Building outdoor Box Turtle cages

[djblank]

I'm getting ready to start building a outdoor summer cages for my 5 box turtles. They are 3 toed, eastern, and ornate. 3 males and 2 females. I've had 4 of them for 28 years and one for 12. They used to live together the first few years but one by one they had to be separated. The 3 males DO NOT get along and will attack each other. The 2 females get along but at times one bullies the other. The cage/cages will have to have dividers to keep them separate.

I'm in Wisconsin so the outdoor cages will only be for june, july, and august. Since I've had the turtles since I was a kid I'm rather protective of them and will bring them in at night. I'll also have a sturdy wood and screen lid to keep them safe.

The base will be built similar to this one so they can't dig out:
http://www.amphibiancare.com/frogs/articles/turtlepen.html

But I also want to in corporate a garden pond that will feed running water to the cages like this one:
http://www.koiphen.com/forums/showthread.php?100102-My-new-box-turtle-enclosure

I have a couple questions before I start.

wood:
I see a lot of people using cedar, but I've had bad experience with building cedar bird and squirrel feeders. I'd like to use pressure treated wood and then stain and polyurethane the wood. Would that be safe?

Dirt:
What type of dirt should I use? or should it be mulch? or a mix. I'm thinking of trying to raise night crawlers for them to hunt.

Plants:
I'd like to have some plants that would be safe for them to nibble on and hide under. What types work best?

Insects:
Any tips to safely keep ants and other dangerous bugs away?

Thanks in advance for the advice!

 

[Yvonne G]

I don't think a feeder and walls for an enclosure can be compared. I use redwood grape stakes for the walls in my box turtle yards. No problem at all. I don't think you'd need to paint the redwood. If you do use a wood that has to be treated, then just allow it a week or so to air out before putting the turtles in.

My box turtle yards just have the dirt that's outside. I didn't import any dirt for substrate.

Any shade-loving plant would work, but there's a site that gives you toxic or not info -www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/site/plant_database_14.asp

Keep the food picked up at the end of the day.

 

[djblank]

Thanks for the response. The problems I've had with cedar is after a couple wisconsin winters the cedar gets soft and brittle and disintegrates.