Hello everybody. I Think I may be interested in breeding boxies. How would I go about doing so starting from scratch? Any input would be very appreciated and helpful. Good day! 
Interested in Breeding
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The most important thing is to start with unrelated individuals. It is easiest and best for the turtles if you can provide the adults with an outdoor pen (I prefer long pens to square or round), well-planted, and with an open sunny area on one end for them to nest in. This should have sandy soil. If you don't have sandy soil, buy sand and mix it in. They need fresh water somewhere in the pen, a hide box that is shaded during the hot part of the day, and a feeding site.
Well-fed turtles produce more eggs and more clutches. I believe that feeding them well the summer and fall before is key to high production. Keep them healthy, as turtles that are sick or poorly feeding often don't ovulate. If one of my turtles has an ear infection during the summer, it's likely she won't lay the following year, unless she feeds very well in between.
Most people need to protect the top of the pen from predators such as raccoons. They nest in the evenings, so be prepared to check the pen every night from mid-May through June.
How to get stock:
CB BABIES
If you start with captive bred (CB) babies, you're going to have to wait a while as they grow up. Then you'll find out whether they are males or females. If you buy babies that have been incubated to be male and others incubated for female, then you have a much better chance of starting out with what you want. This method is fun because you get to watch them grow up, and will better be able to advise those you sell babies to later on.
CB SUBADULTS/ADULTS
If you buy CB subadults or adults, this is the best way, as they are already used to people, and you can start breeding quickly. These are hard to find, and are usually more expensive, and you are trusting that the seller is telling the truth about them being captive bred. Be careful that you are not buying potential siblings. Usually, CB individuals have fewer, wider growth rings, and can be visually identified.
I have a nice CB female that is a subadult I will be selling at some point. If you're interested in her. Let me know.
FRESH WILD-CAUGHT ADULTS
If you start with fresh wild-caught individuals, then you will probably have stress related illnesses and parasite problems the first 6 months to 2 years. Some never really acclimate well. Often it takes a couple of years for wild-caught females to start cycling again due to the stress of captivity, unless they are gravid when you get them. The benefits are that they are often cheap to purchase, are probably unrelated.
You can pretty much disregard much of what the seller tells you, they often lie. Common things that are said about fresh wild caught adults are "Long-term captives", "So tame you can pet them", "feeding well on (specific foods, usually attractive sounding produce)", and "chasing the females". These are almost never true, and there's no way for you to know til you get them. Wild-caughts are usually shy, poor feeders, and are smaller and less attractive than the provided photos suggest. If you go this route, make sure you are prepared to put the time in to get them to eat well, and the money to pay for health issues.
LONG TERM CAPTIVES
If you start with long term captive wild-caught turtles (LTC), they are often well-acclimated to captivity, and will breed readily. You might be able to get these from a rescue, craigslist, or occasionally for sale online. This is probably the least expensive, safest way to start. The downside is that they are usually not very pretty, may have been poorly cared for, and you won't know anything about their origins. But, you are perhaps rescuing them from a bad situation. If I buy LTC's I always want to know why the person is selling them. I don't want to buy someone else's problem animals. I like to hear that they are just getting out of the hobby, not selling off unwanted turtles. The classified ads of this forum is probably the safest way to buy LTC turtles, because the seller is probably active on here. You'll have to watch the ads for a while. You might even be able to check back on the persons prior posts to see whether they have posted on their turtles in the past.
Steve
Well-fed turtles produce more eggs and more clutches. I believe that feeding them well the summer and fall before is key to high production. Keep them healthy, as turtles that are sick or poorly feeding often don't ovulate. If one of my turtles has an ear infection during the summer, it's likely she won't lay the following year, unless she feeds very well in between.
Most people need to protect the top of the pen from predators such as raccoons. They nest in the evenings, so be prepared to check the pen every night from mid-May through June.
How to get stock:
CB BABIES
If you start with captive bred (CB) babies, you're going to have to wait a while as they grow up. Then you'll find out whether they are males or females. If you buy babies that have been incubated to be male and others incubated for female, then you have a much better chance of starting out with what you want. This method is fun because you get to watch them grow up, and will better be able to advise those you sell babies to later on.
CB SUBADULTS/ADULTS
If you buy CB subadults or adults, this is the best way, as they are already used to people, and you can start breeding quickly. These are hard to find, and are usually more expensive, and you are trusting that the seller is telling the truth about them being captive bred. Be careful that you are not buying potential siblings. Usually, CB individuals have fewer, wider growth rings, and can be visually identified.
I have a nice CB female that is a subadult I will be selling at some point. If you're interested in her. Let me know.
FRESH WILD-CAUGHT ADULTS
If you start with fresh wild-caught individuals, then you will probably have stress related illnesses and parasite problems the first 6 months to 2 years. Some never really acclimate well. Often it takes a couple of years for wild-caught females to start cycling again due to the stress of captivity, unless they are gravid when you get them. The benefits are that they are often cheap to purchase, are probably unrelated.
