Box turtle care questions

Hello fellow turtle friends.
I hope this will be posted at the right place.

As stated in my introduction i am quite new in this Turtle world.
Ive never owned one before. Honestly the only reason why i became a turtle owner was because otherwise the two turtles ive got would have been put down.
Due to the fact they are hybrids. Ill upload a picture of their parents and a picture of the turtle (Because thats also one of my questions)

I apologise if i am not using the prober words or so but ill try my best

So like a month ago i became a Boxturtle owner.
Honestly ive had no idea what to do, only idea on how to keep them.
They have been kept in a "aquarium" where ive got a UVB lamp and a heat lamp one end. At that end i also got their bath.
I keep one half dry and another one moist. They love digging. I got a few grassplants in it.
I was given a feeding/care sheet (is that the name?) And on that i was guided to feed them 5 times a week, one time that week meatish food. Bugs, snails, small fish etc. and the rest of week "greenleafs" and other green vagetables. And one or two times a week some fruit.
Already from day one i noticed that one of the turtles shell looked abit off compared to his brothers.
And the tiny turtles shell looked abit "deformed?"
Ive added something we call "Turtle pill" its somesort of dried food that you have to let soak some water. It look likes dog food. and i am also adding vitaminmix onto the food and they have a "sepia"shell (I think it is a skeleton from a octopus/squid?)

Anyway aparently that is some way wrong. Alot of different people have told me different ways to take care, one say feed the turtles everyother day. Others say 3 times a week at max, but two of those times a meatish meal.

The big one (I call him Al) is also always "sleeping" or dug down underneath the earth. Everymorning i dig them both up, to feed them or just to make sure they get something to drink. Yet after like 5 mins he goes back underneath the earth again. Is that normal?

Anyway, ill now upload the pictures - of the skin discolour/disease/whatever it is? And of the "deformed" one.

Deformed one? Is he?

Discolour?
And then i will apologise about the long post and thank you for whoever that gets through it

Ow, and i btw have no idea how old they are at all. I assume a year or less?

OW, and i forgot. The picture of their parents

I'm fairly new to box turtles myself
Welcome !
I find them to be quite enjoyable and entertaining.
Age for me is very hard to determine with these guys. They don't get very big and are long lived. Depends a bit on what type you have and with a mixed one - it is even harder.

With food , I feed something almost everyday. Just not the same things. These guys are omnivores so variety is good. Your choices sound healthy.

Hiding allot is what mine do. So I provide lots of cover and moist hides. Mine show up early morning and late dusk They are outdoors so it's more like the woods they live in nature. I find after a rain ( or sprinkle from me ) they come out to look for food.

Where are you located ? You do need to insure they get either several hours of direct sunlight every week or a UVB bulb to metabolize calcium with D3.

The shell damage looks like several possibilities to me
- old damage from an animal attack that has healed
- a heat source that was too close and burned caprice
- some kind of shell rot / old and not active ( this may be way off)

I would not worry about it unless it is active and getting worse.

Good fortune with them

Currently they are placed in my living room, i have UVB light to shine upon them for atleast 8-12 hours a day. This summer my plan is to build them an outdoor area where they can live the summer. Sadly in denmark we have short summers and cold winters and the enviroment wont be livable the whole year outdoor.

Ahhhh. Denmark. I was there once - beautiful country.

It's okay to move them inside for the winter. They will be fine.

As for the diet, 50% of their diet should be protein. The rest can be greens/vegetables/fruits.

protein being nightcrawlers, superworms, etc.

I feed every other day.

Thank you all for great answers Ill start feeding every other day, and pretty much just continue
I already love this site. Ive had issues finding an active forum, and well thank you for being active.

The entire enclosure needs to be kept moist. Humidity is very important to these guys, it should be kept at a minimum of 70%.
Here is a link to Tess Cook's Box Turtle Info web-book. It has a TON of helpful information listed under chapter heads. Housing, diet, light source, signs of illness/etc to watch for, supplementation, etc. http://boxturtlesite.info/bxbook.html#contents

I am "dusching" them up to 3-4 times a day. To make sure they are kept moist. They also have a end where it is dry, and a middle with water.

