more help please

[GrammyTree]

We are definitely working on getting them more sun and water time. Thanks for all the input. It really does help.

 

[GrammyTree]

I agree totally, except, they are NOT getting soaked enough, she says "she does it when she can". The whole table looks too dry. Box turtles 'think' they are semi aquatic and if allowed will spend most of their time in the water. If inside, soaking, if outside, swimming.
This is my bad that I also did not consider the lack of Vit A. You are very correct and I personally don't think their diet is good enough to offset the lack of UVB, either light or sun, heck a few hours a week is all they need, more is better, but a minimum of sun is better than none at all. And I gave her a link to a care sheet for a better diet.
But I obviously keep my box turtles different than others. Oh, this is a picture of the outside pen for them, and in the bottom pix there's 4 box turtles doing their thing, betcha can't find all 4



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Sorry about keeping them too dry. That is my fault. Jeff keeps telling me they need lots of moisture but I've been afraid of too much wet will rot them out. Can they be too wet?

 

[PJay]

They don't want to be in standing water all day and if you have a lot of mold in the substrate they are too wet. The substrate can be dry-ish on top but underneath where they dig under should be moist. I pour a cup of water along the side of the container every few days if the bottom of the substrate starts to dry out. The water spreads along the bottom and soaks in and up. In your picture post it looks like you are using a cardboard box so that's not an option unless you lined it with plastic. If that's the case, just heavily spray the top until you can get a watertight container. In the beginning of keeping box turtles that's what I did until I read somewhere about pouring the water in. My fingers used to get quite tired with all that pumping of the spray bottle. Whew! Top spraying will always be part of the routine, just not as much if you have a water tight container. I'm impressed with how well you are doing in such a short time keeping box turtles. Were you close to the areas that got flooded? I was watching the news reports and it looked quite devastating.

 

[MichaelaW]

We soak it at least two to three times a week and we do spray mists thru out the day. The top does dry out but underneath is pretty damp.

That sounds good, especially if you are misting several times per day. Do they soak themselves?

 

[GrammyTree]

Th

They don't want to be in standing water all day and if you have a lot of mold in the substrate they are too wet. The substrate can be dry-ish on top but underneath where they dig under should be moist. I pour a cup of water along the side of the container every few days if the bottom of the substrate starts to dry out. The water spreads along the bottom and soaks in and up. In your picture post it looks like you are using a cardboard box so that's not an option unless you lined it with plastic. If that's the case, just heavily spray the top until you can get a watertight container. In the beginning of keeping box turtles that's what I did until I read somewhere about pouring the water in. My fingers used to get quite tired with all that pumping of the spray bottle. Whew! Top spraying will always be part of the routine, just not as much if you have a water tight container. I'm impressed with how well you are doing in such a short time keeping box turtles. Were you close to the areas that got flooded? I was watching the news reports and it looked quite devastating.

They were in a cardboard box when we first got them. Took awhile to build them a bigger waterproof box. We soak the substrate at least three times a week. I use a big watering can and let it rain. Through out the day we do spray water on top as it does dry out. The bottom is always moist. Yes we were close but luckily we live up high. Alot of our friends weren't so lucky.

 

[GrammyTree]

That sounds good, especially if you are misting several times per day. Do they soak themselves?

They do but bare in mind the pen is not finished. We just needed to hurry and get them into something. We plan on having a wading tank at the end of the pen.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

ATTACH] Well, I guess my box turtles are just odd then, because outside they stay in the pond all day, and inside they stay mostly in their water dish. You do realize box turtles and tortoise are different species. Box turtles DO like to be wet.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

Well, moderators, my photos doubled up but my 10 minutes ran out as usual, so I couldn't fix it, sorry.

 

[MichaelaW]

My gulf coasts and one of the three toed's spend almost all their time in the water.