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Yvonne G

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Yeah, see if you can get your money back on that light. Buy either a Mercury Vapor Bulb:

mercury vapor bulb.jpg

or a tube type fluorescent:

T-5 fluorescent bulb.jpg

The MVB provides heat and UVB both in the same bulb. And it requires a ceramic fixture for mounting.

ceramic clamp light.jpg
Note the white part where the bulb screw in. That's ceramic. If it were black/dark brown, that would be plastic, or Bakelite.
 
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RiverSong

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Unfortunately, not my enclosure. I think it's TerryO's. If you look through my older posts, I had some nice ones. The post I copied for you will have info on proper diet. Try soaking him in lukewarm water up to the bottom of his shell for 15 mins before feeding. This will encourage him to eat. Using small worms will help get him started too. Later on, he'll take pellets and fruit. Baby box turtles will stay burrowed for much of the day (just make sure you have proper temps and lighting). This is how they stay alive in the wild. You'll want to keep the substrate moist/wet. You can help this by adding leaves to act as mulch. I like to use oak leaves. You can use whatever you have on your property. Make sure you don't take them off of a lawn that gets sprayed with pesticides. You can cover the top of the enclosure, over the lighting, to keep humidity higher. In my experience, plants and other cover encourage them to explore. Plants I like to use are pothos, indoor ferns, and snake plant. Here's a nice resource for enclosure design:

http://turtletails.net/raisingbabyturtles/raisingbabyturtles.htm

Post a picture of your turtle next to a ruler. We may be able to give you an idea of how old it is.

Here's my little one...i think it's a she. Lol

Resized_20170127_192002.jpg
Resized_20170127_192002.jpg
 

cmacusa3

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She looks great, just don't be surprised in a few years if she shows you that, she's a he. Lol
 

Pearly

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How long can they stay in an indoor tank before I have to build something for her outside? We live in an apartment complex so my space is limited. I want to make sure she has enough room...and i have time to save and do everything right. I had no idea what i was getting myself into but after getting the first tank and seeing her come out of her shell i fell in love. Anyway...i want to make sure she has enough room.
Hey River, I am not an expert by any means, but had been through a rough ride with one sickly hatchling where all of my work and research of 19 months is now beginning to pay off in healthy, confident, beautiful pet tortoise so if i can help another new keeper in some small way, I'd like to do that. Paying off my debt to the TFO community:) that said, what I share are just my opinions/experience. My babies were tiny when I first got them. Tucker wasn't even 2inches carapace. I had found 40 gal breeder tank on sale (that dollar per gallon deal at petco) and set it up for them with tube fluorescent uvb. They didn't bask! Ever! Their first year they'd stay hidden most of the time. Only coming out to eat/drink. Worried as most new keepers, i was taking them outside every day for at least 30 min "walk and sunning" late afternoon after the heat of Texas sun lead up a bit. Then every evening soaking which at the beginning was very stressful to me to watch them thrashing in this barn bucket. Soon I had ran across a post here on tfo of a member soaking her tort in human sink and another in bathtub... that gave me an idea... this was when tort bath became one of their favorite activities in a day. They just chill in there now. And I no longer do it religiously every day. If busy, We skip a bath for day or 2 and it's ok too. But we try to keep to that daily routine bcs they like to poo in water and I don't want them to have to hold it:) to answer your question my babies are now about 19 months old, and they have long outgrown their tank. I kept them in their closed chamber with just daily outings/sunning/exercise and bath daily for the whole first year. Once yearlings, I built enclosed tortoise garden for them in my back yard, enclosed it with cinderblocks and planted with organing tortoise food plants (hibiscus, grapevines, chikory, iceplants and bunch of others). The garden is not finished yet but safely enclosed so their entire second summer (this past summer) they'd spend all day outside and we'd bring them into the tub for their bath (to soak and wash all the dirt off) and spend nite in their 81F/85-90% humid tank. When it started getting cooler outside we cut their outdoor time to just couple hrs in the afternoon when it's over 80F outside. I don't have their heated house ready for them yet, plus they are still too small for my taste to be outside full time. Tucker is around 6.5" carapace and Shellie always whole inch ahead of him, so not tiny anymore, but still juveniles. I'm thinking we'll have their lock box built by the end of this summer and we'll see how they do then. I think the size of your enclosure is really less relevant if you can provide your pet with daily exercise and enrichment activity. Again all if the above just WORKS FOR ME and my torts. I think every pet owner eventually finds his/her ways of doing stuff that sits well with them and provides for thriving healthy/happy pets
 

RiverSong

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Yeah, see if you can get your money back on that light. Buy either a Mercury Vapor Bulb:

View attachment 198182

or a tube type fluorescent:

View attachment 198183

The MVP provides heat and UVB both in the same bulb. And it requires a ceramic fixture for mounting.

View attachment 198184
Note the white part where the bulb screw in. That's ceramic. If it were black/dark brown, that would be plastic, or Bakelite.

Does it need to be the 160 watt? Or will the 100watt work
 

RiverSong

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Should i be worried about the spots that look dry...that is how the kids brought him home. Im worried that i might need to get him to a vet...or am i just a first time turtle mom over reacting??? Lol20170128_230152.jpg
 

Pearly

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Maybe few dry spots are from the desiccating heat lamp? Or little bumping trauma? Whatever it maybe it looks fine. Such little cutie! Give my babies coconut oil (organic extra virgin cold pressed) massage every couple wks after their bath. I just rub it in all crevices under a good light so i can look closely at every detail of their body, check eyes, nose, mouth, vent, etc. and after doing this routine for 19 months, they now rather enjoy it or at least don't mind being handled, touched, love their heads/chins rubbed, still not crazy about their limbs and tails being messed with but we're working on it:) ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1485705349.769417.jpg see how dry Shellie's head is on this pic? ImageUploadedByTortoise Forum1485705468.345170.jpg and now with little coco oil rubbed in
 

Yvonne G

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Does it need to be the 160 watt? Or will the 100watt work

I'm going to have to find a picture of a 100 watt MVB. I use the 100 watt and it works just fine for me. If you have a great big habitat it might not be hot enough, but for an aquarium it will work fine.
 

Yvonne G

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Should i be worried about the spots that look dry...that is how the kids brought him home. Im worried that i might need to get him to a vet...or am i just a first time turtle mom over reacting??? LolView attachment 198433

No, those are minor blemishes and will disappear in time.
 

Gillian M

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Hello all...I'm new here and to the world of turtles. My children came home from a friends house with a turtle...they didn't know what kind it is or what kind of habitat or the sex...they threw away the encloser so I'm starting from scratch. Im not sure what kind it is...im thinking a three toed box turtle...i don't even know where to go here...help me please!!! Thanks!!!View attachment 198052 View attachment 198053
A warm welcome to the forum, @RiverSong .
 

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