Oh the poor little guy. I ended up with mine much the same way. I shall spare you all the research I ended up having to go through because of the mix matched information and just give it all to you without going too much into detail because that gets boring- however, if you have a question just ask! Ill be happy to answer. A bit of a warning though I tend to be rather long winded... as such this may turn into a novel. Apploigies. First and foremost- That is not a deformity, that is called shell rot. Keeping it as simplistic as possible, shell rot is by definition a bacterial or fungal infection of the shell. It is normally found on the bottom of the shell so if you could post a picture so I can see the bottom I would greatly appriciate it. May also be able to sex them. Anyway. This infection eats away the bone of the shell until it eventually eats through it to the organs underneath and kills them. This is a very slow and painful torment in which yours seems to be pretty sever. And painful. Treatment is pretty straight forward and simplistic, however, it is also time consuming. Go to the store and invest in some First aid Antiseptic topical solution (10% povidone-Iodine) and a toothbrush. I got mine at walmart. Take your turtle and place it in a warm bath for approximately 20-30 minutes. Towel him dry, take your toothbrush and dip it into the topical solution. (I would suggest poring a little in a cup because your going to have to dip it in multiple times) Gently but firmly scrub all the infected areas. I normally scrub down the entire shell making sure to get all the nooks and cranys just to ensure Im not missing any that I may not be able to see yet. Try to get as much of the infected areas as possible. Let him sit for a few minutes with the topical solution on then rinse and place him back into the clean, warm soak for another ten minutes or so. Repeat the process about three to four times in all. I would suggest four considering how bad his shell looks. The point of the soak is to loosen up any areas that may be stubborn and the point of the topical solution is to kill any bacteria it can reach. If there is some that wont come up, dont worry, your not going to get it all in the first shot, and dont force it or you may hurt your turtle! Just a gentle yet firm scrub should do just fine. Now, this next step is very crucial to recovery- DRY IT OUT! Shell rot is very common in the wild, and the natural cure to shell rot in the wild is Sun bathing. However, in captivity it tends to get out of hand and our enviornments are not typically up to par. Now heres where it gets tricky. Box turtles natural enviornment is very humid and moist. Add to that, box turtles tend to burrow down into the moist ground when they are not feeling good and you have a conundrum. In my basking area I have a few fake plant that my box turtles like to hide under. Fortunately it is a very warm, dry, area. After their bath, they tend to hang out up there and take a nap for a few hours so it's pretty useful for me! Another trick that works happily for more stubborn turtles is to get a plastic tote and a heat lamp and set them up next to you while you read a book for a few hours or prowl the web like I do! Repeat this every day for a week and you should see immense improvement! Also, Shell rot is very contegious. So, my bet is that your other little one has some form of it as well. I do not envy you having to treat two at the same time! I have been battling shell rot on my guy for about 9 months now.... He just so loves to burrow in the wettest place possible!

I have more... its the whole novel thing. I'm sorry. But, I would rather you have as much information as possible. It was hell when I got my first boxie, because he was very ill and all the information on box turtles is just that, a compliation of box turtles not species specific. The parents look to me to be eastern or possibly a three toed... but I am not 100% sure. Either way, eastern and three toed box turtles are crossed all the time, both in captivity and int he wild.

The little ones you have seem to be three toed box turtles. The tell tale sign is them only having three toes on their back feet.

Feeding- this is the fun part. Offer food every day. If their hungry, they'll eat, if not, they wont. So simplistic. There are a few diet options available. One, they sell caned box turtle diet at pet smart. My guys cant resist this stuff! They love it. And it is fortified specifically for box turtles. Unfortunately, its also $4 a can and is about four servings worth so it gets expensive. You also need to add the dark leafy greens to it. The other route is the pelleted box turtle diet from pet smart. My guys will also eat this up and it is supposedly a fortified diet as well. Smells delicious, doesn't' seem too appetizing. Also, box turtles get a large variety of their water from their foods so dehydration is something to watch for if choosing this route. The most common route- fresh foods. Let me tell ya, every month at the beginning of the month I go out, purchase and prepare a months supply of turtle food. It takes all day. The statistics look like this: 50% Protein, 30% Vegetables, 10% Dark leafy Greens, 10% Fruit, with a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2:1. So, I take some chicken, shrimp, trout, ground beef and chicken liver (chicken liver is high in Vitamin A) and I cook it all up ground it all up and fill these cute little 4 oz containers zip lock containers about half way. Then, i taken a couple different types of frozen vegetables, thaw them out, chop them up, and fill the remaining space to about 3/5 of the way! Then I take my fruit and do the same thing. I fill about 1/2 of the remaining space with the fruit. I then screw on the caps and put them in the freezer. Every week I pull out four containers and put them in the fridge. So at feeding time, I feed two box turtles, half of the container- so 2 oz, along with some fresh dark greens, none of this spring mix because they don't contain healthy greens- dark leafy greens! This would take up the remaining 10% of the cup, That's how little you really need. Now, I have two supplements. I have a powdered calcium supplement and a Zilla vitamin supplement with beta carotene. This is a spray supplement that is very important if you freeze your foods because the freezing process takes the beta carotene out of the food. I use a supplement every other day and switch back and forth between the two. Although I have found that the Zilla spray is easier to use, more complete, and the turtles like it alot better. So, I would suggest just getting the zilla. I also, supplement their diet with Repti-Cal's Box Turtle Diet. This is a complete daily, hard pelleted diet that I provide 24/7 that they like to munch on in between meals and helps to keep their beaks trimmed. I also keep a cuttle bone in the enclosure routinely for calcium supplement and again beak trimming. This seems like a lot and it is, however, both my turtles were severely malnutrition when I got them. My little guy was so malnutrition that he was almost completely blind. Since changing them to this diet they are much more active, and my little guys vision has come back to him. So, I will continue this routine as I find it to be the most nutritious and the most varied. Box turtles are one of the few animals that know what their systems need and when they need it. So long as the options are there they will take advantage of it.

