Inherited an Eastern Box Turtle

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Hi there! I acquired an adult female Eastern box turtle approximately 24 hours ago. My neighbors went camping and saw her on the side of the road on their way in and in the same location 3 days later on their way so so they picked her up and brought her with them because she only has three legs. I was a little upset with them because although it is legal to collect up to 5 non endangered wild reptiles in Kentucky, I don't consider it to be exactly ethical to just pick things up out of the wild either. They were camping a couple hours away and I don't feel comfortable releasing her locally because I don't want to spread any unknown diseases she might have to local populations. Even though she has three legs, her bum leg seems to be totally healed up and does not seem to hinder her at all. And so, I have a box turtle now!

Have been trying not to disturb her, but I gave her a bath this morning because she was covered in dog hair (have no clue where they were keeping her). I left her blackberries, collard greens and a couple of earth worms. She is active, does not close up when people come around and eats the heck outta some blackberries!

I joined this site because I'm going to build her a larger enclosure in a couple weeks (aka next pay check). Normally would have her setup already in advance, but I didn't exactly know I was getting her haha. She's currently in our bearded dragon's old 40gal breeder tank but was thinking of building something with wire sides for better air flow. I need to pick up a UVB bulb/fixture, but since she's native, do you guys think she needs a heat bulb? Headed to the creek today to get some driftwood and rocks for her tank

PS- Do any of you keep planted tanks? Was thinking of keeping christmas ferns and club moss in there with her, but didn't know if that was safe or if they just ate it haha

Any and all suggestions/advice are WELCOME! I've never had a turtle before!!!

Thanks,
Bekah

 

[Speedy-1]

Hi and welcome, I don't know much about "box turtles" you could probably start here . http://www.tortoiseforum.org/forums/american-box-turtles.98/ Good luck !

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello

 

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Thanks for the link and welcome, guys!

 

[Angel Carrion]

I myself have three easterns and one three toed. Would you like me to give a basic run down? If you have any questions you can message me anytime. I don't have all the answers but I can answer what I know and point you in the direction of answers I don't know.

 

[SeaTurtleSwims]

I myself have three easterns and one three toed. Would you like me to give a basic run down? If you have any questions you can message me anytime. I don't have all the answers but I can answer what I know and point you in the direction of answers I don't know.

Go for it! Read a basic care guide on here, but would love all the info I can get!

 

[Angel Carrion]

Okay. You asked for it. This is my precursor post to let you know it's going to be a looong one I'm about to post.

 

[pam]

Welcome

 

[SeaTurtleSwims]

Okay. You asked for it. This is my precursor post to let you know it's going to be a looong one I'm about to post.

DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT!!

I learned so much from your edible plants and grass clippings post!!

 

[Angel Carrion]

