Outdoor Enclosure Question

[axeman25]

Hello everyone,
I have a question................that I will get to after telling the story that leads me to ask the question.


My wonderful neighbor lady a few doors down showed up at my door two days ago with what she thought was one of my Russians that had escaped from my outdoor enclosure. She was walking around the block we live on and found it in the road. We live on a busy road with no real wooded area close. Well, all my Russians were accounted for and what she had actually found was a Eastern Box Turtle. She is very large and I thought that someone may have let her go because they were tired of her or whatever. She was comfortable around people. Her shell had seen better days, it had a very large chunk out of it and two holes that looked as if a dog got a hold of her sometime ago. I won't go into the whole DNR thing I went through to try and find her a home (that's posted on a different thread). The good news is I found a rescue about 20 minutes from my house that specializes in turtles and will be taking her there later today.

I had to tell you that to ask you this. LOL

I have kept her in my torts outdoor enclosure for the past few days. I did not let them get near each other and kept my guys inside this whole time. Do I need to some how clean the enclosure or worry about parasites/disease being transferred to my Russians if I put them out there?

Thanks again and sorry for taking so long to get to the question........

 

[ascott]

Hello everyone,
I have a question................that I will get to after telling the story that leads me to ask the question.


My wonderful neighbor lady a few doors down showed up at my door two days ago with what she thought was one of my Russians that had escaped from my outdoor enclosure. She was walking around the block we live on and found it in the road. We live on a busy road with no real wooded area close. Well, all my Russians were accounted for and what she had actually found was a Eastern Box Turtle. She is very large and I thought that someone may have let her go because they were tired of her or whatever. She was comfortable around people. Her shell had seen better days, it had a very large chunk out of it and two holes that looked as if a dog got a hold of her sometime ago. I won't go into the whole DNR thing I went through to try and find her a home (that's posted on a different thread). The good news is I found a rescue about 20 minutes from my house that specializes in turtles and will be taking her there later today.

I had to tell you that to ask you this. LOL

I have kept her in my torts outdoor enclosure for the past few days. I did not let them get near each other and kept my guys inside this whole time. Do I need to some how clean the enclosure or worry about parasites/disease being transferred to my Russians if I put them out there?

Thanks again and sorry for taking so long to get to the question........

Yes..you should be concerned but at this point it is essentially too late. There is very little you can do. Please do be sure to tell the people that is taking on the turtle that you have exposed the turtle to a captive tortose enclosure in the event they plan to release..or if they are going to foster with other turtles.

 

[Yvonne G]

I think the danger would be the opposite - that is, the box turtle might get sick from the Russians. Russians are notoriously germ-ridden from the unsanitary conditions they're kept in between the time they're caught and the time they end up in the pet store. Be sure to do what Ascott has said, and let the rescue know where you've been keeping the turtle.

 

[Cowboy_Ken]

Exposure to feces, like in the water, would be a big concern.