Hey all, I am new to this thread and new to box turtles. My neighbor rescued a box turtle abandoned in a playground. The turtle had a painted shell with embellishments attached, hence rescued and not wild captured. She, the turtle, is about 7" to 8" long (shell length). She, the neighbor, cannot take in anymore animals and my kids loved the idea of having a turtle.
I live near New Orleans so my plan was to construct an outdoor pen in the backyard. Exposure will be direct morning and mid-day sun with afternoon and evening shade. This is due to several live oak and maple trees and pretty much is anywhere in my yard. I wanted to provide some ideas I have for discussion and see what you all think.
By the way, my background is aquariums, including amazon biotopes and reef aquariums. I also have a cat and have 3 kids. So far, the cat is the easiest. This my first turtle.
Construction
Construction would be landscape timbers. I will use treated timber, probably 4"x4"'s to 12" below ground and then use landscape timbers up to 24" above. The design is a quarter octagon, with 8-ft sides on two sides and a taper on the other two sides. I would cap these with some 2"x12"s for seating (braced of course). On one of the shorter sides, I will construction some built-in boxes, again, using landscape timbers. One of these boxes will be an above grade shelter for the turtle. I am assuming 18"x18" would be large enough. The other boxes would be to store supplies and for the pond filter.
Heating
I am not finding any online consensus as to whether heating should be provided outdoors or not. Our typical annual low is in the thirties and is also one of our wet seasons. We hit the 20's every other year or less often. Part of me thinks the turtles live here naturally so should be fine. The other part of me tells me this turtle was captive and may not hibernate normally. My thinking was to put a single 40w heater in the wooden shelter on a rheostat and set it to maintain a low temperature, like say 70F. I would think I can keep box at 70 when the temperatures are 50F outdoor. When its below 50F, I dont think there is anything else I can do, but this is limited to only a few weeks scattered from December to February and our highs are rarely lower than that. This is an area I need more guidance on.
Substrate
My backyard is pretty fat clay soil, with river sand on the top foot where I filled it in and St. Aug grass on top. My plan was to pull the grass and till all this up down a foot and mix in compost, pine bark mulch and some peat moss. I was thinking maybe 1 part each, roughly 12 cubic feet of each. I can use the removed soil to fill in some low spots around the yard. I also need to do my final lawn cut for the year and may mix in the clippings as well. Looking for other recommendations. I have an endless supply of live oak and maple tree leaves to provide throughout the year.
Pond
I am not liking the water tray idea I keep reading about. Instead, I want to provide a small garden pond, something in the 35-50 gallon range. My thought here is something big enough for the turtle to jump in, stretch, relieve himself in the water and (most importantly), get out easily. I will use an external canister filter so I can maintain the filter without disturbing the pond. I may also add UV to keep the algae down. I am looking at some various preformed ponds that have a ledge to accommodate turtle access. Currently, I am looking at the preformed "Aruba" pond by Maccourt. This pond has a flat area on one side that I can build up with rock and plant grass in . For the grass, I am considering saggitaria platyphylla. This will also help filter the water and looks more natural than egg-crate. I plan to stock the pond with mosquito fish. Keep the mosquito larva at bay and give the turtle something to snack on. I will provide some large driftwood to bridge over the pond and to provide a few slopes for access into the pond. No fountains, water falls or bubble features. Plumbing will be sub-surface to keep the water calm, but not stagnant.
Plantings
I have found more information what not to plant rather than what to plant. My plan was to plant 50% vegetative plants and 50% ornamental. For vegetative, I was thinking various kale, other leafy and herbal plants that turtles would eat. The grzing tortoise seed mix at Carolina Pet Supply looks like a good start. I would greatly appreciate recommendations. For the ornamentals, I was thinking ferns and hostas, again, some direction would be appreciated. Also, I have a single Abelia shrub relocated from my front yard garden and would make a good shrub in the habitat; I have not seen anything to indicate this would be poisonous.
Rocks
I understand turtles need some sort of rock to eat on to help keep their nails and beaks naturally trimmed. I find this interesting as there isn't any naturally occurring rock within 100 miles of New Orleans yet we have turtles everywhere. Aside from that, what kind of rock do you normally use? Perhaps I can lay some flagstone.
Food
Aside from the items I would plant, I plan to incorporate various worms into the soil mix and will add crickets from time to time for protein. For veggies, I was thinking chopped greens and few assorted vegies with color. I have heard fruit is good but should be limited in quantity, but otherwise berries and bananas were the basic. I am not sure how often or how much to feed. There does not seem to be any guidelines. My neighbor has been feeding the turtle strawberries and lettuce daily and the turtle does eat but seems to peck.
Lastly, if there was one book that was the absolute best reference guide for box turtles, please let me know. I have a library of books dedicated to reef aquariums so I don't mind have one or two or more good books on hand. One thing I learned in aquariums though, is there is hundreds of books on the subject, but fewer than a dozen true good books.
