Box Turtle Care Sheet

[siberianwolf]

Here is what he looks like

 

[Debra Carson]

Does this beauty have red eyes? or yellow eyes? The reason I ask is because all the ornate box turtles, painted box turtles and such that I have re-leased after healing, look like this one, but found out that red eyes tell it is a male.

 

[Debra Carson]

I have been rescuing turtles and boxies for years and years, I keep Gamera and Lil Bit in the same large kiddie pool in my basement jungle. They eat everything! Both are females Gamera is an Eastern Missouri and she is lucky to be alive, her shell so damaged by the cars, but she is well now, 8 years later. Lil Bit is a mis-placed three toed, dropped in my back yard by a blue Jay. she was the size of a quarter..Lil Bit has grown three times bigger in two years. They both live together, but they are not really "friends". And.. they are both females. Gamera was probably hit before she mated. We have never had males here long enough to breed.

 

[siberianwolf]

Does this beauty have red eyes? or yellow eyes? The reason I ask is because all the ornate box turtles, painted box turtles and such that I have re-leased after healing, look like this one, but found out that red eyes tell it is a male.

Red and his plastron has a concave which assists males when the mate. I have found females have flat plastrons

 

[siberianwolf]

I have been rescuing turtles and boxies for years and years, I keep Gamera and Lil Bit in the same large kiddie pool in my basement jungle. They eat everything! Both are females Gamera is an Eastern Missouri and she is lucky to be alive, her shell so damaged by the cars, but she is well now, 8 years later. Lil Bit is a mis-placed three toed, dropped in my back yard by a blue Jay. she was the size of a quarter..Lil Bit has grown three times bigger in two years. They both live together, but they are not really "friends". And.. they are both females. Gamera was probably hit before she mated. We have never had males here long enough to breed.View attachment 223904 View attachment 223904

That’s a pretty good idea for the kiddie pool. Are the kiddie pools relatively cheap. By the way those girls are so gorgeous.

 

[ZappCatt]

Thanks for putting this care sheet up.

I see that in 2017 it was mentioned that there might be an update. Is the current top post the updated one, or the outdated version? I ask since there were some questions and discussion about the temperatures in the indoor environment.

I would also appreciate any information about outdoor 24/7 enclosures for box turtles(Ornate Box Turtle in my case) and heated housing, etc.

I live in the SF Bay Area, so do not have a long period of freezing, but it is not unheard of to get a cold snap. We also have long periods of temperatures well below the "suggested" average temperature of an indoor cage.

 

[Cmv]

Thanks for putting this care sheet up.

I see that in 2017 it was mentioned that there might be an update. Is the current top post the updated one, or the outdated version? I ask since there were some questions and discussion about the temperatures in the indoor environment.

I would also appreciate any information about outdoor 24/7 enclosures for box turtles(Ornate Box Turtle in my case) and heated housing, etc.

I live in the SF Bay Area, so do not have a long period of freezing, but it is not unheard of to get a cold snap. We also have long periods of temperatures well below the "suggested" average temperature of an indoor cage.

You’ll be fine in SF. Box turtles are native to areas that get much colder. I live near Sacramento and mine are outdoors year round as well.

 

[m irwin]

My Ornate and Three Toed's (TT) are housed outside 100% of the time. As the leaves from Pecan and other tree's begin to fall, I gather them up and make heaping piles of them in their pen. The turtles will find them and usually go down for good sometime in November - not to be seen till March or April. The TT's seem to go down once and for all. A few of the Ornate's will go down on colder days but then on warmer days will crawl out from where they are hiding and sit in the warmer air. Warmer is a relative term - it may be only 55 degrees but that's warmer than the leaf pile, so they come out. They barely move though. Just sit hours motionless. As night approaches, they move back into the leaf pile. Hibernation seems to be harder on the Ornate's than the TT, which is odd since they are from areas of the country where it gets much colder and for longer then it gets here. Where I am we have clay soil that is difficult to dig into for me, let alone a turtle, so the leaves are where they go. In other words, they go into the leaf piles rather than down into the ground. So if hibernating outside, I recommend piling up leaves and they'll use them. On a ew especially cold nights I will put a sheet over the areas I think they are to protect from the wind. Whether that does anything I don't know but it makes me feel like I'm helping!

 

[Maidenhair59]

Yeah she is a gulf coast box turtle I never meant to keep, just take care of her after she was dumped at a pet store, but the species cannot be rhabed and release where I live since the species only occurs in the bottom lower half of alabama and I live in the middle of the state. So she has become a permanent pet, that might go to a friend soon hopefully.

O have a female Gulf box turtle too. She's 2 years old.

 

[Ink]

O have a female Gulf box turtle too. She's 2 years old.

This post is old. You can start your own. welcome to the forum.

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

Box Turtles are great

 

[144 Grandpa Turtle]

I feel

 

[tigerscott79]

Does this beauty have red eyes? or yellow eyes? The reason I ask is because all the ornate box turtles, painted box turtles and such that I have re-leased after healing, look like this one, but found out that red eyes tell it is a male. Idk of same with ornate box turtles but I do know some eastern box turtles can be females with red eyes though majority are males (typically )

 

[tigerscott79]

Hoping someone can add to diet list . Question i have is on many sites i am finding very conflicting information about if red wiggler worms are safe food for eastern box turtles or not . Also if its a baby captive bred e.b.t. would nightcrawlers be too big then what other worms are safe ie compost worms , garden worms (native (im in Indiana) red wigglers, nightcrawlers, and what other feeders can be raised for food. I have already superworms and there adult beetles and other feeders but worm wise hoping to find out here , thanks @

CourtneyG hope ok tag and ask since wrote this guide .​

 

[zovick]

Hoping someone can add to diet list . Question i have is on many sites i am finding very conflicting information about if red wiggler worms are safe food for eastern box turtles or not . Also if its a baby captive bred e.b.t. would nightcrawlers be too big then what other worms are safe ie compost worms , garden worms (native (im in Indiana) red wigglers, nightcrawlers, and what other feeders can be raised for food. I have already superworms and there adult beetles and other feeders but worm wise hoping to find out here , thanks @

CourtneyG hope ok tag and ask since wrote this guide .​

I don't know whether red wiggler worms are safe to feed or not. I've never tried to find out anything about them.

If there is a bait shop near you, they might have plain old native earthworms. That is what I used to buy for my baby Box Turtles. You can also dig them up in your yard or in the woods someplace, but that is more labor intensive.

If the native earthworms were sold out, I would simply buy the night crawlers and cut them into smaller pieces with an X-acto knife or a sharp kitchen knife. The Box Turtles ate the pieces perfectly well.