Need Ornate Box Turtle Advice Please

Elvia Garcia

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Jun 11, 2017
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Hi, I was just given 2 male box turtles from a friend who took them from her brother because she was worried they were going to die. He kept both males together and has been feeding them nothing but romain lettuce for the past 2 years. When I first received them I too had to keep them together until I obtained another enclosure, which I now have. While they were together I noticed that the younger one would kind of bully the adult. He would always mount him. And I noticed that the adult would always remain in the hide. Now that I have moved the adult to his own enclosure he keeps pacing and looks completely stressed out. I am very concerned. Does he miss the younger one, was there nothing to be concerned about in the first place. When I did research it said not to keep 2 box turtles together, so I did what I thought was best, but now I am completely worried about my adult.
Just to let you know their diet is now regulated with crickets, meal worms, night crawlers, and dark leafy greens. I am going to slowly introduce veggies to them, but it's kind of hard to get them to eat the lettuce now that they have a new favorite, bugs. Oh yeah and the adults name in Yondu and the juvenile is Chamberlain.
 

Blackdog1714

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PJay

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I think the adult turtle notices the absence of, rather than misses, the other turtle. I've tried to keep two male box turtles together before and some of them can be quite violent towards one another, others can seem to be buddies that just hang out together. In the buddy scenario long term, one of the box turtles does poorly. It's the one who is usually on the bottom of the pile. A smaller younger box turtle can be the one of the pair who is the most dominant and an older larger the more timid, so dont assume size is necessarily a sure indicator of dominance. The more timid box turtle can slowly go off feed, become more reclusive and after a time become ill. If you have two box turtles, male or female in any combination, in small indoor setups, I recommend they each have their own territory.
 

BoxTurtleFan

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I would have done the same and separated the two. Box turtles notice any change in their surroundings so the adult one is probably wondering where the younger one is. But he will get used to it and it is probably best if he is alone.
Since you have ornate box turtles, make sure to provide them with the right temperature and humidity levels. Ornates need slightly higher temperatures and lower humidity than Eastern or Three-toed box turtles. Make sure to also add an area with soft soil or substrate into the enclosure where they can burrow. Ornate box turtles prefer to dig more than Eastern or Three-toed. More information can be found here: https://boxturtlesite.info/ornate-box-turtle/
 

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