Eastern Box Turtle SUPER WEIRD BEHAVIOR

cgrenier

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Hi, all. I’ve had box turtles since November of 2017, and never before has this happened to me. My male EBT is named Cruz. I’ve had him since January of 2019. When we got him, he was chasing a Jack Russel Terrier and scaring a cat.. Weird right? So I have him for about a month, (Feb 2019) and at that time I realized he would always walk up to us when we take him out. I thought that was really cute, so I let him close to me. He climbed on me, and bit my chin. Hurt a lot, I had no idea he was attacking me. Well, fast forward to now, he has some seriously weird problems. First, he runs SO FAST, and he scares family members by chasing everyone. Second, he LOVES fingers, shoes, AND toes and attacks them, attemps to bite, and does not let go (I have been bitten four times..) He loves them so much that we bought a human foot dog toy. Third, every time I let him loose in the turtle-proofed yard, he walks straight up to the slider door and scrapes until someone lets him in. And lastly, he is constantly attempting to mate with his “wife” a 3 toed Box turtle. He is super strange and I have NO IDEA why he acts SO WEIRD. He is scary sometimes, chases us, and was neglected before we had him, he has a huge outdoor enclosure, also climbs it until he is let out....will add videos/photos for proof.

4806A6A9-CB61-4AA8-8B56-DB3D2A75EA14.jpeg
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thanks so much,

Christian
 

jeff kushner

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LMAO.....Chucky the big, stud male......reincarnated.

He is a beast! Wow, what a dominate male! That picture with the foot shows the fire in his eyes, great shot!

I'm not quite sure I'd qualify that level of dominance as normal but yeah, that's how he rolls! He's the king stud....unfortunately, feeding him automatically makes you submissive in his eyes....at least it's that way with Siberians and while very different animals, I believe "instinct" and it's subsets are an evolved trait that can be common across species as "instinct" for various things evolved for eons....just my opinion.

You have a pretty special turtle....but his run may be too big for him, throwing all those people and pets in front of him may be presenting challenges he can't resist. In other words, he'll defend his dominance to the morgue......but you obviously take excellent care of him so if he was flagging, wearing down, you'd have seen it.

Cool pics!

jeff
 

cgrenier

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CA
LMAO.....Chucky the big, stud male......reincarnated.

He is a beast! Wow, what a dominate male! That picture with the foot shows the fire in his eyes, great shot!

I'm not quite sure I'd qualify that level of dominance as normal but yeah, that's how he rolls! He's the king stud....unfortunately, feeding him automatically makes you submissive in his eyes....at least it's that way with Siberians and while very different animals, I believe "instinct" and it's subsets are an evolved trait that can be common across species as "instinct" for various things evolved for eons....just my opinion.

You have a pretty special turtle....but his run may be too big for him, throwing all those people and pets in front of him may be presenting challenges he can't resist. In other words, he'll defend his dominance to the morgue......but you obviously take excellent care of him so if he was flagging, wearing down, you'd have seen it.

Cool pics!

jeff

Hahahaha, thanks guys! I appreciate all your feedback! Yeah, he really is weird. He used to be neglected for years, and after that (they wanted to get rid of him), we had family taking care of him for a couple weeks that had cats and dogs, so he was chasing them and scaring them when he was there.

We= other family members
Feeding:
During feedings he won’t go eat if he sees fingers and he will walk past food to get to our fingers. So we have to put his food (Red Wigglers, Waxworms, Mealworms, fruit) in front of him, run and hide because he looks around to make sure no one is nearby and then eats..

Habitat: Now he only lives with a female 3 toed box turtle (who is burrowed), she has some places to hide, he won’t bother her if she is in the log. Whenever she gets scared, she just closes her hinge and looks like a rock. One day he couldn’t find her and walked over her thinking she was a rock. They live in a 16 foot long enclosure, maybe two feet wide (kind of like a turtle run) with two logs insulated with dirt, they have two large pools, some pots to hide in, and tons of dirt. I also put a barrier up and every day he knocks it down. He seems to be losing interest every day since she won’t let him mate. Also, I forgot to mention he sits in his pool all day...

