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Could the cough be stridulation? Again, without seeing or hearing what's going on, it's only a guess. Here's an old thread on this forum about that: http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/chirping.71306/ Tl;dr version- it's a sound some turtles and torts make by rubbing their upper and lower beak...

That box turtles willingly eat leafy greens (without being tricked by combining greens with other food) is a myth perpetuated by the leafy green industrial complex.

Outstanding enclosure and fantastic pictures! Are you in a climate where they hibernate? If so, do you let them go down for the winter in that amazing enclosure? I'm going to guess you're somewhere around Indiana based on the Zombie Dust (jealous you can get a hold of that). I'll just be over...

I have kept tree frogs with one of my three-toed box turtles. It was initially supposed to be a temporary arrangement but it lasted a little more than a year. I had no issues between them (the frogs would sometimes bask on the turtle's back). My male did take a chunk out of the tail of a very...

Turtles don't experience a menopause like most mammals. It's one of box turtles' key evolutionary advantages. The percentage of their offspring that survive might be small compared to mammals, but if they keep laying eggs for 50, 60 years, they can still leave a replacement population.

Guy Smiley sounds like a good name...

I swear my pair would eat their body weight in yams. The only other food my beasties get that excited for is husk tomato, aka ground cherry. Look for those in the summer.

Some people do use clippers. But since you're building what looks to be a pretty high-speed enclosure, I would make sure she has somewhere to burrow. She should then wear her claws down on her own with less fighting and less turtle trauma.

My friend's outdoor boxies have actually been out and about a couple times in the last week in Iowa. So according to preliminary boxie forecasts, the Midatlantic is in for a cold winter while the Midwest is in for a mild one, I guess?

Ha! Great point. I also noticed seeing the tortoise "killed" evoked more sadness from me than any of the human "deaths" that episode...

Mine seem to enjoy all sorts of plants (but not all the plants enjoy being trampled by turtles). Swiss chard is good. My female three-toe boxie loves to hide under the big leaves and she'll occasionally snack on it. Succulents are good too (but they're expensive and my male three-toe loves to...

Chicken with mint-flavored fake blood. Yech.

Both my three-toed boxies have had the coil cfl UVA/UVB bulbs for more than a year now. I didn't know there had been problems with these in the past. I switch last June when their florescent tube UVA/UVB bulbs and fixtures began to wear out. When I made the switch, I watched them closely for...

Yeah, it will grow anywhere it can spread. Which can be great for tort/boxie enclosures or vivariums. Yards, not so much. I know some people use it to keep weeds down in their garden. The way I see it, though, they're not really keeping the weeds down, they're just choosing one champion weed.

Great ideas here. Another good plant is creeping jenny. It's not moss, but it spreads fairly wide, is hardy enough to get tramples by turtles, and doesn't get much higher than a couple inches. It does well in shade or sun and might do better in Texas than moss.

Kind of what I figured. I did, and then also scrubbed the underside (moss free) bits with watered down ammonia. I hope that's enough. I'm looking forwarded to giving these to the turtles.

I came across some moss-covered rocks on a hike the other day. They're perfect sized for anchoring my three-toed boxies' water bowls and I love the use of moss I've seen members' enclosures feature. It seems like a great way to retain humidity (much needed in the upper Midwest around this time...