A few questions about care

[Torch]

So far young Lucy is doing great. She's very active and fearless and a good eater. I have a couple if questions about husbandry, though. I've never had a boxie this young!

She was hatched fall of 2013, so she's not quite a year old. From nose to tail I'd say she's about 2 inches long. Is this a pretty normal size for her age?

I also wanted to get feedback about her housing arrangement. She's in a 10 gal planted vivarium that has a screen cover. She stays at my office because I'm there 5-6 days a week. More specifically she stays in our washbay (I work for enterprise rent a car). The washbay is a big open garage that we close up each evening. Our summer here in east TN hasn't been that bad-the washbay ranges between 65-85 degrees, with lots of humidity and air circulation due to our hoses and fans.

I make sure she gets natural sunlight for a few minutes every day, and when she's outside in her vivarium she's always within someone's sight. I mist her vivarium several times a day and she has water and hides. Overall she seems very comfortable and is regulating her temperature well-digs down at night and comes out when it's warm.

Any special care I should take in handling her? I pick her up and hold her multiple times a day (she loves basking on my hand!) I also soak her once or twice daily and make sure her enclosure is damp. Am I overdoing it? She seems very content and I like taking her on "adventures".

Oh, and she's quite the hunter! I put down food for her daily, but she has plowed through the ten crickets I released about a week ago, and I've also seen her eating pill bugs.

Kudos if you read all this! I'm mostly concerned about her temps and the handling. Here are some more photos of Lucy!

 

[johnsonnboswell]

What are you using for substrate? What's the plan for cold weather?

 

[Torch]

Her substrate is is organic potting soil (no additives) mixed with dirt and leaf litter from my yard. It's about 4-5 inches deep. I'm looking for moss the next time I go hiking.

Once it starts getting chilly we have space for her inside my office. I plan on keeping her warm enough to prevent any attempts at hibernation.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

She'll need a UVB light 14 hours a day, too.

 

[Torch]

What's a good safe brand that won't hurt her eyes?

 

[lismar79]

Powersun is a good brand
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0002AQDJK/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20

 

[StarSapphire22]

Torch, check out the boxie hatchling care sheet stickied at the top of the box turtle section.

 

[Torch]

That was a great read, thank you! I was especially pleased to read about the hand feeding. I love looking at Lucy and holding her. I can tell already she's going to be very tame I need to get some more photos of her face and legs; she already appears to have color coming through!

 

[lisa127]

I think the Powersun is too much for a boxie hatchling. Especially if she is still in the small tank. I would go with a fluorescent tube UVB bulb and a low wattage black nightglow bulb. Again, not sure if she is going to be in the same tank in the winter or not.