New Box Turtle Enclosure

[taquito23]

I made a post about this las night. We decided it was time to get Taquito into a new place that would suit her better. We went to walmart and got a $25 book shelf, a piece of 3/4x4x2 plywood, a few l brackets, and a shower curtain. Going to order a T5 UVB on Friday. Still working out the kinks on how I'm going to keep the humidity up. She is by a south facing window with one of those Mercury bulbs now.

Substrate is Coco fiber/reptisoil/organic top soil

the PLAN is to:

1. Put some plants (live) that aren't toxic to her (still researching that). Add the UVB
2. UVB Bulb
3. More hides
4. Possibly some kind of "A" frame roof to help with the humidity.

She will be an indoor turtle until we get a house. The plan is to let her get some evening sun at least a few times a week.

Any other tips or critiques would be awesome.

Thanks!

Before:


After:

 

[wellington]

@Yvonne G

 

[wellington]

She needs a bigger water source. They like to swim in water. Also the substrate looks way to dry. Enclosure not big enough, at least try to double the size.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Yeah as wellingtons said, you will need to go bigger, you might be better with something like this flower bed base(or a similar base to what you have if you can find a bigger size) lined with pond liner, then with something like this greenhouse over top to help with your humidity🙂
Either way, if you’re sticking with this size for a bit, I’d look into a greenhouse cover to get your humidity up

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Also I’d be careful with that clamp holder, they’ve been known to fail! Last thing you want is your heat source falling in

 

[taquito23]

Also I’d be careful with that clamp holder, they’ve been known to fail! Last thing you want is your heat source falling in

Good call. Thank you. This was a quick build. The plan is to got with a greenhouse topper or a bracket of some source to hold the lights.

 

[taquito23]

S

She needs a bigger water source. They like to swim in water. Also the substrate looks way too dry. Enclosure not big enough, at least try to double the size.

See, someone said on my other post that the deeper blue dish we had was a drowning g hazard and they didn’t need much water..

 

[taquito23]

Yeah as wellingtons said, you will need to go bigger, you might be better with something like this flower bed base(or a similar base to what you have if you can find a bigger size) lined with pond liner, then with something like this greenhouse over top to help with your humidity🙂
Either way, if you’re sticking with this size for a bit, I’d look into a greenhouse cover to get your humidity

Yeah as wellingtons said, you will need to go bigger, you might be better with something like this flower bed base(or a similar base to what you have if you can find a bigger size) lined with pond liner, then with something like this greenhouse over top to help with your humidity🙂
Either way, if you’re sticking with this size for a bit, I’d look into a greenhouse cover to get your humidity up

So, question for you.


Would a greenhouse cover filter the sun? (It’s by a window so it’s not 100% UV anyway.) and also, do you have experience with a cover like this over a turtle? I guess I’d be worried the airflow/heat would be to much for them.

 

[wellington]

S

See, someone said on my other post that the deeper blue dish we had was a drowning g hazard and they didn’t need much water..

Don't know where that post is. I have only seen one other post from you other than this thread and only thing I seen mentioned was from Yvonne, how she houses hers and that she uses a large clay saucer sunken into the substrate.
The blue one needed to be sunken into the substrate and the flimsy plastic one you have now, if it's big enough for her to get into and won't just buckle in from her weight, also needs to be sunken in. A large clay saucer would work better.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

So, question for you.


Would a greenhouse cover filter the sun? (It’s by a window so it’s not 100% UV anyway.) and also, do you have experience with a cover like this over a turtle? I guess I’d be worried the airflow/heat would be to much for them.

Common plastic and glasses filter out UVB completely and significant part of UVA too. So you turtle doesn't get UVB essential for D3 synthesis near the closed window. Not sure if turtles see in UVA like tortoises do, however it doesn't seem to be a big issue for tortoises.

Greenhouse tops aren't airtight, so there will be enough oxygen and when you do daily maintenance like changing food and water, cleaning and etc. there will be enough air exchange.

Overheating on a sunny day can be an issue, your concerns are fair here. Your thermometer will tell you if you need to open the greenhouse or close the curtain.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Common plastic and glasses filter out UVB completely and significant part of UVA too. So you turtle doesn't get UVB essential for D3 synthesis near the closed window. Not sure if turtles see in UVA like tortoises do, however it doesn't seem to be a big issue for tortoises.

Greenhouse tops aren't airtight, so there will be enough oxygen and when you do daily maintenance like changing food and water, cleaning and etc. there will be enough air exchange.

Overheating on a sunny day can be an issue, your concerns are fair here. Your thermometer will tell you if you need to open the greenhouse or close the curtain.

Yeah Alex beat me to it here haha.
You’ll definitely find your humidity far less of a battle with some sort of cover like that, and don’t worry they’ll be plenty of air flow when you’re doing your daily husbandries😊
Oh and yes be sure to be checking your temps on warmer days, just as you should without it anyway🙂

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

S

See, someone said on my other post that the deeper blue dish we had was a drowning g hazard and they didn’t need much water..

The water dish doesn't need to be deep, but wide enough for the tortoise to move around in.