Baby Ornates upgrade from hospital tank

klack95

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I am new to this forum and this is my first post. I have read a lot of the wonderful information and I love to see the pictures. But I am still confused on one item regarding the height of tanks/rubbermaid containers etc for the UVB light to be effective. I am looking to upgrade their environment since after a long journey they are now both very healthy little babies.

I have two baby ornate box turtles that I got for my 8 year daughter this past July. I was told they are 1 year old but the vet was not convinced they are that old. I was keeping them in an outside enclosure but they are so cute we kept on bringing them inside to watch them eat. They stayed a few days inside to long and although they had fresh water, the rest of the enclosure was not set up correctly and got dehydrated and cold with puffy eyes. Since this time, Oct. 31 to be exact, I have learned so much more about keeping box turtles. Please note that I said I have learned. My daughters obsession has already passed but I have fallen in love with these cute guys. I took both the turtles to the vet, got some eye drops, wormed them and the vet help me set a hospital/hatchling tank. A 28Q Sterlite container with a 2.0 UVB tube. My vet recommended this over the 5.0 due to Boxies are covered with tree filtered light in the wild. I also have a 35W Quartz Halogen and a CHE. I keep the CHE on 24 hours since they were recovering and the others 12 hours on and off. One turtle recovered within days but the other took a very long time. Back to the vet, I learned how to give shots everyother day and I purchased terramycin for his eyes with recommendations through this forum. Still no luck, back to the vet yet again. Long story short and $450 later, after another week at the vet, the shot antibiotic they gave me was supposed to be kept frozen, which I did not know. Completed a round with fresh antibiotic and Now after two months of not opening his eyes or eating he is healthy again!!! They both are eating a lot and trying new foods. Neither like kale and it is funny to watch them wipe it off of their tongues. Spagetti squash has been a huge hit and of course mealworms are their favorite.

With all of this being said, I am proud I got them healthy again. I want to make their enclosure more like nature. I will be getting the ecco earth/potting soil, leaf litter, little plants etc. I see people use a 50 gallon rubbermaid but the height seems to high for the UVB to be effective. My vet said anything over 14in and the light is useless. Since my guys are so little right now, can I keep the same container and light set up and just add the appropriate substrait? Any thoughts are appreciated. photo 1.JPG
Oogway is doing his daily soak while his buddy, Squirt is eating.
photo 2.JPG
Squirt enjoying his favorite mealyworms!!!
photo 3.JPG
Current hopsital like set up. It is tilted on the left and water is also available.
photo 4.JPG
So excited he is willing to try new food. Spagetti squash is a hit. photo.JPG
Peaking out of the hydration box with spanish moss.
 

Yvonne G

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Very cute little guys. So glad you were able to turn around the health issues. Here's the type of tub I buy for indoor box turtle babies:

indoor habitat 01-17-15.jpg

baby box turtle 01-17-15.jpg
 

klack95

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Thank you Yvonne. So with your light set up which one provides the UVB? I would love to not have a tube go across.
 

Yvonne G

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In the first picture the fixture closest to the camera holds a MVB. In the other picture, the light hanging over the wall separating the two enclosures is the MVB.
 

Yvonne G

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I'm very jealous. I've been trying to breed some ornate's for years. Yet to be successful :-/.

You're lucky if you can keep them alive at all. I used to have at least one of every kind of U.S. box turtle, but I kept killing the ornates, so now when I get them turned in to the rescue, I adopt them out. I just can't seem to figure out what they need.
 

TortsNTurtles

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They are sooo cute! I am glad they are doing better.I look forward to seeing updates as you change their enclosure.
 

Turtlepete

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You're lucky if you can keep them alive at all. I used to have at least one of every kind of U.S. box turtle, but I kept killing the ornates, so now when I get them turned in to the rescue, I adopt them out. I just can't seem to figure out what they need.

I agree. They are hard to figure out. Very sensitive, at least for me. It's taken me a long time to get adults going strong here. Can't be too wet, can't be too dry. I think micro-climates are a huge necessity with them, and thus they seem to need a large outdoor enclosure.
 

klack95

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Ya'll have me scared now. Maybe this is so new to me I will think its easy, until I get a different breed and realize just how much work the ornates are. ;) I have an odd/morbid question. When your turtles pass, do you keep their shells? I would never keep my dogs skull, but the shells are just so pretty.
 

klack95

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Here is the enclosure that I came up with so far. I am up for changing anything, so opinions are welcome. Day temp: right (cool) side is 50% humidity and 64 degrees. This is without the CHE on. Seems kinda cool to me. Left side with basking light is 27% humidity and 97 degrees. I used the ecco earth top soil with a little bit of coco coir. Homedepot nor Lowes had any but I had a little left over from a worm composter I have. I would like to add more because I don't like how much soil sticks to them. Or is that something I will just have to get used to? I forget to take note of the night temp with just the CHE on.

Newtank.JPG photo.JPG
 

Eric Phillips

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Here is the enclosure that I came up with so far. I am up for changing anything, so opinions are welcome. Day temp: right (cool) side is 50% humidity and 64 degrees. This is without the CHE on. Seems kinda cool to me. Left side with basking light is 27% humidity and 97 degrees. I used the ecco earth top soil with a little bit of coco coir. Homedepot nor Lowes had any but I had a little left over from a worm composter I have. I would like to add more because I don't like how much soil sticks to them. Or is that something I will just have to get used to? I forget to take note of the night temp with just the CHE on.

View attachment 114775 View attachment 114781

Congrats on your little ones! You've done a great job with their care. Your enclosure looks likea good home.
 

johnsonnboswell

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I find that for my box turtles, a mixture of finished organic compost from my garden and Ecco earth coconut coir is ideal. More compost than soil.

You could use soil if it has no additives.
 

lisa127

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I use 100% peat moss (organic) and I also like long fibred new Zealand sphagnum moss.
 

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