I already saw your enclosure post so I won't say too much on that. When you are able to, a bigger enclosure would be better, but for now it's okay.
Food items and how much
Animal matter: 50% of meal -- crickets, earthworms, feeder fish (not goldfish - may make them sick), mealworms (as a treat), grasshoppers, sow bugs, katydids, isopods, june bugs, slugs (but not banana slugs), terrestrial snails, waxworms, various grubs, superworms (zoophobas), blood worms, carrion, beefheart, gastropods, spiders, cicadas, silkworms, millipedes, pill bugs, butterfly larvae, preying mantids (remove spiked forelegs first), boiled skinless chicken, boiled eggs with shell, cooked lean ground beef, nightcrawlers. Can feed a pinkie or fuzzy once a month. Freeze in freezer bag for 72 hours at least to kill any parasites. Thaw in tepid water before serving. Never use microwave to defrost! NEVER FEED EASTERN TENT CATERPILLARS
Vegetables: 20% of meal -- pretty much all squashes, bell peppers (not often), carrots, corn on the cob (boiled, not often), green beans, okra, opuntia cactus pad & fruit, peas in the pod, various pumpkins, sweet potatoes, zucchini.
Greens: 10% of meal -- bibb, various kinds of clover, collard greens, dandelion greens & weeds, escarole, kale (not often), mustard greens, red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, turnip greens, watercress, pesticide-free field-collected weeds & leaves (I suggest only picking those you can identify).
Fruits: 10% of meal -- apples, apricot, figs, banana (mainly as a treat), all berries, grapes, kiwi, all melons, peach, plum, tomatoes (never feed any other part of the tomato plant- not safe)
Fungi/mushrooms: 10% of meal -- chanterelle, fried-chicken mushrooms (yeah, that's a thing), meadow, morel, oyster, puffball, russulas, shaggy inkcap. (Yes those are all different mushrooms). Do not offer Portabello mushrooms. Can't remember why.
Once a week, lightly dust meal with a calcium supplement with Vitamin D3 and a vitamin supplement. I use Rep-Cal Phosphorus-free Calcium with Vitamin D3 (the phosphorus-free info is important) and ZooMed's Reptivite. Leaving a cuttlebone in the enclosure will give the turtle the opportunity to free-serve calcium as they need
Do not offer cat food as most commercial cat foods produce acidic urine, which will increase the excretion of calcium in the urine.This can and most likely will cause a calcium deficiency in reptiles and can lead to metabolic bone disease, shell deformities, and soft tissue calcification. Using a low-fat wet dog food can be done if the turtle will not eat anything you offer to entice them to start eating.
Dealing with a reluctant eater: Box turtles are most active in the mornings, evenings, and after it rains. Try misting the enclosure before feeding & offer meals in the morning after the turtle has had time to warm up but before the day becomes too hot. If the turtle continues to not eat, try overripe bright;y colored fruits like strawberries and cantaloupe (those are my guys favorites) and bananas. Also, turtles are naturally attracted to moving food. If your turtle will only eat live foods, try cutting up a nightcrawler or two and mixing it with some veggies and fruits so that the wiggling in and on the meal will attract them. As they try to eat the nightcrawler, they will likely accidentally grab the greens and such. After doing this for a while, reduce the amount of nightcrawlers until the box turtle consistently eats the veggies and greens.
How to get shy turtles out to eat: feed underneath foliage and keep activity in the area to a minimum as much as possible while eating.
Be sure to offer a wide variety and change things up. Turtles become bored being offered the same foods every meal.
Feeding frequency:
Hatchling to 1 year old, or underweight turtle - one to two days
one to three years old, or recovering from illness - two to three days
three years and older - three to four days
overweight - four days
Feed on a flat plate, plastic lid, flat rock, or paper plate. Be warned: turtles may try to eat the paper plates. Flat rocks are best generally because the rock will help file the beak and keep the nails trim.
Gut-loading insects: Crickets and mealworms (and others) can be but-loaded two days before use. Feed them a high-calcium invertebrate food - sweet potato, high quality tropical fish flake, or low fat dry dog food. To provide the insects with moisture and added nutrients that will be passed on to the turtle, offer the feeders leafy greens like turnip greens or dandelion greens.
All invertebrate food items (except earthworms) should be lightly dusted with the calcium supplement just before serving. You can do this by putting some of the supplement powder in a sandwich bag then put that meal's insects in, close the bag, and gently shake to coat them in the supplement. Place in front of the turtle. If the feeders are moving around too much, the dust will fall off. It is best to offer them using forceps or by incapacitating them while still being able to move enough to draw the turtle's attention.
Make sure to mist the enclosure at least once a day.
I think that's it right now unless you want me to go into medical stuff. Sorry it took so long, I had to keep getting up to take care of my dogs. Any questions, ask away

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hello, Bekah, and a very warm welcome to Tortoise Forum.
Not a species i know much about but they are beautiful animals.
I think Angel seems to have you pretty much covered anyway.
Phew!
Enjoy the forum.

 

[SeaTurtleSwims]

@Angel Carrion

This is great, thank you! She didn't seem to like the collard greens, and I was thinking of pulling some wild raspberry/blackberry and/or wild grape leaves or wood sorrel to see if that tempted her and maybe eased the transition a little bit. Will definitely be picking up a cuddle bone, it seems like an easy fix By recommendation from a previous post, I just tossed about 30 or so worms into her dirt for her to forage. Do you think they will establish or, if not, how often should I replace them? I was thinking of making them her primary protein and having crickets/slugs be more supplemental. Is that okay?

 

[Angel Carrion]

After I rescued my first eastern, I went nuts on research and stuff. I have a turtle notebook I write info in and read any and all books I can get my hands on.
Always being open to potential new information and comparing it to information you already have and consulting with trained and knowledgeable vets and other such people to make sure any new information one comes across is correct is the best way to start a crash course in something like I did.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Variety, variety, variety.

