Hello from Alabama

[Kelcon]

Well my name is Steven and I found Spartacus two days ago in the middle of the road!!! He has a small crack on his underbelly and so I decided to rescue him so to speak.... I think he might of been hit by a car ... he is very talented he climbs like a monkey its the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I do not have any pictures yet but will try to get them... right now he lives in a 65 gallon tub... he is a Eastern Coastal Box Turtle... If I had to guess he is at least ten years old he measures about 7.7 inches... I do have a desperate problem though and I need help asap.... he will not eat anything... I've tried to feed him several different things ranging from small insects, worms, greens, grapes, bananas, brocolli, and so far I have had zero luck... this will be the fourth day I've had the little guy and me and my Fiancée are really worried....we both already love this little guy and I just want him to be ok..... if anyone has any suggestions please help... I have supplied him with everything I think he would need but food.... I could probably use better bedding for him to walk on the pet store suggested smooth river rocks to keep his nails sharp and moss/soft compost for him to relax on in his little pool.... I admit I don't know much and im just desperate at this point....

 

[dmmj]

Welcome to the forum

Often turtles and tortoise require adjustment to new homes. Does the crack look recent? If so he may be injured and therefore not want to eat. How does his weight feel? does he feel like a heavy rock, or does he feel like a empty shell. If his weight is good then you can wait a little bit and see if he will start eating. If he is light and not eating you may want to consider a vet visit.

 

[Kelcon]

He feels like a rock... the crack looks pretty old he is a big boy lol... um also he isnt an eastern coastal box turtle but a Gulf Coast Box Turtle.... im sure that makes a heck of a difference... but he does way a good bit let me weight him real quick

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Currently he weighs 1.4 pounds he is starting to feel lighter then the day we found him though

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Currently he weighs 1.4 pounds but he is feeling lighter then when we first found him so I think he might of eaten the day we found him in the road

 

[dmmj]

If he feels heavy like a rock, then he just needs a readjustment period, I am only saying the next for information purposes, please check your local laws on wild box turtle collecting it may be illegal for you to have him, I don't know your states law so I can't say.

 

[Kelcon]

Well I looked it up the first day we found him... it is illegal for us to sell him or mistreat him(which I would kill someone if they did that) and we are allowed to own only one box turtle no matter the breed in the state of Alabama so I am in the clear.. its the first thing I checked .... my plans with him were to get in contact with a wildlife conservation and try helping by letting him breed... their numbers are decreasing yearly and I thought it would be a great idea since he is a male.

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He also likes to go on walks I let him walk around for about 3 hours a day in the back yard... earlier today he was digging around under a tree I'm not 100% sure if he found some bugs or something or was looking but he was all about some digging for about a good 40 minutes or so.... lol

 

[bikerchicspain]

Hello and welcome

 

[John]

welcome

 

[coreyc]

Hello Steven welcome to the forum

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Steven:

Welcome to the forum!!

Are you absolutely sure it IS a box turtle? You may be trying to feed the wrong kind of turtle the wrong kind of food.

Look up images of Terrapene carolina major (Gulf coast box turtle) and Terrapene carolina carolina (Eastern bpx turtle) and see if they look like Spartacus.

If so, offer him something that wiggles like a nice big fat night crawler.

 

[DeanS]

Welcome Steven! When you do get around to taking pictures of Spartacus...get one or two of the plastron so we can see the extent of the damage.

 

[Floof]

Welcome to the forum, Steven! Very glad to see you here, trying to learn what you need to do for Spartacus.

The only thing I'd like to add, care wise, is to get him off the rocks ASAP if you aren't already working on that. He should have something like soil, coconut coir, cypress mulch, or a mix thereof for bedding. He doesn't need anything in his water dish, either. Unfortunately, a great deal of pet stores just don't know what they're talking about with reptiles, especially turtles and tortoises, and it sounds like the one you went to is especially ignorant of box turtle care...

Now, I understand if you want to keep Spartacus, but I feel this has to be said at some point, and sooner is better than later... Spartacus is a wild turtle. While I admire and understand the desire to rescue an injured turtle, it sounds like the injury is old, which calls into question whether he really needed "saving" in the first place. As well, you mention yourself that the wild population is dwindling... Part of that is traces back to pretty much what you did--people taking those turtles out of the wild, either for selfish reasons ("Hey, free pet for the kids!") or more noble reasons like your own. While your intentions are good, the fact of the matter is that you just removed a breeding adult from the wild. And it sounds like a very old, successful one at that, to be so big and still in such great physical health. Then there's the practicality issues for yourself: Wild-caught turtles have parasites and need to be treated for them. As well, there's a possibility he may never be completely satisfied with captivity: no matter how large you make his enclosures and perfect the habitats within, it will never quite compare to having free range of thousands of acres of his native Alabama wilderness.

I may be the only one thinking this, but I seriously think you may be better letting Spartacus go back to his "home," the wild, and rather look into getting a healthy, captive-bred turtle instead.

If you decide you want to keep him and that's that... Then, okay, I will follow the rest of the forum in supporting your decision. I just want to make sure you're considering this from all angles, for your sake and Spartacus's.

 

[dmarcus]

Hello, Steven welcome to the forum..

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome.

 

[Jacqui]

Hi and welcome! I think everybody has covered the basics for either you deciding to keep him or if you do end up letting him go wild again. I would add if you go the releasing route, that if at all possible, take him back to where you found him. Not the middle of the road , but off the road as much as possible and in the direction he was headed when found. Box turtles tend to have homing instincts and he will try to go back to his home range.

 

[Jacob]

Welcome, goodluck for whatever you plan on doing

 

[Kelcon]

We'll I have talked with my Fiancée and we decided that would like to keep him but if he doesn't eat by the end of today we will release him tomorrow.... I've always loved turtles and it was her idea to keep him... we have a lot of mean people around here and I just did not want him to end up as bait in a dog fighting ring... we have a lot of them around here and it is horrible. Since he is a common breed around this area there was a clip in the paper the other day about them being used in the rings as a focus of aggression for the dogs. I could hear the freakin Deliverance music in the back ground when I found him so I thought I was doing the right thing . I never meant to put him in more harm but he looked so helpless in the middle of the road it was sad. I was trying to feed him night crawlers but he just wont budge on eating them.. I even took the day off of work to look at him sigh ill update in a little while... thank you all for your support you are amazing people and I really appreciate it so much.

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Theres good news we got him to eat... we are also changing his aquarium but the pet shop is closed(not that I really care about going back there after they gave me the wrong information -.-) I placed him down and he crawled onto some towels... he is sleeping lol was the funniest thing... he ate 3 6 inch long night crawlers... it was so awesome lol I just kept saying GET EM GET EM. Im not sure how I can get pictures of him on here I dont have a camera but maybe I can use my phone somehow... I do know he looks healthy and still the largest one I have seen out of his breed (Gulf Coast Box Turtle)

 

[Kelcon]

Here he is next to a shoe to show you his size...

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Another shot of him chillin in the forest

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T. carolina is definitely him... I was wondering if someone could tell me if he looks ok

 

[Yvonne G]

I think he's an eastern (Terrapene carolina carolina). He looks fine to me.

 

[Kelcon]

I think so as well I dont know I put Gulf Coast... I guess a derp moment sorry.... lol

 

[CtTortoiseMom]

Out of curiosity what part of AL are you from?