What kind of box turtle is this?

William Lee Kohler

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Get a life? I’m ignorant...?

Well I believe you’re a perfect example of the phrase, “With age doesn’t always come wisdom.”
I suppose you’ve poached plenty of turtles in your 72 years, and you probably don’t know or care about the impact that has on the wild population. It’s old timers like you who we can thank for the lack of wild turtles in general. My kids won’t be able to see all the types of turtles in their natural environment thanks to people like you who find it perfectly okay to take a wild animal home as a pet.
Shameful you don’t appreciate the animals more sr, simply shameful.

Yes. And NO!
 

Blackdog1714

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  • Dodo.
  • Great Auk. ...
  • Stellers Sea Cow. ...
  • Tasmanian Tiger. ...
  • Passenger Pigeon. ...
  • Pyrenean Ibex. ...
  • Baiji White Dolphin. ...
  • West African Black Rhinoceros
Just a simple list of animals that no longer exist due to human intervention (good or bad). Removing an animal from the wild that is able to care for itsself is a theft or almost kidnapping-wether well meaning or not. If at all possible humans should not or limit interactions with wild animals. First ZOONOTIC diseases- animals routinely love to drag there scent everywhere which often invoves bodily fluids. 2 Interactions that diminish the wild nature-ie Polar Bears, 3- In life saving measures the care given must be done in a manner not to effect the prior two items. POACHERS are evil-but sadly often it is the means to support their family still its not right. DEMAND forces supply so decrease/cease the demand then the supply is not needed!
 

PJay

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Fantastic! Congratulations on your new box turtle. Do you have a new home set up for the little one to settle in to?
 

Turtle girl 98

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No name yet...my girls are thinking it over!!
I'm sure they will have fun picking one out [emoji3526] he's adorable glad you got a baby, I myself would rather start with the baby so you can teach him how you want and he will grow up knowing you're there for care. [emoji3526] Good luck [emoji4]
 

JenClark74

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Fantastic! Congratulations on your new box turtle. Do you have a new home set up for the little one to settle in to?

well, we had set up a home for the other one, but the things in it are a bit big, I think, for this little guy, so it's going to need some modifications until he's a little bigger. For now I just have him in a big plastic container with wet paper towels until we get it sorted.
 

PJay

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well, we had set up a home for the other one, but the things in it are a bit big, I think, for this little guy, so it's going to need some modifications until he's a little bigger. For now I just have him in a big plastic container with wet paper towels until we get it sorted.
Oh, ok. Be sure to keep it around 82F. Wet and warm is ideal, wet and cold can result in illness for a young box turtle. Post some pictures of your set up when you have it ready so we can offer some suggestions to make things better for the little guy.
 

JenClark74

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Is it normal for him to not be interested in eating at first? I have some small red wrigglers for him, but he doesn't seem at all interested.
 

Turtle girl 98

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Is it normal for him to not be interested in eating at first? I have some small red wrigglers for him, but he doesn't seem at all interested.
How old is he? And he might not eat at first because it's all new to him. And if he's still a little hatchling he could be thriving off of his nutritional yolk he absorbed.
 

JenClark74

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Oh, ok. Be sure to keep it around 82F. Wet and warm is ideal, wet and cold can result in illness for a young box turtle. Post some pictures of your set up when you have it ready so we can offer some suggestions to make things better for the little guy.

Okay, this is what I have right now, plus a separate light with a full spectrum bulb. The substrate is a mixture of organic top soil, coco coir, and spaghum moss, and I wet it all down thoroughly. The humidity is at 62% now...is that okay? I was thinking about putting some wrigglers right in the soil...what do you think? Also, should I add some more moss on top of the soil? Anything else I should do? I tried to get the water dish down into the soil so he doesn't fall backwards climbing out, but I'll see how he does...if he can't manage it yet, I'll take it out and just soak him a couple times a day. 20190910_145328.jpg
 

Pastel Tortie

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Okay, this is what I have right now, plus a separate light with a full spectrum bulb. The substrate is a mixture of organic top soil, coco coir, and spaghum moss, and I wet it all down thoroughly. The humidity is at 62% now...is that okay? I was thinking about putting some wrigglers right in the soil...what do you think? Also, should I add some more moss on top of the soil? Anything else I should do? I tried to get the water dish down into the soil so he doesn't fall backwards climbing out, but I'll see how he does...if he can't manage it yet, I'll take it out and just soak him a couple times a day. View attachment 280332
Try to find a bag of long grain sphagnum moss (orchid moss) at a nearby home improvement store or garden center. Soak it, get it good and wet, then squeeze out most of the water, and spread it throughout the enclosure. it will help your baby boxie feel safe. Boxies enjoy digging into orchid moss and hiding under it. The damp moss also helps with humidity.

I'm in favor of releasing a bunch of red wigglers into the enclosure. That's what I ended up doing when my boxie was still fairly small. It's actually a great place to store them and let them reproduce until your boxie feels like eating them. The red wigglers will likely congregate under the water bowl (large plant saucer), so they will be easy to locate when needed.

You can take your boxie out for supervised soaking time (just deep enough to get the whole turtle wet, make sure there's a lifeguard on duty). While she's soaking, you can empty out the shallow turtle pool in her enclosure, retrieve some red wigglers from underneath the pool, and feed them to her in the soaking tub.
 

Pastel Tortie

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By the way, I have that very same bridge ornament. My boxie had a wonderful time with it when she was tiny... I positioned it in her soaking set-up where I could keep a close eye on her. Junior enjoyed going back and forth over the bridge! The only down side was that by the time she discovered the little bridges and realized she liked them, she had pretty much outgrown them. The bridge like you have in the picture lasted longer than any of the others... For its small size, it has really good clearance underneath, it isn't too steep, and the railings are short enough and "broken" enough that she isn't likely to get stuck between them.

Trust me, I'd know... One of these days, I should put together a thread of Things My Box Turtle Has Gotten Stuck In (or Almost). She will grow more quickly than you expect or realize.
 

JenClark74

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Try to find a bag of long grain sphagnum moss (orchid moss) at a nearby home improvement store or garden center. Soak it, get it good and wet, then squeeze out most of the water, and spread it throughout the enclosure. it will help your baby boxie feel safe. Boxies enjoy digging into orchid moss and hiding under it. The damp moss also helps with humidity.

I'm in favor of releasing a bunch of red wigglers into the enclosure. That's what I ended up doing when my boxie was still fairly small. It's actually a great place to store them and let them reproduce until your boxie feels like eating them. The red wigglers will likely congregate under the water bowl (large plant saucer), so they will be easy to locate when needed.

You can take your boxie out for supervised soaking time (just deep enough to get the whole turtle wet, make sure there's a lifeguard on duty). While she's soaking, you can empty out the shallow turtle pool in her enclosure, retrieve some red wigglers from underneath the pool, and feed them to her in the soaking tub.

Okay, I covered it in soaked sphagnum moss. Humidity's up to 65%. He's having a little soak right now. He seems a bit overwhelmed! But he's slowly showing interest in his new home. Oh yay!! He made it out of the water dish!! He's now buried himself in moss! Good call!!
 

Pastel Tortie

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Young boxies spend most of the time out of sight, and they are MASTERS of hiding.

It's almost a game... You and the girls may want to practice pretending NOT to see where the boxie is hiding, as they often change location once they know they've been found. :)
 

Pastel Tortie

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Some real or fake plants would also go a long way towards making the enclosure feel safer for the boxie. Make sure the turtle can't climb out via the plants, though.
 
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