New Enclosure question

TurtleMama7

New Member
Joined
May 12, 2017
Messages
9
Location (City and/or State)
Orange County, CA.
I am in California with 3 three toed box turtles. We are getting ready to build a new turtle habitat outside in our yard to replace our current one which does not stay moist enough. We have chosen a spot that gets sun as well shade throughout the day and will stay cool. Enclosure will be above ground with wood sides. Our main question concerns the base of the enclosure. Is it necessary and/or recommended to place hardware cloth or some type of barrier under the dirt so the turtles don't dig too far down in the dirt?

The ground is dirt/soil.

Thanks for any suggestions!
 

Yvonne G

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Jan 23, 2008
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93,389
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I don't have anything like that in my turtle yards. The fence (as of now it's grape stakes, but I'm working on changing that soon) goes down into the ground about 3", however, I've never seen any areas where the turtles tried to dig under the fence. When/if they want to escape, they climb, not dig.

Provide an area of heavy leaf litter/garden waste that they can dig into. Make sure it's on the uphill side so it doesn't flood. Box turtles dig. They feel safe when dug in for the night. So a pile of leaf litter is ideal for them.

Here's my box turtle yard where I'm replacing the grape stakes with corral lumber. I placed rectangular stepping stones on the bottom, under the first boardbox turtle fence 9-17-16 c.jpg box turtle fence 9-17-16 d.jpg box turtle fence 9-17-16 e.jpg box turtle fence 9-17-16.jpg box turtle fence 9-28-16 a.jpg box turtle fence 9-28-16 b.jpg box turtle fence 10-1-16 b.jpg :
 

Turtlesfromcolo

Active Member
Joined
May 22, 2016
Messages
128
Location (City and/or State)
Colorado
My boxies never try to dig out, but don't underestimate how well they can climb to escape. I was shocked the first time I seen one of my boxies climb a fence.. Lol
 

Link

Member
Joined
May 3, 2017
Messages
79
Location (City and/or State)
East-Central Oklahoma
Forget the fence imagine climbing the wall of the house to get around the 6 foot fence. Stucco house=spider turtle
Some one needs to get a picture of a turtle climbing a tree. I know it has to happen.
 

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