Anyway, I greatly appreciate your help on this. Please let me know what you think.
I live near New Orleans so my plan was to construct an outdoor pen in the backyard. Exposure will be direct morning and mid-day sun with afternoon and evening shade. This is due to several live oak and maple trees and pretty much is anywhere in my yard. I wanted to provide some ideas I have for discussion and see what you all think.
By the way, my background is aquariums, including amazon biotopes and reef aquariums. I also have a cat and have 3 kids. So far, the cat is the easiest. This my first turtle.
Construction
Construction would be landscape timbers. I will use treated timber, probably 4"x4"'s to 12" below ground and then use landscape timbers up to 24" above. The design is a quarter octagon, with 8-ft sides on two sides and a taper on the other two sides. I would cap these with some 2"x12"s for seating (braced of course). On one of the shorter sides, I will construction some built-in boxes, again, using landscape timbers. One of these boxes will be an above grade shelter for the turtle. I am assuming 18"x18" would be large enough. The other boxes would be to store supplies and for the pond filter.
Heating
I am not finding any online consensus as to whether heating should be provided outdoors or not. Our typical annual low is in the thirties and is also one of our wet seasons. We hit the 20's every other year or less often. Part of me thinks the turtles live here naturally so should be fine. The other part of me tells me this turtle was captive and may not hibernate normally. My thinking was to put a single 40w heater in the wooden shelter on a rheostat and set it to maintain a low temperature, like say 70F. I would think I can keep box at 70 when the temperatures are 50F outdoor. When its below 50F, I dont think there is anything else I can do, but this is limited to only a few weeks scattered from December to February and our highs are rarely lower than that. This is an area I need more guidance on.
Substrate
My backyard is pretty fat clay soil, with river sand on the top foot where I filled it in and St. Aug grass on top. My plan was to pull the grass and till all this up down a foot and mix in compost, pine bark mulch and some peat moss. I was thinking maybe 1 part each, roughly 12 cubic feet of each. I can use the removed soil to fill in some low spots around the yard. I also need to do my final lawn cut for the year and may mix in the clippings as well. Looking for other recommendations. I have an endless supply of live oak and maple tree leaves to provide throughout the year.
Pond
I am not liking the water tray idea I keep reading about. Instead, I want to provide a small garden pond, something in the 35-50 gallon range. My thought here is something big enough for the turtle to jump in, stretch, relieve himself in the water and (most importantly), get out easily. I will use an external canister filter so I can maintain the filter without disturbing the pond. I may also add UV to keep the algae down. I am looking at some various preformed ponds that have a ledge to accommodate turtle access. Currently, I am looking at the preformed "Aruba" pond by Maccourt. This pond has a flat area on one side that I can build up with rock and plant grass in . For the grass, I am considering saggitaria platyphylla. This will also help filter the water and looks more natural than egg-crate. I plan to stock the pond with mosquito fish. Keep the mosquito larva at bay and give the turtle something to snack on. I will provide some large driftwood to bridge over the pond and to provide a few slopes for access into the pond. No fountains, water falls or bubble features. Plumbing will be sub-surface to keep the water calm, but not stagnant.
Plantings
I have found more information what not to plant rather than what to plant. My plan was to plant 50% vegetative plants and 50% ornamental. For vegetative, I was thinking various kale, other leafy and herbal plants that turtles would eat. The grzing tortoise seed mix at Carolina Pet Supply looks like a good start. I would greatly appreciate recommendations. For the ornamentals, I was thinking ferns and hostas, again, some direction would be appreciated. Also, I have a single Abelia shrub relocated from my front yard garden and would make a good shrub in the habitat; I have not seen anything to indicate this would be poisonous.
Rocks
I understand turtles need some sort of rock to eat on to help keep their nails and beaks naturally trimmed. I find this interesting as there isn't any naturally occurring rock within 100 miles of New Orleans yet we have turtles everywhere. Aside from that, what kind of rock do you normally use? Perhaps I can lay some flagstone.
Food
Aside from the items I would plant, I plan to incorporate various worms into the soil mix and will add crickets from time to time for protein. For veggies, I was thinking chopped greens and few assorted vegies with color. I have heard fruit is good but should be limited in quantity, but otherwise berries and bananas were the basic. I am not sure how often or how much to feed. There does not seem to be any guidelines. My neighbor has been feeding the turtle strawberries and lettuce daily and the turtle does eat but seems to peck.
Lastly, if there was one book that was the absolute best reference guide for box turtles, please let me know. I have a library of books dedicated to reef aquariums so I don't mind have one or two or more good books on hand. One thing I learned in aquariums though, is there is hundreds of books on the subject, but fewer than a dozen true good books.
Anyway, I greatly appreciate your help on this. Please let me know what you think.