Introducing Matilda.....Eastern box baby girl....

jeff kushner

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I've lurked here long enough to see that there's some good and turtle-talented folks here!

Here is my latest sweetie......

Found her upside-down on a park asphalt path, dropped by a bird or kicked up by a jogger.

Beautiful little girl...who eats like a BEAST!

She lives in acrylic for now with an temp adj heating pad under one end. This gives her a heat range in her home from 70F near her food/water to 84F above her heat pad.

She loves to borrow till only her crown is showing each late-afternoon. She had to adjust to my schedule which has her "sun" coming up at 2-3AM and going down at 6-7PM......but it's been a month now and she's transitioned without effect it appears.

You can see the little "V"'s cut on the radish edges....she loves radishes which are high in vitamins but no D, so I take the D3 gels at the store, pop one and coat the edges of the radishes....problem solved.

She also eats her red and romaine lettuces, strawberries, raspberries....watermelon, greens of all types......happy, healthy turtles eat.....sick ones do not. If your's is not eating, don't do nothing while it wastes away...it could linger for months. Ask for help.

I've used this method(food coating) for Vit D introduction for many years with huge success.

Here's a cool thing bout Matilda....she will pull her radishes out of her food dish if they are served that day....she will pull them all around her home but mostly nearer her water dish. She only pulls radishes out of the dish, no other foods!




jeff

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Pastel Tortie

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I'm impressed that such a small boxie is eating so many greens! Keep in mind, they are omnivorous. I'm not sure what other species you have experience with, but box turtles definitely need more protein than tortoises. This opens up additional options for getting D3 and other nutrients into your turtle. The care sheets pinned at the top of this section should help in calibrating your approach to dealing with a box turtle.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Terrapene carolina subspecies, especially T.c. carolina (Eastern box turtle) and T.c. major (Gulf Coast box turtle), can look identical when they're that little. The differences are minor, and intergrades between the subspecies exist. The biggest difference is that a GCBT can eventually reach 8 inches or more. GCBTs also tend to lean towards a more carnivorous (but still omnivorous) diet than other subspecies of of T. carolina.

For perspective, my GCBT is currently just over 4" SCL (straight carapace length), but when she came into our lives, she was 1.25 inches. If yours is anywhere near that size, it will be a while longer before we know for sure whether you have a Matilda or a Matt. :)
 

jeff kushner

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Thanks guys. I didn't do much of an intro but like many here I suspect, I've had turtles of some type since I was very little, my family had a resident turtle in our dog kennel that used to appear each summer. I caught my first turtle, a baby red-ear when I was 7....many, many, many, many, many(geez) many, yrs ago.
I do not think I know anything much less everything about reptiles/amphibians.

Until recently, I had several different tanks with cooters, yellow & reds...etc. Part of my work included the renovation of the reptile house at the Nat zoo years ago and I got to spend time talking with the vets and keepers. I used to have a 4ft spectacled caiman but that was back in the 70's when you could buy a monkey out of a Boys Life mag for 20 bucks and the alligators of Fla were going extinct! There was also Clemson the sulcata who enjoyed free reign here for years before moving to a new home.

Anyway, I was happy to find a place here on your forum where folks who do need help with their turtles, especially new owners, can find it. We've all seen sick, eye-encrusted guys.....and there's no reason with the tech we have now to seek info.


Yes PT, accurate ID can be difficult when many types of terrestrial turtles are young, and while we all take educated guesses on gender, that too is wrought with a bunch of "except in this case" and "but in this species".....thankfully.....kinda won't matter. She's "self-identified" as female......when she came out to the world here and on an amazon review for the heating pad. ....so Matt isn't allowed....lol


Thanks for the welcome guys... I appreciate all advice....but don't worry about Matilda's diet...that's USDA Prime steak she's eating in this pic...not grocery store meat, mail-order meat...LOL! My turtle eats better than most Americans!

jeff

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Yvonne G

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Hi Jeff, and welcome to the Forum! At such a tiny size, Matilda's very lucky you were there to find her before. . . well, we all know what could have happened to her!