They can go to town on seasonal foods: mulberries, blackberries, raspberries, serviceberries, anything overripe that falls and has a limited season. They like melons, sometimes apples. Bananas can become a fixation, so limit. Strawberries. Steam hard vegetables. Wilted veggies can be fed raw. Those ears of corn you forgot to cook are perfect. Fresh ones need to be cooked.

Add a leaf pile to the habitat.

 

[Angel Carrion]

@Angel Carrion
This is great, thank you! She didn't seem to like the collard greens, and I was thinking of pulling some wild raspberry/blackberry and/or wild grape leaves or wood sorrel to see if that tempted her and maybe eased the transition a little bit. Will definitely be picking up a cuddle bone, it seems like an easy fix By recommendation from a previous post, I just tossed about 30 or so worms into her dirt for her to forage. Do you think they will establish or, if not, how often should I replace them? I was thinking of making them her primary protein and having crickets/slugs be more supplemental. Is that okay?

One thing I did was take slightly overripe cantaloupe, cut it up, remove the seeds, and put it in a blender to turn it into a juice. I then cut up the collard greens or red leaf lettuce I was planning on using for the meal the next day relatively small and put in a food storage container like you use for dinner leftovers, then pouring the cantaloupe juice in the container as well. Stir then seal and place in fridge overnight so that the veggies and greens that are important to the diet but aren't readily eaten can soak and absorb the smell and taste of the cantaloupe. The next morning take it out of the fridge and prepare and mix in the other food items for that meal. That's how I get my guys to eat the veggies and greens they don't care for. Box turtle tend to not want to eat the healthy green food.

Do you know what kind of worms they were? That's not a bad thing to do, and I did that with my hospital/quarantine enclosure. It will definitely keep her entertained and help keep boredom at bay. Though I would suggest maybe instead of only having one type of worm propagating in the enclosure, start up one or two more kinds of protein in the enclosure as well. Not mealworms or crickets or something that could possibly hurt the turtle if they ended up breeding past how fast she can eat them. But yeah, great start. Also, planting some of the plants I listed in the Greens section of food items inside the enclosure may encourage her to graze on those eventually on her own. And maybe a mushroom patch.

They do make flavored cuttlebones in the bird section. I've seen mango and banana personally so far, though others have told me there's other flavors as well. They're exactly the same as the ones for reptiles, just with fruit flavoring.

 

[Angel Carrion]

Wait did I say anything about commercial box turtle chow?
different options are Turtle Brittle by NASCO (enasco.com and carolinapetsupply.com both carried it last time I went looking)
Natural Protein Formula Adult Turtle Sticks by Omega One
Rep-Cal maintenance formula Box Turtle Food Fortified Daily Diet
All dry turtle food you will need to re-hydrate by doing one part turtle food to two parts warm water (for one turtle, I believe it is one tablespoon of turtle food to two tablespoons warm water) let soak until the turtle food soaks up all of the water. Either mix it with the meal of the day or offer on it's own. Mixing it more often than offering it on it's own is better.
I tend to soak the turtle food by one tablespoon turtle food to two tablespoons fruit juice. I tend to make fruit juice by blending a full cantaloupe to make cantaloupe juice or blending a full carton of strawberries to make strawberry juice. Generally you can do that with any fruit.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Did we mention tomatoes? Especially fresh local ones.

Some wild caught turtles have trouble adjusting to supermarket or packaged foods because it doesn't smell right. Your farmers market or own garden is a good source.

We used to find the same turtle in our vegetable garden every year.

 

[SeaTurtleSwims]

I got you covered on tomatoes! I was wondering how they would get their fiber, will have to get some commercial pellets :3

Today's offering: mulberry leaves rinsed from outback, two small blackberries, a cherry tomato and a cucumber slice (note jealous dogs for scale of deliciousness- they don't even like veggies!). Served on a flat plate. *gasp* I think I'm drowning in new information!! haha

 

[Angel Carrion]

That looks perfect. Only thing I would suggest is to mix your pretty piles into one pile so that when she goes for the deliciousness of the berries, she'll likely get some of the leaves as well. She may be one of those turtles that enjoys greens and veggies by themselves, but generally they don't like them and will eat around them, so mixing the food together is a good way of making it harder to eat around them

 

[Yvonne G]

Welcome to the Forum, Bekah!

Please be sure to read this thread:

http://www.tortoiseforum.org/threads/another-dog-story.45850/