You can pretty much disregard much of what the seller tells you, they often lie. Common things that are said about fresh wild caught adults are "Long-term captives", "So tame you can pet them", "feeding well on (specific foods, usually attractive sounding produce)", and "chasing the females". These are almost never true, and there's no way for you to know til you get them. Wild-caughts are usually shy, poor feeders, and are smaller and less attractive than the provided photos suggest. If you go this route, make sure you are prepared to put the time in to get them to eat well, and the money to pay for health issues.
LONG TERM CAPTIVES
If you start with long term captive wild-caught turtles (LTC), they are often well-acclimated to captivity, and will breed readily. You might be able to get these from a rescue, craigslist, or occasionally for sale online. This is probably the least expensive, safest way to start. The downside is that they are usually not very pretty, may have been poorly cared for, and you won't know anything about their origins. But, you are perhaps rescuing them from a bad situation. If I buy LTC's I always want to know why the person is selling them. I don't want to buy someone else's problem animals. I like to hear that they are just getting out of the hobby, not selling off unwanted turtles. The classified ads of this forum is probably the safest way to buy LTC turtles, because the seller is probably active on here. You'll have to watch the ads for a while. You might even be able to check back on the persons prior posts to see whether they have posted on their turtles in the past.
Steve
supremelysteve said:
Great information and right on the spot. Alot to be said about buying someones problems that they dont want, I have done this in the past. One of the most important things is to try to figure out why the seller is selling them
Good info above.
For me, the most important thing I could recommend is educating yourself about hatchling care. Anyone can own turtles and tortoises and get them to reproduce...but not everyone can keep the hatchlings healthy or start them off right. If you haven't ever raised hatchlings before, I would recommend starting with hatchlings and raising them up. When you feel comfortable with things, then move on to breeding adults.
There definitely needs to be more captive breeding of box turtles in my opinion, but it needs to be done right.
For me, the most important thing I could recommend is educating yourself about hatchling care. Anyone can own turtles and tortoises and get them to reproduce...but not everyone can keep the hatchlings healthy or start them off right. If you haven't ever raised hatchlings before, I would recommend starting with hatchlings and raising them up. When you feel comfortable with things, then move on to breeding adults.
There definitely needs to be more captive breeding of box turtles in my opinion, but it needs to be done right.
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cool post
Thank you all so much for the feedback. I am planning on raising two boxies as soon as I find a seller, then breed on a later date.
I would add to what Steve said if possible hey should be from the same subspecies and preferably local so that you are helping to preserve the genetic diversity of the species. Do not mix subspecies it is best to maintain them in separate pens.
wow thats alot of info to read....my advice, read up on it and have alot of patience..these boxie eggs take forever to incubate...or you can get a male and a few females unrelated and let nature take its course
Thank you!
Hello again. I was wondering how big of an age gap can be between a male and a female for breeding purposes.
Hello again. I was wondering how big of an age gap can be between a male and a female for breeding purposes.
katelyn0974 said:
As long as they are both consenting adults, there are no issues. You will want the females to be bigger that the males ideally, so they are ready when he starts pestering them to breed.
Box turtles can live to great ages, and are among the longest lived vertebrates. So once they are adults age isn't really important.
I wouldn't want an older male penned with a small single female, as he would pester her constantly. Once the male is sexually active, it's usually better to have 2 to 3 females in the pen to keep the breeding pressure spread out. Males can be very persistant, and this stresses the females, so a large pen with lots of obstacles to block line of sight is important. Box turtles are attracted by sight, and are easily distracted if they can no longer see their target. This usually isn't important until the male is reaching sexual maturity.
Also, breeding, from the males perspective, takes patience, and older males are better at it. They seem to learn exactly what to do to get the female to open up the back of her plastron, then they are ready to slip their back legs in to keep it open. Older males have large, thick back feet. I don't know if this is callous from the many pinchings they have taken during breeding, or if it just comes from age.
Steve
supremelysteve said:
Great information! You should start your own information page if you don't have one already. Great help for box turtle owners. Much thanks!
Yes generally though for gcbts, flabt may only need a brief dormant period if any to breed. The ttbts from the southern part of their range in Texas may not need a cold dormant period as is the case wi the flabt. As for ebt they would need to generally because gamete maturation occurs after or during spring warming. Though the degree of and length of the cold period would be dependent on where the turtles came from originally.
So, I have no idea if they are cb or not, though they are ltc. The guy I got them from had them for 3-4 yrs, and sold them cause they wouldn't breed..... Haha when I got them I could tell right away they were all females.... They are easterns so probably some brumation then?
I would say yep. Any way you could contact the person and see if they know their origin. If they do then that will help you a lot.
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