Hey Vicious_Fish

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
L

loconorc

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 11, 2007
1,417
0
0
Virginny
Hows that box setup? I saw your old thread, what a peice of work! I'm going to try and convince my boss at the nature center to build something like that. We have ours in an uncovered 'touch tank' by the front desk about 3' x 3'. I wish so badly it was bigger! We get so many animals and so little money... I think it needs an overhaul.

I'm gonna put some pics of the boxies if I can find them on our site.

Any updates on your turtles? Did you get a new male?

Our neighbors found a newborn eastern box in their yard today. Their house has a resident female and ours a male, and woods behind our houses. So we assumed they bred and laid eggs near the females home by the shed. So they found the hatchling, still with the egg tooth! They decided to keep it. I warned them it would probably die. Then upon further research on a hunch, I found they are illegal to take from the wild! How do you tell a 6-year old little girl she can't keep a baby turtle? I'm going to ask my boss if the nature center can take it in. Good idea? Its already way stressed, so the immune system will be realy vulnerable if its released, and will probably die if not eaten...

Later! :nilly:
 
Thanks. That set up cost me about $50 bucks total to build. It's roughly 8'x8'x2'. Box turtles love space to roam, so the more room the better.

It will be hard for her to understand, but she should really give up the turtle if she wants him to live. Have you guys even taken care of a baby Box Turtle before? Dehydration is a big concern for them. Keep them in a warm tank with soil to hold in the humidity. I don't know how many times I've heard of the poor little guys drying out from lack of humidity. They can also dry out if left in full sun without any cover. They can be quite shy, so have a little place for them to hide in. You can use a small food container lid as a shallow water dish. Make sure it's easy for them to climb in and out of.

I feed my babies a kind of puree made of chopped strawberries, blackberries, banana, cantalope and raspberries. The also get small earthworms, snails, redworms, bloodworms, wingless fruit flies and other small insects. Small amounts of canned dog food are ok too but make sure you scape the lard off it first. I dust all the food with vitamins as well. Sometimes they will eat soaked Reptomin stix.

Yeah, I got a male! My friends dad breeds box turtles and he traded him for a piece of 10'x12' pond lining. Here's some pics of him. He's all ready mated with all 3 of my females so I'm hoping for eggs in the spring.

Male-Box-Turtle2.gif

Male-Box-Turtle3.gif

Male-Box-Turtle6.gif
 
Wow hes a beaut! We have the breeding male that comes to bask in our garden and eat these little berries every morning. Hes the prettiest box I've ever seen and I'd like to tame him down a bit so he'll take food from me. I have some pics, I'll see if I can load them.

It's not us keeping the turtle, its our neighbors. They went to petco to buy who knows what for it before I could tell them. Besides being illegal, its going to die. Even after a day of life, it will already of some sort of parasite. The weakened immune system from so much stress will let the parasites multiply past normal levels and kill it. Theres just so many things that are going to go wrong. They know I'm the 'reptile guy' but they won't listen. I cant imagine what petco told them to buy.... ugh.

Do yours eat greens of any kind? I can never remember the right list of plants for herbivorous herps... I wonder what the nature center feeds them, I'll have to ask. I hope they can take it in, I'd hate for an endangered animal to die because of me...

Later gator
 
You would be surprised, box turtles are very immune to most disease. And they rarely carry any either. I think it helps that they are a non-aquatic species. Water is a breeding ground for many bad things.

I've never really tried any "greens" because they are outside all the time, they can pick and choose to eat any plant material in there enclosure. But they are really drawn to colors and will eat hibiscus, dandelion, violet, prickly pear cactus and geranium flowers.
 
Ah I see they eat wild stuff... Cool. The one that lives around here basks in our front garden and eats dandelions and these little red berries we get in spring and summer. I'll find some pics of him.
 
I like that turtle! What kind is he?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom