I found a baby Eastern Box Turtle

Loren123456765

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Hi everyone!

So my mother found a baby Eastern Box Turtle in the middle of her driveway in December!!! She brought him to me so now its really too late to just leave him where he was. It has been mostly in the 40s F at best during the day. He is alive but very cold and slow to move if at all.. I know these guys go through brumation... He is about the size of a USA half dollar coin. I am figuring I have a pet box turtle until I can release him in spring... Any advice as to how best to wake him up properly? I feel like he is in limbo between brumation and waking up right now. Any advice would be much appreciated. I have experience keeping snakes but nothing that brumates. Thanks
 

Loren123456765

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Loren123456765

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Sure. I wonder why it was out? Maybe a raccoon or fox or something dug it up.
thats what I was figuring... Probably got dug up by some critter. very strange... Luckily I have a spare snake enclosure. Since putting him in warm water he seems to be waking up a bit. I will get him set up in the snake enclosure tomorrow and offer him some food and just keep him warm and hydrated tonight.
 

Tim Carlisle

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I'd love to see a pic of it if you have one. I miss growing up in Charleston, SC and seeing them scurrying around like little beetles after hatching. They were EVERYWHERE!
 

Loren123456765

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I'd love to see a pic of it if you have one. I miss growing up in Charleston, SC and seeing them scurrying around like little beetles after hatching. They were EVERYWHERE!
They are a very rare treat for me to find.. probably only seen 3 on my property in the 13 years I have lived here.. I have him all set up as outlined in the video in the very helpful link provided by @Maro2Bear . As it turns out I have a nice egg incubator which should serve nicely to maintain his temp and humidity levels. It is big enough to put a container in and create him a small habitat. Here are a couple pictures for you... after a couple days if he does well I will introduce him to my tiktok audience.IMG_1807.jpg
IMG_1808.jpg
 

Blackdog1714

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They are a very rare treat for me to find.. probably only seen 3 on my property in the 13 years I have lived here.. I have him all set up as outlined in the video in the very helpful link provided by @Maro2Bear . As it turns out I have a nice egg incubator which should serve nicely to maintain his temp and humidity levels. It is big enough to put a container in and create him a small habitat. Here are a couple pictures for you... after a couple days if he does well I will introduce him to my tiktok audience.View attachment 313576
View attachment 313577
So adorable! And by helping it over winter grow and gain strength it will have a better chance of survival
 

Tim Carlisle

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They are a very rare treat for me to find.. probably only seen 3 on my property in the 13 years I have lived here.. I have him all set up as outlined in the video in the very helpful link provided by @Maro2Bear . As it turns out I have a nice egg incubator which should serve nicely to maintain his temp and humidity levels. It is big enough to put a container in and create him a small habitat. Here are a couple pictures for you... after a couple days if he does well I will introduce him to my tiktok audience.View attachment 313576
View attachment 313577
Ahhh... THAT's what I'm talking about!
 

Yossarian

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out of curiosity when would this little guy have hatched? Is it supposed to be buried in mud right now? Maybe got washed out of its hole by rain or flood?
 

Blackdog1714

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Just found this hope it helps!
 

Len B

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Sure. I wonder why it was out? Maybe a raccoon or fox or something dug it up.
It's possible it was asleep for the winter under some fallen leaves and got disturbed during the fall yard cleanup. I have had that happen here in the past so I don't rake the piled up leaves until the next the next spring.
 

Loren123456765

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out of curiosity when would this little guy have hatched? Is it supposed to be buried in mud right now? Maybe got washed out of its hole by rain or flood?
I assume he hatched sometime over the summer… He’s quite tiny. The way the driveway is, there’s no yardwork in the area… It’s a very long driveway that winds through the Woods and is slightly elevated from surrounding area… I think the most likely case is that some critter disturbed where he was overwintering… Perhaps even carried this little guy off and his shell protected him.
 

Loren123456765

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Just found this hope it helps!
Thank you for the link! I did watch that video last night. And I took the guys advice. Currently he is sitting in A container which is inside of an incubator maintaining his temperature around 82° with a humidity in the mid 80s. I also put about a quarter inch of water in the bottom of his container to keep him hydrated. I’ve offered him a meal worm and an earthworm… Hasn’t taken anything so far. He is slightly active and has moved around his enclosure a little bit.
 

Loren123456765

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So he is still doing ok. But not eating. I have offered him meal worms as well as small earthworms. Its been about 2 days since he was woke from brumation. I’ve read in a few places that it can be up to 2 weeks before they start eating again after coming out of brumation... I am just not sure if that applies to babies as well… I don’t want to stress him out so I haven’t been too insistent with him trying to get him to eat… Not really sure when I should start thinking about trying to coax him to eat or if I should just give him more time to start eating on his own. Right now I am just leaving a small earthworm in his enclosure with him.
 

Toddrickfl1

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Thank you for the link! I did watch that video last night. And I took the guys advice. Currently he is sitting in A container which is inside of an incubator maintaining his temperature around 82° with a humidity in the mid 80s. I also put about a quarter inch of water in the bottom of his container to keep him hydrated. I’ve offered him a meal worm and an earthworm… Hasn’t taken anything so far. He is slightly active and has moved around his enclosure a little bit.
He probably won't eat for a little while. If you keep him warm and let him be, he will come around eventually. Just keep offering him food.
 

Beasty_Artemis

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In reality, he probably wouldn't have had very high chances for survival to adulthood without your kind help! A bird probably would have made a nice little treat out of him soon after becoming exposed in the driveway. Sounds like the little guy accidentally met a compassionate human friend! Nice.
 
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