Housing- I love housing. Truly, this is the aspect that I find the most fun and reward about owning box turtles. However, it is also the most time consuming and money hungry part. Thankfully I'm thrifty! Box turtles require a very large enclosure. The minimum suggested enclosure size recommended is 10 square feet per turtle. This is because of their roaming habits and because of the large amounts of micro-climates that they need in order to stay happy and healthy. 10 Square feet equals about 2ft X 5ft. I personally cheated and used the bottom of my 75 gallon aquarium stand which is two foot by four foot and I added an additional level of 1ft x 2 ft for basking. it equals out to about 10 square feet and since their previous enclosure was only 1ft x 2ft and my little guy is only about 3in long, they're quite happy in that enclosure for the time being. But, once their full grown their going to require approximately 20 square feet! And that's a lot of space for two little turtles. Thankfully we can create multi level enclosure. Just ensure to enclose the ramp so that they cannot climb over it other wise they will walk right off the side and seriously injure themselves. They're not always smart. As for decor, a hiding place and a water bowl deep enough for them to soak is required as well as some rough surfaces for them to walk on and trim their nails. My turtles go into their water dish at least once a day so I decided to use a large rock for their ramp into their dish. I also used a wooded hide with the bark attached as their ramp up to their basking area. These two things seem to keep their nails in good shape. The water dish needs to be easily accessed and cleaned daily as they "Flush" their system in their water. Meaning they both pee and poop as their drinking, Kinda gross when you consider it but in nature they drink in creeks and as they drink their waste is carried downstream away from their fresh source. With a little creativity and funding you can mimic this same aspect at home. UVB lighting is required, however please ensure that it gets turned off at night and they have a place to go in order to escape the light. UVB and UVA is essentially artificial sunlight. If they're stuck under these lights 24/7 they are going to eventually get health problems from them. Also, make sure there is a completely dry area for them to escape to. Yes, humidity if very important to box turtles, however, so is being able to dry out. My basking area consists of artificial grass, a few fake plants, and the basking light. It is also elevated to ensure that the humidity level is lowered to around 10-20% I will include a diagram with how my enclosure is set up as well as the humidity and temp requirements. If you have any more questions please feel free to ask, but I feel as if I've given you enough to read.

JennK - thank you alot for your answer. Ive read it all, it took me a while.
Im in the middle of changing job, and getting a new kitchen.

I appriciate the novels

No problem. I'm very crafty and have to have some sort of project t going to keep me sane... Although, it drives my husband and his ocd crazy! Then again, he does it to himself too! Today I discovered that he demolished my spare aquariums... So I decided to take them and create a rimless pond for myboxies complete with a filter and waterfall....and perhaps future three striped mud turtles..... I'm so excited about it!

How are your babies doing?

Well for a while the shell was starting to look better, but now its kinda back again. Not really sure what is going on.

Another thing is i cant make them eat anything greenish
I feed them everyother day. 2 days in a row (Like monday, wedensday) with greens only, and then 2 days with something meatish. worms or small fish or snails. Which they looove, they attack that kind of food like they havnt eaten for weeks.

Some times i skip and extra day with the greens, so its like moday thursday, to see if i can make them eat the greens.

After you clean the turtles shell, as said in the above novel, lol, you have to apply an antifungal cream that has butenafine hydrochioride 1%. This is very important as this is what's going to kill the fungas.

Most box turtles come from wooded area's that have plenty of leaf litter and sun that is filtered through the trees. They will find a spot of full sun and bask there to warm up before searching for food. In the hottest part of the day you will rarely see a box turtle out and about eating. Mine come out in the morning to warm up, eat for a while, hide under plans, and then come out again in the afternoon to eat. Any that have to be inside...sick, or babies....I keep in a large vivariuim, with only a long tube UVB, and a heat emitter if it's cold. They also have to soak....so a large enough water source, and a piece of slate to eat on to help with keeping their beak short. Lots of leaf litter for them to dig into and find buggie things and worms, which I throw in for them to hunt on their own. I chop up a mix of veggies, fruits, soaked turtle brittle, and greens. Each week the mix is different so the get a variety of foods. If you mix everything up, and chop it very small, and add some ground venison to hold it together, they will get a little bit of everything.

Currently the space they are living on is abit tight. Ill next year make sure they will have more space and better surroundings.
I guess more plants would be better. Maybe the open area make them uncomfortable.

And ill continue with the fungus treatment

Thank you.

I would provide them with a little bit of every thing every day and add a supplement for a while. Just as humans have cravings for things that they are lacking nutrients in so do turtles. But if they've been starved a will rounded diet then they may go over board and forget something else. The supplements may help ad am additional boost to their system. As for the shell rot, is a long battle! I've had a boxie for about a year n now that's still battling it. Try mixing up your medications occasionally as well as some strains may become resistant or their may be multiple strains of fungal or bacterial infections.