Squirrel
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 27, 2016
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- 8
Apologies for the length of this post...
About a month and a half ago, I agreed to foster an Eastern box turtle (though it looks like he'll be staying here permanently). I've never kept turtles before, though I keep hermit and red claw crabs, so I had some heaters, filters, etc. I've been reading all that I can about taking care of turtles, but I need some help now.
A bit of background: His previous owner had been unable to care for him for a while, and he had a terrible eye/sinus infection when he came to live with me. He's been well for about two weeks now, and has been fairly active, eating, walking around, bathing, etc. He seems very tame, not skittish in the slightest.
When I took him in, I had only a 10 gallon tank to spare (he's about 6'' long). He has a 7'' x 4'' pool, a shelter, and several inches of substrate in there. When he was sick I kept the heat and humidity higher, but now it's usually at 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit and 70-80% relative humidity. When it started to look like he'd be staying with me indefinitely, I began looking for larger tanks. In the meantime, I bought a large cement mixing container, filled it with substrate, and added another pool and shelter.
Since he's been well, I've been taking him out for 'enrichment' time; usually letting him sit on the back patio to soak up the sun, or letting him walk around inside. He never tries to wander into the grass when we're on the patio, and seems to avoid the sun when outside. Last Wednesday, it was warm and sunny, so I took him out back. After only a few moments, he actually turned around and went directly to the back door, where he sat next to me, looking toward the door. I thought it was kind of funny, because that seemed more like cat behavior than what I'd expect from a turtle. But after a few minutes when it was clear he wanted nothing to do with the outside, I took him back in.
While I was cleaning his tank, I set him in the (uncovered) cement mixing container habitat, which was sitting on the carpet. I kept checking on him, and saw him moving around, checking out his shelter and pool. And then I heard a crash. I ran in and saw him sitting on a set of curtain rods that had been lying next to the habitat. I can only guess that he managed to climb up the side of the container and do a flip to land upright on the rods when he fell over the side.
(new habitat, shelter added right after this picture)
I was completely freaked out, but he seemed fine. He moved normally and had no signs of injury, so I set him back in his tank. But later that day, he dug down into the substrate, and didn't come back up for the next five days. In fact, on day five, I un-buried him and set him near his newly-filled food dish. I hadn't wanted to bother him, despite constantly worrying that he was dead or dying. He just sat in his burrow, covered in dirt except for his head, which he would uncharacteristically pull in whenever he saw me.
After I took him out of his burrow, he ate all of his food, got in his pool for a while, and then returned to his shelter and dug back down again. He's been there for the past two days.
Is this normal behavior? I don't think he comes out at night, because I put new food in his dish each day and he never eats any. The water in his pool also stays clear. Is he afraid of something? Did I frighten him by putting him in the new container? Unlike the tank, it's opaque black, so he couldn't see what was going on around him, just up above him. Did his fall have anything to do with it?
Thanks in advance for reading all this and helping an extremely worried new turtle caretaker.
About a month and a half ago, I agreed to foster an Eastern box turtle (though it looks like he'll be staying here permanently). I've never kept turtles before, though I keep hermit and red claw crabs, so I had some heaters, filters, etc. I've been reading all that I can about taking care of turtles, but I need some help now.
A bit of background: His previous owner had been unable to care for him for a while, and he had a terrible eye/sinus infection when he came to live with me. He's been well for about two weeks now, and has been fairly active, eating, walking around, bathing, etc. He seems very tame, not skittish in the slightest.
When I took him in, I had only a 10 gallon tank to spare (he's about 6'' long). He has a 7'' x 4'' pool, a shelter, and several inches of substrate in there. When he was sick I kept the heat and humidity higher, but now it's usually at 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit and 70-80% relative humidity. When it started to look like he'd be staying with me indefinitely, I began looking for larger tanks. In the meantime, I bought a large cement mixing container, filled it with substrate, and added another pool and shelter.
Since he's been well, I've been taking him out for 'enrichment' time; usually letting him sit on the back patio to soak up the sun, or letting him walk around inside. He never tries to wander into the grass when we're on the patio, and seems to avoid the sun when outside. Last Wednesday, it was warm and sunny, so I took him out back. After only a few moments, he actually turned around and went directly to the back door, where he sat next to me, looking toward the door. I thought it was kind of funny, because that seemed more like cat behavior than what I'd expect from a turtle. But after a few minutes when it was clear he wanted nothing to do with the outside, I took him back in.
While I was cleaning his tank, I set him in the (uncovered) cement mixing container habitat, which was sitting on the carpet. I kept checking on him, and saw him moving around, checking out his shelter and pool. And then I heard a crash. I ran in and saw him sitting on a set of curtain rods that had been lying next to the habitat. I can only guess that he managed to climb up the side of the container and do a flip to land upright on the rods when he fell over the side.
(new habitat, shelter added right after this picture)
I was completely freaked out, but he seemed fine. He moved normally and had no signs of injury, so I set him back in his tank. But later that day, he dug down into the substrate, and didn't come back up for the next five days. In fact, on day five, I un-buried him and set him near his newly-filled food dish. I hadn't wanted to bother him, despite constantly worrying that he was dead or dying. He just sat in his burrow, covered in dirt except for his head, which he would uncharacteristically pull in whenever he saw me.
After I took him out of his burrow, he ate all of his food, got in his pool for a while, and then returned to his shelter and dug back down again. He's been there for the past two days.
Is this normal behavior? I don't think he comes out at night, because I put new food in his dish each day and he never eats any. The water in his pool also stays clear. Is he afraid of something? Did I frighten him by putting him in the new container? Unlike the tank, it's opaque black, so he couldn't see what was going on around him, just up above him. Did his fall have anything to do with it?
Thanks in advance for reading all this and helping an extremely worried new turtle caretaker.
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He'll poke his head out of his shelter, but he won't come out any farther than that. He has yet to get in his pool, but he seems to be feeling a bit better. He ate out of my hand today, so I take that as a good sign. My boyfriend and I are setting up a new habitat in a better location, but I don't want to move him until he's ready to come out of his shelter on his own, for fear of unsettling him further.
