Turtmum

New Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2019
Messages
10
Location (City and/or State)
Canada
Hello Tortoise and Turtle lovers,

My husband and I have always wanted to keep a turtle and we finally had the chance to get one. We have done a lot of research but still appreciate advice from more experienced box turtle parents! A little bit about our new baby:

Her name is Clementine (due to her orange hues and orange spots on her head). We were told she is a three toed box turtle but I think she is an eastern box turtle after looking at pictures. We believe she is young, her shell is only about 3-4 inches long and she fits in the palm of my (small) hand. She has been rather shy, although we've only had her for a week and a half so I am not entirely worried. She really enjoys burying herself in her substrate, and although we usually have to dig her out, she has come out by herself a couple of times to take a walk around her enclosure. She enjoys eating waxworms and we plan to try her with mealworms this week. We always coat the worms in a calcium powder, although she does have access to a cuttle bone which I read is good as well, and she just noticed it yesterday and has been chomping on it on occasion. I removed the hard part on it as I read it could cause damage to their insides... but I am unsure if that was necessary. Only once I got her to eat some organic romaine lettuce, and I have tried banana and pepper with no luck, so advice on that would be appreciated. We try to handle her once or twice a day for about 5-10 mins, but not too much as I read they don't really like it.
turt2.jpg About her enclosure. We decided to start out with the largest reptile terrarium available. It is 32 in x 12 in. We plan to make her a larger outdoor enclosure, but we are from Canada and there is snow on the ground so we can't yet. In the enclosure we have about 3 in deep of substrate (reptile dirt that comes in a dehydrated block that you rehydrate). We have a large basking rock, a water pool, a log hide, and two live plants in pots (a wandering jew and a spider plant). We have two lamps, a heat lamp on one side and a UVB lamp on the other.On the warm side right under the lamp, it gets to about 85 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, and when we turn it off at night it gets down to about 65. We spray and keep the humidity between 60-80%, although it goes down during the day and comes up again at night. All the water we use is treated with reptile aquatize.
turt1.jpg turt3.jpg
Anyways I am excited to join this forum and learn all about turtles. Sorry if I wrote too much but I am new to forums and have no idea how to use them haha. Thanks everybody! :tort:
 

Ray--Opo

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Welcome to the crew. I no nothing about your species but there will be someone to give you advice. Your on the right site.
Good luck and enjoy your new friend.
 

Pastel Tortie

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Hello from Florida, and welcome to the Forum!

Clementine is a beautiful name for such an adorable little turtle! Are you sure she's a she? :) If she's 3 inches or more, we may be able to tell from pictures of her underside and especially the tail. Also, if her straight carapace length is more than 3 inches, she is probably at least a year old.

Consider posting a new thread in the American Box Turtles section as well, so more of our members with that expertise will see it. There are some good information resources in that section, as well.

Mealworms aren't recommended for box turtles. Earthworms are usually high on the list of favorite foods for most box turtles, and they are good for them.
 

Turtmum

New Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2019
Messages
10
Location (City and/or State)
Canada
Hello from Florida, and welcome to the Forum!

Clementine is a beautiful name for such an adorable little turtle! Are you sure she's a she? :) If she's 3 inches or more, we may be able to tell from pictures of her underside and especially the tail. Also, if her straight carapace length is more than 3 inches, she is probably at least a year old.

Consider posting a new thread in the American Box Turtles section as well, so more of our members with that expertise will see it. There are some good information resources in that section, as well.

Mealworms aren't recommended for box turtles. Earthworms are usually high on the list of favorite foods for most box turtles, and they are good for them.
After some reading we are pretty sure she's a she. Her eyes are a dark brown (I read males have red eyes) as well as she has a thin tail and a flat plastron. If not she can change her name to Clem! Haha. Ah its too bad about the mealworms I'll have to give them to someone with a different reptile. I wanted to try earthworms but we weren't sure if they'd be too big for her to tackle! And I checked out that forum section and it has answered a lot of questions, thank you for recommending it.
 

Pastel Tortie

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After some reading we are pretty sure she's a she. Her eyes are a dark brown (I read males have red eyes) as well as she has a thin tail and a flat plastron. If not she can change her name to Clem! Haha. Ah its too bad about the mealworms I'll have to give them to someone with a different reptile. I wanted to try earthworms but we weren't sure if they'd be too big for her to tackle! And I checked out that forum section and it has answered a lot of questions, thank you for recommending it.
You can cut the earthworms into smaller pieces if you need to. It's kind of gross, but it won't be long before she can take on a whole earthworm by herself.
 
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