My Enclosure

[Crazyturtlemom]

Here's a picture of my box turtle enclosure we just built. It's huge for my three boxies, with lots of hiding places and water. The ramp water dish would be a great addition to Munchie's indoor enclosure, less likely to spill than the terracotta dishes. We got the idea of the walls from a speaker at the San Diego Turtle and Tortoise Society. The wood fits right into the bricks, which are stacked on rebar. Additional walls can be inserted in the brick as needed if we need to separate any turtles. We have a separated section off of this that will be the future home of my hatchling we found in February (yes, February...who would have thought? They've always hatched late September, but it was a very hot summer in southern CA). We dug the walls down and put wire under the whole enclosure and under and up the walls. Then put the dirt back in plus extra fill dirt. We have a gopher problem that we had to solve. Now I need to figure out a cover to this, probably several sections that can be lifted individually because of the size. We sadly had rats kill two of our juvenile turtles in a different enclosure in December. They were in hibernation mode and unable to defend themselves. It was warm in the daytime still, but cold at night, and I had been meaning to bring them in for the winter and was "waiting for the warm spell to be over". Big mistake. I won't leave any turtles out for the winter again unless the enclosure is rat proof. The vet even told me after this to bring my adults in for the winter, even though they've successfully hibernated outside for 20+ years. He said once rats get the taste of turtle they'll continue to hunt for them. We're rural, so hard to get rid of the wild rats. Thankfully one of my juveniles survived and I found the new babies. Won't put the babies out at all until next summer. Any suggestions for the lid would be greatly appreciated, but I wanted to share my new enclosure so Munchie's owner could maybe get some ideas. My turtles are very happy in it!

 

[ColleenT]

It looks good to start with. You need a ton more plants. here is my enclosure, for example. A box turtle specialist told me how to plant it and they need to feel secure. With all the empty space you have, they won't feel secure. You might also want a bigger water area for them to soak in. i am currently using an extra large cat litter box as my water area. It has rocks to allow them to get out. You cannot see it in the photo bc it is behind the ferns.

 

[Crazyturtlemom]

It looks good to start with. You need a ton more plants. here is my enclosure, for example. A box turtle specialist told me how to plant it and they need to feel secure. With all the empty space you have, they won't feel secure. You might also want a bigger water area for them to soak in. i am currently using an extra large cat litter box as my water area. It has rocks to allow them to get out. You cannot see it in the photo bc it is behind the ferns.

That's a good idea, the litter box. These water dishes are actually a lot bigger than my turtles though. What type of rocks do you have in the bottom? Large or small? The two bushes in my enclosure should get a lot larger. They're the same type of bush we had in our old enclosure, and it got huge, took over most of the enclosure. Then the gophers got to the roots last year and the 20 year old bush came right out of the ground. That's the main reason we rebuilt, plus I wanted it larger. What kind of plants would you recommend? I've been raising box turtles for almost 25 years, but I'm always learning and open to suggestions! I'm in a very hot part of southern CA, so not everything will survive. I love how your plants look. Thanks for your expertise!

 

[ColleenT]

i use Hardware cloth( it is 1/2 inch metal mesh) and i screened in the entire enclosure so raccoons, squirrels and birds of prey cannot get to my turtles. I use rocks big enough that the turtles can get out of the water tub.

 

[Becca267]

I totally understand the struggles of hot weather and plants. It can be so hard. Maybe try some annuals to fill in while you wait for the shrubs.

 

[Bunny2746]

It looks good to start with. You need a ton more plants. here is my enclosure, for example. A box turtle specialist told me how to plant it and they need to feel secure. With all the empty space you have, they won't feel secure. You might also want a bigger water area for them to soak in. i am currently using an extra large cat litter box as my water area. It has rocks to allow them to get out. You cannot see it in the photo bc it is behind the ferns.

Love the cat litter box idea !