Baby Box Turtle

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jennise77

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Hi, everyone. I am new but am looking for some info on my new baby box. I recieved him yesterday and immediately put him in his habitat. He is the size of a half dollar. Last night he ate a little bit of an earth worm and soaked in his water dish. He was all over his enclosure. Today he has been out a some and ate a little bit of strawberry and kale. I gave him a meal worm and he devoured it and went looking for more. I didn't give him another cause I don't want to over feed him. Any way he has been buried alot today and keeps rubbing his eyes and keeps them closed. When he does open them the are clear and bright. When he was attacking the meal worm he reached out once and bite and completely missed. It was like he couldn't see right but then he was super efficient at killind and eating it. The humidity is between 60 and 70 and temp is hovering around 80. I mist him several times a day because we have dry electric heat. Is his bedding irritating his eyes. It came in a brick and expanded in water. It is made of cocnut fiber and is moist. I have a powersun bulb for his uvb and heat. Is it ok to pick him up or should I give him more time to acclimate to his enclosure. He doesn't take his head in when I rub his shell and seems healthy I am just concerned about his eye rubbing. Any tips and advice would be great. I have researched endlessly but still need help. Sorry this is so long I am new at this.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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Hi, you should mix clean play sand 50/50 with the eco earth. Keep it moist, box turtles like moist almost wet substrate. I'd up the heat to 85 or 90. I always keep my animals warmer then other keepers. But if you keep his substrate moist and up the temp I'm thinking he'll be fine. I pick up my animals everyday. How else are you going to know if something is wrong? I pick mine up and talk to them and look them all over. I'd also offer him several meal worms or night crawlers. Baby box turtles eat more protein then as they get older they'll prefer veggies. Keep us posted and continue to ask questions...HTH
 

terryo

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Hi
I use a mix of soil, peat moss and Forest Floor, by Zoo Med. I mix this up and put a lot of leaf litter (dried leaves picked from outside) on top of the soil. I put some tropical moss and plants for hiding. Try to mimic the forest floor as best you can. Babie boxies hide most of the time in leaf litter and just eat whatever little bugs they find under the leaves. I put a lot of plants to hold the humidity in my hatchlings enclosures, and YES...I use a glass vivarium. I have found that this holds the humidity much better than a plastic tub. On one side I put a long tube UVB over a screen top to filter out much of the light (remember forest floor) and on the other side I put a Heat emitter in a hole in the screen. The heat emitter goes over the side with the hide. The temp. on the hot side is in the 80's and the cool side is in the 70's. They spend most of the day hidden under the leaves. I don't use any basking light....never saw one basking.
Go to this site and see all the pictures of his set-ups. This is the best site for baby Boxies. (IMO)
http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/raisingbabyturtles/raisingbabyturtles.htm
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REDFOOTMATT

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terryo said:
Hi
I use a mix of soil, peat moss and Forest Floor, by Zoo Med. I mix this up and put a lot of leaf litter (dried leaves picked from outside) on top of the soil. I put some tropical moss and plants for hiding. Try to mimic the forest floor as best you can. Babie boxies hide most of the time in leaf litter and just eat whatever little bugs they find under the leaves. I put a lot of plants to hold the humidity in my hatchlings enclosures, and YES...I use a glass vivarium. I have found that this holds the humidity much better than a plastic tub. On one side I put a long tube UVB over a screen top to filter out much of the light (remember forest floor) and on the other side I put a Heat emitter in a hole in the screen. The heat emitter goes over the side with the hide. The temp. on the hot side is in the 80's and the cool side is in the 70's. They spend most of the day hidden under the leaves. I don't use any basking light....never saw one basking.
Go to this site and see all the pictures of his set-ups. This is the best site for baby Boxies. (IMO)
http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/raisingbabyturtles/raisingbabyturtles.htm
scan0003-4.jpg

Scan0029.jpg

Scan0028.jpg

Cool site, lots of great pics!
 
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