I never thought to include radishes in my baby box turtles' diet. I like it! I feed them the same chopped up greens I feed to my baby tortoises, only I also give the baby box turtles a bit of fruit, with some sort of animal protein on top.

Because Matilda is so outgoing, I'm going to put in my bid for 'her' being male. Time will tell!
 

Pastel Tortie

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I know a turtle guy in South Florida who used to feed his wood turtles hatchlings filet mignon... ? Possibility still does, on occasion.
 

Srmcclure

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Hi Jeff, and welcome to the Forum! At such a tiny size, Matilda's very lucky you were there to find her before. . . well, we all know what could have happened to her!

I never thought to include radishes in my baby box turtles' diet. I like it! I feed them the same chopped up greens I feed to my baby tortoises, only I also give the baby box turtles a bit of fruit, with some sort of animal protein on top.

Because Matilda is so outgoing, I'm going to put in my bid for 'her' being male. Time will tell!
Well. Atleast Matilda is easy to turn into Matt ?
 

DesertGirl

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I've lurked here long enough to see that there's some good and turtle-talented folks here!

Here is my latest sweetie......

Found her upside-down on a park asphalt path, dropped by a bird or kicked up by a jogger.

Beautiful little girl...who eats like a BEAST!

She lives in acrylic for now with an temp adj heating pad under one end. This gives her a heat range in her home from 70F near her food/water to 84F above her heat pad.

She loves to borrow till only her crown is showing each late-afternoon. She had to adjust to my schedule which has her "sun" coming up at 2-3AM and going down at 6-7PM......but it's been a month now and she's transitioned without effect it appears.

You can see the little "V"'s cut on the radish edges....she loves radishes which are high in vitamins but no D, so I take the D3 gels at the store, pop one and coat the edges of the radishes....problem solved.

She also eats her red and romaine lettuces, strawberries, raspberries....watermelon, greens of all types......happy, healthy turtles eat.....sick ones do not. If your's is not eating, don't do nothing while it wastes away...it could linger for months. Ask for help.

I've used this method(food coating) for Vit D introduction for many years with huge success.

Here's a cool thing bout Matilda....she will pull her radishes out of her food dish if they are served that day....she will pull them all around her home but mostly nearer her water dish. She only pulls radishes out of the dish, no other foods!




jeff

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She’s sooo tiny. Where did you find those giant mutant strawberries??? ?
 

Moozillion

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Well, it wasn't the only thing he fed them... If I remember correctly, he was only producing a couple species back then.
Even so, that’s a level of spoiling pets that tops the charts for what I’ve heard...except maybe the Queen’s corgis! ????
 

Tjsalyers

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I've lurked here long enough to see that there's some good and turtle-talented folks here!

Here is my latest sweetie......

Found her upside-down on a park asphalt path, dropped by a bird or kicked up by a jogger.

Beautiful little girl...who eats like a BEAST!

She lives in acrylic for now with an temp adj heating pad under one end. This gives her a heat range in her home from 70F near her food/water to 84F above her heat pad.

She loves to borrow till only her crown is showing each late-afternoon. She had to adjust to my schedule which has her "sun" coming up at 2-3AM and going down at 6-7PM......but it's been a month now and she's transitioned without effect it appears.

You can see the little "V"'s cut on the radish edges....she loves radishes which are high in vitamins but no D, so I take the D3 gels at the store, pop one and coat the edges of the radishes....problem solved.

She also eats her red and romaine lettuces, strawberries, raspberries....watermelon, greens of all types......happy, healthy turtles eat.....sick ones do not. If your's is not eating, don't do nothing while it wastes away...it could linger for months. Ask for help.

I've used this method(food coating) for Vit D introduction for many years with huge success.

Here's a cool thing bout Matilda....she will pull her radishes out of her food dish if they are served that day....she will pull them all around her home but mostly nearer her water dish. She only pulls radishes out of the dish, no other foods!




jeff

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She is pretty cute try giving her some nutrition like in insects pill worms she would probably like??
 

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