell from the pic, although it's very cute!!

obviously adult boxies are always ideally kept outdoors whenever weather permits.

Image

This is what I had before I moved. Unfortunately, my new place has absolutely no place outside for them.

Image

This is my current setup, but now it has 4 tubs connected together. There is a set of heat / UVB lights on both end tubs. It provides them almost 20sq. feet to wander around in.
Tom & Ashley
(RES) Crush, Squirt
(3T Box) Manny & Isabella
(Dog) Ember
User avatar
RunninWideOpen
 
Posts: 807
Joined: Feb 20, 2007
Location: St Louis, MO

Post Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:38 pm   

Hey runninwideopen, Squirt's is 1 and 1/2 inches long, really tiny!! :D But I love your box's home!! :D :D They look AWESOME and with alot of room for them too... But yeah how much water should I have an inch or so or about enough to go over his shell??? :shock:
1 RES: Tortarita :-D
1 Box turtle: Squirt :-D
1 Chameleon: Neptune :-D

Hope is the strongest weapon the heart can hold.
Aqua8
 
Posts: 198
Joined: Jul 20, 2007

Post Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:38 pm   

oh and by the way what type of dirt do you use?? thanx
1 RES: Tortarita :-D
1 Box turtle: Squirt :-D
1 Chameleon: Neptune :-D

Hope is the strongest weapon the heart can hold.
Aqua8
 
Posts: 198
Joined: Jul 20, 2007

Post Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 10:55 pm   

Nice looking box turtle setups! Makes getting one even more tempting :)
User avatar
steve
Site Admin
 
Posts: 31430
Joined: Apr 11, 2005
Location: New York, NY
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:02 pm   

I love the idea of cutting the rubbermaids and giving them 'rooms' to wander through! Are those zip ties holding them together?
Napoleon - Western Painted Turtle
Apollo - Eastern Box Turtle
Moxie - Painted Turtle Mutt
RIP Hercules

Katie

I heart my herpies!
User avatar
Starchick
 
Posts: 1399
Joined: Jan 3, 2007
Location: central NY

Post Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 11:04 pm   

Looks like it. You can use 2 to make a temporary "lock"
User avatar
steve
Site Admin
 
Posts: 31430
Joined: Apr 11, 2005
Location: New York, NY
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 12:31 am   

aqua - you got a baby!! i have 2 baby 3-toeds. :) you don't want to have the water so deep that if they get flipped over in the water they will drown. i've had a couple scares where i came home and one was upside down in the water dish. For some reason he was having trouble flipping himself over, but luckily it wasn't so deep that he couldn't breath.

Here is a pic of my baby setup:

Image

You can see the water is not very deep. I do give them a good soaking in some deeper warm water about once a week. I put them in the tub with one end pretty deep, and one end where they can walk. Gives them a chance to swim a little, which 3 toeds like to do.

For substrate I use a mixture of topsoil, natural reptile forest bedding (from pet store) and peat moss (from pet store). With all these tubs I've got it's about $60 every time I replace it, eek. So, right now my adult Ornate enclosure does look different because there is only topsoil in it. The adults are being dewormed right now, so I have to replace the substrate one more time. When I replace it again I'll go back to the mixture. I also suggest having the live plants. The turtles love them.

Also, I've read many sites that say keeping a box turtle in an aquarium or terrarium causes them a lot of stress. It's better for them to be kept in something with opaque sides so they can't see out.



Starchick and Steve - Yep, they're just zip ties. I drilled 2 holes on each side and ran the zip tie through. Also, under that astroturf are 2 more zip ties run the same way. Here are some more pics:

Image

Image

Image
Tom & Ashley
(RES) Crush, Squirt
(3T Box) Manny & Isabella
(Dog) Ember
User avatar
RunninWideOpen
 
Posts: 807
Joined: Feb 20, 2007
Location: St Louis, MO

Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 9:48 am   

Wow, very cool setups, Runnin! :) I like the connected tanks idea! ;) It's like those modular habitrail setups for hamsters, lol!
User avatar
DavidY
 
Posts: 4391
Joined: Mar 9, 2007
Location: New Hampshire
Gender: Male

Post Posted: Tue Oct 02, 2007 10:58 am   

LOL thanks. We do have a hamster too, but his setup is no where near as cool.

I was really bummed when I found out my new apartment didn't have any outdoor patio at all, so I had to figure something else out. They seem to like it, although the tend to stay in the far right tub most of them, except when they want to go over and soak.
Tom & Ashley
(RES) Crush, Squirt
(3T Box) Manny & Isabella
(Dog) Ember
User avatar
RunninWideOpen
 
Posts: 807
Joined: Feb 20, 2007
Location: St Louis, MO

Next

Return to Box Turtle and Tortoise Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 2 guests