Should I build a turtle table?
image.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpgimage.jpg
 
Last edited:

Maggie3fan

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Wait just a minute until I stop laughing, oh sorry. What a freakin great turtle!!!
However, if the 3-toed was your sister and the Eastern was her boyfriend, you'd be beating him up for abusing your sister. That's really what's happening. The 3-toed is being bitten, dominated, bullied, and probably chased away from the food. They need to be separated immediately, please. Then get 2 Eastern females, and make a different habitat for the 3-toed. ta da! I have said for a long time that box turtles have Sulcata brains, in small bodies...and he is proof. But I'd really make a smaller habitat for both. The Eastern 'could' end up killing her, and she's already showing signs. I mean 2 smaller habitats, and secure night boxes. I know, that's not what you asked, but one 1 hand he is maybe a little too aggressive, but what a personality on the other hand. I love box turtles, in fact I have a female Eastern. I have a 30+ lb Sulcata who is a troublemaker like your guy. She enriches my life
 

cgrenier

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Wait just a minute until I stop laughing, oh sorry. What a freakin great turtle!!!
However, if the 3-toed was your sister and the Eastern was her boyfriend, you'd be beating him up for abusing your sister. That's really what's happening. The 3-toed is being bitten, dominated, bullied, and probably chased away from the food. They need to be separated immediately, please. Then get 2 Eastern females, and make a different habitat for the 3-toed. ta da! I have said for a long time that box turtles have Sulcata brains, in small bodies...and he is proof. But I'd really make a smaller habitat for both. The Eastern 'could' end up killing her, and she's already showing signs. I mean 2 smaller habitats, and secure night boxes. I know, that's not what you asked, but one 1 hand he is maybe a little too aggressive, but what a personality on the other hand. I love box turtles, in fact I have a female Eastern. I have a 30+ lb Sulcata who is a troublemaker like your guy. She enriches my life

My friend has a box turtle and they want to give it to our family. If we do get it, isn’t a 2:1 female to male ratio good? We were considering building another habitat anyways, and he likes running, so he can stay there, and she will have this large (mint bed, but we took the mint out for the turtles) enclosure. It is a half dome shape. Think that is good? I appreciate your response.
 

Maggie3fan

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My friend has a box turtle and they want to give it to our family. If we do get it, isn’t a 2:1 female to male ratio good? We were considering building another habitat anyways, and he likes running, so he can stay there, and she will have this large (mint bed, but we took the mint out for the turtles) enclosure. It is a half dome shape. Think that is good? I appreciate your response.
But...you are mixing sub-species and that's not the greatest. What kind of box turtle? Two females against 1 male is good. But mixing Easterns with 3-toed ain't. So imho you need to chop up that area and put that crazy dude alone, or 2 Eastern females with him. 3-toed needs to be alone and get over the stress of being bullied, and possible PTSD
 

jeff kushner

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" box turtles have Sulcata brains, in small bodies. "

That's as funny as this entire thread! LOL....what an accurate observation. Kind of reminds me of when I was in Mexico some 40 years ago and was kinda surprised by all the little guys acting like big guys, no offense, I learned their culture is a bit more macho than our own but at that age,when I played ball, it was funny to me.....like the Beast-male Turtle!!

jeff


BTW- we could all hear him as we look at the picture of him observing the foot...." Oh really?"
 

Chefdenoel10

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Wait just a minute until I stop laughing, oh sorry. What a freakin great turtle!!!
However, if the 3-toed was your sister and the Eastern was her boyfriend, you'd be beating him up for abusing your sister. That's really what's happening. The 3-toed is being bitten, dominated, bullied, and probably chased away from the food. They need to be separated immediately, please. Then get 2 Eastern females, and make a different habitat for the 3-toed. ta da! I have said for a long time that box turtles have Sulcata brains, in small bodies...and he is proof. But I'd really make a smaller habitat for both. The Eastern 'could' end up killing her, and she's already showing signs. I mean 2 smaller habitats, and secure night boxes. I know, that's not what you asked, but one 1 hand he is maybe a little too aggressive, but what a personality on the other hand. I love box turtles, in fact I have a female Eastern. I have a 30+ lb Sulcata who is a troublemaker like your guy. She enriches my life

Maggie!!!!!! ?
I ALMOST choked on my potato chip!!!
??????
You rock lady. And that’s all I have to say
Except, SHES RIGHT!!!!
Separate them immediately!!!!!!
Or your gonna have a 2 toed PREGNANT lady on your hands ...
And that’s way more scary than a freaky male dominant male!
Wait till she is pregnant when he goes to bite her third toe she’s probably going to turn around and slap them right across the face!!!! ???
 

Chefdenoel10

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His face in the 3rd pic: LET ME BITE YOU!!

I dont know what the enclosure is like, but for the Mrs.' sake, please offer many hideouts for her to get away from this maniac. Seems like he is being extra territorial
[/proof.

4806A6A9-CB61-4AA8-8B56-DB3D2A75EA14.jpeg
BF18A725-96C6-4BA7-B5BA-06C206A801CE.jpeg

Haha!!! Third photo :
“We’ve come for your daughter chuck!”
—Beatlejuice—
??
 

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