New Box Turtle Owner please critique setup

[kreagerm]

New at turtles, and I want to make sure these little guys survive. A little background about these little guys. 94 days ago my dog brought my attention to a female box turtle laying her eggs in my yard. To keep the dogs from digging up the eggs, I built an enclosure to protect them. 94 days later (yesterday) they finally decide to hatch. Worried all these predators would decimate them, I decided to care for them until next spring or summer, or until they are big enough to be returned to the wild.

Here is what I have. The substrate is a combination of soil, pine shavings and eco earth. I have a UVB light, a heating element (non light emitting) and a red light for heat, because 'the enclosure is in the basement. I have a decent size wading pool(cake pan lid). But here is my problem!!! I know they will eat when they want, but what can I do to encourage them to eat. I bought a couple different things to try like box turtle pellets (which I soaked and mashed) I have wax worms, crickets and some worms from the garden (angle worms). Do I need to cover the food?

Please critique as I want to make sure these little ones survive. (I'm going to mist them a bit right now)
Thanks,
Matt

 

[Maro2Bear]

If they just hatched and their yolk sack is still present they probably arent hungry yet and are still using the stored yolk reserves. Keep their food moist and available, I'm sure they will stsrt eating when they are hungry. I'm sure otheres here will have other ideas and tips. How many hatched?

 

[kreagerm]

That's great news, thank you.

 

[mike taylor]

Get you some worms the boxes love worms .

 

[Yvonne G]

Oh my...they're so tiny! I just found 4 Gulf Coast box turtle babies this a.m. The way I get them interested in eating is to put them into a shallow bowl of warm water and add some black worms or blood worms - those teeny tiny worms people buy to feed aquarium fish. Once they are eating the worms in the water, then I'll start chopping up fruits and veggies into very tiny pieces and place the worms on top of the food in the habitat. I put the babies around the edge of the food and I quickly step out of sight. They are prey and are pretty scared out in the open, so I place the feeding tile in front or at the mouth of the hiding place.

Baby box turtles dehydrate very quickly. You need to keep their substrate fairly moist and soak them every day in water.

 

[Yvonne G]

...oh, and: Welcome to the Forum!!

 

[kreagerm]

Thank You Yvonne!!!!

 

[terryo]

Everything Yvonne said. Your enclosure is so great for an indoor box turtle, but the only problem I see is that once they dig down to hide, it's going to be very hard to find them because it's so big. I usually keep any babies in a planted 20 gal. vivarium. They need plenty of warm humidity at this age. Look at the picture on this site on how to start baby box turtles. Good luck.....really love your enclosure.

http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/raisingbabyturtles/tour1.htm

 

[kreagerm]

Thanks terryo!!!! You're so right, 4 already dug down and are out of sight. I do have one brave one who likes to explore. I've been trying to work with the temps all day and I had to close it in to get the temps up. Before the enclosure the temps were about 72 degrees, I want it to get up to 80 degrees. I'll keep on the moister, hopefully they will find the wading area if they want some extra moister.

 

[kreagerm]

Here is a pic of Momma after layer her eggs, when my dog pointed her out to me.

 

[terryo]

Nice looking Eastern. You are lucky to have them where you live. Where I live there are lots of woods near my home, but we rarely see any more Box Turtles.

 

[Moozillion]

That momma is really pretty!!!
And you one little explorer is ADORABLE!!!

 

[kreagerm]

Thanks Everyone. We have a bunch of these beautiful box turtles roaming around, and I love seeing them. I helped 2 move across the road this year, as well as a painted turtle.

Now for these little ones, I'm just waiting for them to start eating. This will be a huge step for me.

I'm used to raising chicks, and I remember how stressed I was with them in the beginning, but these little guys take the bait.

 

[Ferretinmyshoes]

My baby boxies took a few weeks to start eating as they were still absorbing their yolk internally. They were still active and drinking well even though they weren't eating. I have had great success with soaking them first like Yvonne said. Soak every day in warm water and then offer some food. Mine went crazy for isopods (rolly pollies). Super cute babies and nice setup! You will definitely have days when you can't find them all because they are master hiders.

 

[kreagerm]

Thank You. I was just looking and they do still have a yolk sac, it's small but it's there.

I went ahead and turned off the UVB bulb to see what would happen, and 2 came out and are now roaming YAH!!!! Now if the other 3 would come out that would be awesome!!!!

 

[kreagerm]

I just caught one eating a worm!!! Yah I'm so happy for him. The best part about it was that he hunted the worm by himself. Earlier I went out and dug up a bunch of angle worms (they only get about 2 inches long) and spread them throughout their home. Just went down to check on them and look what he had in his mouth!!! Very Excited!!!

 

[Eric Phillips]

Great Job of giving these little ones a chance. Looks like all is well!