DayDreamer
Member
hello everyone
I am a bit new to turtles only ever having a RES when I was very young. we are planning on getting a box turtle in april, and until then I plan on building the habitat, and learning as much as I can about them (obviously so the little guy can have a happy and healthy life)
we live in puerto rico where the temp. stays in the 80's year round. his main habitat will be indoors as there is a ton of cats in the area. however he would be taken outside daily for a bit of real sunlight. Im wondering with this temperature will he need a heat lamp or would a uv and basking light be fine? I dont want to over heat him, we have no a/c or fans in the living room just open windows with a nice breeze.
we are also planning on creating his habitat as close to natural as possible this would include planting live edible plants inside it, aswell as hopefully growing grass and dandelions... however my worry is that if i do this i will be unable to properly clean the habitat without ripping the plant life out. the in closure will be 5 foot by 3 foot and if i can find them i would be putting earth worms in the dirt to help keep it clean. (good or horrible idea? im kinda worried it might stink if i do this the habitat wont be clean) like i said we do want to keep it as natural as possible so any other ideas that might make it easy for clean up are more then welcome!
we also have the idea of adding a very shallow pond with a fountain in a corner of the habitat so the water stays fresh for him/her to soak in and drink possibly made with rough rocks to help keep the nails trimmed.
any thoughts on this stuff? anything I could rethink, plan better? what the best and closest to natural substrate you have found. also how do you clean the habitat weekly? and how often do you a complete change and clean of the whole thing? (I have heard some people just get a cat litter like scoop and clean out the soiled areas and put a fresh top layer then do a whole clean every few months)
my husband has the idea in his head to possibly buy another down the road and eventually let them mate... I love this idea however I would like to educate myself as much as possible before I make any decisions...
is it best to leave the eggs in the habitat where ever mom laid them to hatch or best to incubate them? (yes i know im far far ahead of myself here but it would def help with my decision to get a male or female 1st)
last but not least are freeze dried crickets, meal worms etc. okay? im not a huge fan of having a bunch of live bugs stored in my home. I have noticed they do sell them in my pet store (freeze dried) but have not seen (havent asked but did look around) any meal worms (or the sort only live crickets) being sold live there.
wow this ended up really long i am sorry!
any answers or advice etc. is always appreciated!
I am a bit new to turtles only ever having a RES when I was very young. we are planning on getting a box turtle in april, and until then I plan on building the habitat, and learning as much as I can about them (obviously so the little guy can have a happy and healthy life)
we live in puerto rico where the temp. stays in the 80's year round. his main habitat will be indoors as there is a ton of cats in the area. however he would be taken outside daily for a bit of real sunlight. Im wondering with this temperature will he need a heat lamp or would a uv and basking light be fine? I dont want to over heat him, we have no a/c or fans in the living room just open windows with a nice breeze.
we are also planning on creating his habitat as close to natural as possible this would include planting live edible plants inside it, aswell as hopefully growing grass and dandelions... however my worry is that if i do this i will be unable to properly clean the habitat without ripping the plant life out. the in closure will be 5 foot by 3 foot and if i can find them i would be putting earth worms in the dirt to help keep it clean. (good or horrible idea? im kinda worried it might stink if i do this the habitat wont be clean) like i said we do want to keep it as natural as possible so any other ideas that might make it easy for clean up are more then welcome!
we also have the idea of adding a very shallow pond with a fountain in a corner of the habitat so the water stays fresh for him/her to soak in and drink possibly made with rough rocks to help keep the nails trimmed.
any thoughts on this stuff? anything I could rethink, plan better? what the best and closest to natural substrate you have found. also how do you clean the habitat weekly? and how often do you a complete change and clean of the whole thing? (I have heard some people just get a cat litter like scoop and clean out the soiled areas and put a fresh top layer then do a whole clean every few months)
my husband has the idea in his head to possibly buy another down the road and eventually let them mate... I love this idea however I would like to educate myself as much as possible before I make any decisions...
is it best to leave the eggs in the habitat where ever mom laid them to hatch or best to incubate them? (yes i know im far far ahead of myself here but it would def help with my decision to get a male or female 1st)
last but not least are freeze dried crickets, meal worms etc. okay? im not a huge fan of having a bunch of live bugs stored in my home. I have noticed they do sell them in my pet store (freeze dried) but have not seen (havent asked but did look around) any meal worms (or the sort only live crickets) being sold live there.
wow this ended up really long i am sorry!
any answers or advice etc. is always appreciated!