Im a proud newbie! Hello TF’ers!

[cloughnine]

I’m a caregiver, and one of my clients had a very neglected Ornate Box turtle that lived in a 10 gallon aquarium. There were no lights or heat sources to speak of. This was 4 years ago. Since then I started little by little doing research on “Arnold”, and after all those years of taking care of him, I fell in love with turtles & tortoises. I finally decided I wanted one of my own. I ultimately chose an Eastern Hermann’s tort hatchling. He was just 18 grams, and probably 6 weeks old, I reckon. He’s now approximately 6 months old, and is almost 80 grams, with a 3” long carapace. His/her name is Scout, and I’m almost embarrassed at how much I love this little spirit. Btw, Arnold is very happy living in a tortoise table with a bioactive substrate, large water source, and proper lighting - uvb, etc…
Scout is living in a large vivarium for the time being, and seems to be doing great. Obviously eating like a pig. My only concern is that maybe he’s gaining too much weight too fast, but he goes through spurts of growth - he’s been hovering around 77 grams for a couple of weeks. I’d appreciate some advice on that.
Anyway, I’m John, I live in Denver, and I freaking love turtles/tortoises.View attachment 351154

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Hello and welcome
As long as what you're feeding him is in line with what he should be eating. Just let him eat

Box Turtle Care Sheet

This was typed up with the intent for the care of Eastern Box Turtles with them being the primary box turtle I have had the experience of working with over the years. Box Turtles all have enough similarities that this guide will cover them. This is just meant to set up a frame work on how to...

tortoiseforum.org

 

[Tom]

I’m a caregiver, and one of my clients had a very neglected Ornate Box turtle that lived in a 10 gallon aquarium. There were no lights or heat sources to speak of. This was 4 years ago. Since then I started little by little doing research on “Arnold”, and after all those years of taking care of him, I fell in love with turtles & tortoises. I finally decided I wanted one of my own. I ultimately chose an Eastern Hermann’s tort hatchling. He was just 18 grams, and probably 6 weeks old, I reckon. He’s now approximately 6 months old, and is almost 80 grams, with a 3” long carapace. His/her name is Scout, and I’m almost embarrassed at how much I love this little spirit. Btw, Arnold is very happy living in a tortoise table with a bioactive substrate, large water source, and proper lighting - uvb, etc…
Scout is living in a large vivarium for the time being, and seems to be doing great. Obviously eating like a pig. My only concern is that maybe he’s gaining too much weight too fast, but he goes through spurts of growth - he’s been hovering around 77 grams for a couple of weeks. I’d appreciate some advice on that.
Anyway, I’m John, I live in Denver, and I freaking love turtles/tortoises.View attachment 351154

If they are fed, hydrated and housed correctly, they cannot grow too fast. That is old wrong thinking from the days when we couldn't figure out pyramiding and other problems.

 

[Ink]

Welcome to the forum

 

[Ray--Opo]

@ZEROPILOT @Tom Is his tort due for a beak trim? I don't know this type of tort if that is normal or not.
Egg beak at 3 months?

 

[Yvonne G]

Arnold could use his beak trimmed - starting at the side and clip, clip, clipping all the way around to through the other side

 

[cloughnine]

Hello and welcome
As long as what you're feeding him is in line with what he should be eating. Just let him eat

Thanks ZEROPILOT!

If they are fed, hydrated and housed correctly, they cannot grow too fast. That is old wrong thinking from the days when we couldn't figure out pyramiding and other problems.

Hey Tom,
Thanks for the good information!

 

[cloughnine]

Arnold could use his beak trimmed - starting at the side and clip, clip, clipping all the way around to through the other side

Thank you. I agree. How much does that usually cost?

 

[cloughnine]

Welcome to the forum

Thanks! People have been very friendly & cool.

 

[cloughnine]

I’m a caregiver, and one of my clients had a very neglected Ornate Box turtle that lived in a 10 gallon aquarium. There were no lights or heat sources to speak of. This was 4 years ago. Since then I started little by little doing research on “Arnold”, and after all those years of taking care of him, I fell in love with turtles & tortoises. I finally decided I wanted one of my own. I ultimately chose an Eastern Hermann’s tort hatchling. He was just 18 grams, and probably 6 weeks old, I reckon. He’s now approximately 6 months old, and is almost 80 grams, with a 3” long carapace. His/her name is Scout, and I’m almost embarrassed at how much I love this little spirit. Btw, Arnold is very happy living in a tortoise table with a bioactive substrate, large water source, and proper lighting - uvb, etc…
Scout is living in a large vivarium for the time being, and seems to be doing great. Obviously eating like a pig. My only concern is that maybe he’s gaining too much weight too fast, but he goes through spurts of growth - he’s been hovering around 77 grams for a couple of weeks. I’d appreciate some advice on that.
Anyway, I’m John, I live in Denver, and I freaking love turtles/tortoises.View attachment 351154

When I originally posted this, I didn’t really have a good picture of my baby Scout. So here’s a proud papa posting his boy/girl’s photo. Also, maybe a small concern - does the first vertebral skute look a tiny bit pyramided? He’s got plenty of uvb, a varied diet, humidity, calcium powder, etc…
Thanks all!

 

[cloughnine]

@ZEROPILOT @Tom Is his tort due for a beak trim? I don't know this type of tort if that is normal or not.
Egg beak at 3 months?

He definitely needs a beak trim, but Arnold is not mine. My client can’t afford to take him to the vet, so as I get some extra money as time goes on, I help Arnold out with husbandry upgrades. I did get him a cuttlebone, and he practically attacked it. I guess I need to update his calcium intake.

 

[Ray--Opo]

Belated welcome, ( I forgot to greet you on my first post). It looks like the scutes might be raised a little. If you are keeping the humidity around 80%. Then everything should be fine. If the pyramiding doesn't get worse, then it should smooth out as Scout grows.

 

[cloughnine]

Belated welcome, ( I forgot to greet you on my first post). It looks like the scutes might be raised a little. If you are keeping the humidity around 80%. Then everything should be fine. If the pyramiding doesn't get worse, then it should smooth out as Scout grows.

Thanks for responding. I really appreciate it. I took Scout two weeks ago to get him acclimated with his exotic pet vet, and I was a little worried that maybe he was pyramiding, but she assured me he/she wasn’t. Can too much Mazuri cause it? He just loves it, and I probably put too much out. He’s about 7 months old, and Scout weighs 115g. The picture of Scout is about 6 weeks old, and he’s gone through a growth spurt. His/her carapace is approximately over 4”. It might be time to feed Scout only weeds for a while.

 

[Ray--Opo]

Mazuri won't cause pyramiding. It all has to do with humidity. Feed Scout a variety of the proper foods. You don’t want him stuck on a certain food.

 

[jeff kushner]

I’m almost embarrassed at how much I love this little spirit.

Yes, you are going to fit in comfortably here! LOL

Welcome to a forum full of "doters" ....they dote on their little ones.....