So, I'm new to this forum, but last Tuesday I acquired a Box Turtle rather unexpectedly which leads to why I'm now here on this forum. It looks like a good place to share and trade advice, which I'm definitely in the market of at the moment! I'm more versed in keeping rodents than turtles.
The gist of this box turtles history is that it belonged to my mother's ex, who has had a long history of poor care of it. Including not taking it to the vet after ignoring my advice to get its beak trimmed, until it eventually snapped its beak off when it bit something hard. I wound up taking it to the vet myself and taking care of it until it recovered, and he paid me back the vet bills and wanted the turtle back after. I regretfully had to return it.
I left some care information with my mother and she's been taking care of it for the past several years for him. Recently they split, and he didn't want the turtle, so she dropped it off with me knowing that I had a history with it, and fondness for it.
Unfortunately I currently live in an apartment, and box turtles are more suited for outdoors.
Its current state of health is that it has been being kept in a dry aquarium on reptile carpet with little to no moisture outside of a soaking bowl (skin and eyes were both VERY dry and the eyes in particular were very irritated, but I've already remedied that with getting it moved to proper substrate). Its had a relatively accurate diet thanks to my mother, but poor lighting for years. His back nails were horribly overgrown, which I've also already remedied via trimming them down.
I personally know the basics of box turtle care, health, and dietary needs, but trying to keep a large adult box turtle indoors properly is a little more complex. If anyone has any experience with this, and proper lighting techniques (my biggest concern), I'll be glad of any advice. I'm planning to get him moved into a large plastic kiddie pool next month, which I figure will give him a lot more space than the glass aquarium he was dropped off in. I've got him on ecoearth coconut fiber substrate for now.
The scrambled eggs in the first picture was a hold-over until I could get out to get more proper food for him, since I wasn't exactly setup to acquire a turtle. I'm keeping him fed off the salad bar at work for now (perks of working at a gourmet food market), until I can get out for a proper shopping run on Sunday.
P.S. I've named him Jagger.
This last picture isn't mine, I found it on google, but I'm aiming to try and build him a similar enclosure, only with ecoearth coconut rather than the wood chips in this picture. I'm hoping it'll be sufficiently large enough. Living in a small apartment has me strapped on how much space is available.
The gist of this box turtles history is that it belonged to my mother's ex, who has had a long history of poor care of it. Including not taking it to the vet after ignoring my advice to get its beak trimmed, until it eventually snapped its beak off when it bit something hard. I wound up taking it to the vet myself and taking care of it until it recovered, and he paid me back the vet bills and wanted the turtle back after. I regretfully had to return it.
I left some care information with my mother and she's been taking care of it for the past several years for him. Recently they split, and he didn't want the turtle, so she dropped it off with me knowing that I had a history with it, and fondness for it.
Unfortunately I currently live in an apartment, and box turtles are more suited for outdoors.
Its current state of health is that it has been being kept in a dry aquarium on reptile carpet with little to no moisture outside of a soaking bowl (skin and eyes were both VERY dry and the eyes in particular were very irritated, but I've already remedied that with getting it moved to proper substrate). Its had a relatively accurate diet thanks to my mother, but poor lighting for years. His back nails were horribly overgrown, which I've also already remedied via trimming them down.
I personally know the basics of box turtle care, health, and dietary needs, but trying to keep a large adult box turtle indoors properly is a little more complex. If anyone has any experience with this, and proper lighting techniques (my biggest concern), I'll be glad of any advice. I'm planning to get him moved into a large plastic kiddie pool next month, which I figure will give him a lot more space than the glass aquarium he was dropped off in. I've got him on ecoearth coconut fiber substrate for now.
The scrambled eggs in the first picture was a hold-over until I could get out to get more proper food for him, since I wasn't exactly setup to acquire a turtle. I'm keeping him fed off the salad bar at work for now (perks of working at a gourmet food market), until I can get out for a proper shopping run on Sunday.
P.S. I've named him Jagger.
This last picture isn't mine, I found it on google, but I'm aiming to try and build him a similar enclosure, only with ecoearth coconut rather than the wood chips in this picture. I'm hoping it'll be sufficiently large enough. Living in a small apartment has me strapped on how much space is available.
