Box Turtles

[Mmathis]

Hello! The intro said to tell something about yourself... I have outdoor box turtles and am on a quest to arm myself with information to build a pond to meet the needs of these non-aquatic turtles! Hopefully this will be a good place to start!

 

[CometKeith]

Hi Mmathis, Welcome to the forum!

 

[addy1]

welcome!

 

[marla]

welcome to the forum
we use to have box turtles, we kept them inside, but if it was raining or nice we had to keep our eyes on them as they would open the patio screen door (they even ripped a hole in it) and get out, they loved to be in the puddles. Sad to say one got out and we never found her, she must have fallen off the deck and walked away...hard to say you had a pet run away from home.
Anyway they really don't need anything more then a few inches, because as you say they don't really swim. So if you were to make something it has to be very shallow...if this is the ONLY reason to have one it wouldn't need filtration as that shallow you could empty and refill quickly.

 

[fishin4cars]

I've always been a reptile fan since very young. I've raised all kinds of turtles, Snakes Lizards, and newts (yea I know they aren't a reptile but they have similar care and needs) My wife hates me driving down country roads, If I see a turtle on the road or non-venomous snake I will stop in the middle of the road to help it to safety. Twice I have forgotten about someone could be behind me and stopped not thinking about anything but saving the little reptile. One a old man ran into the back of me ( It was his fault but I fixed his car for him since I figured in reality it was my own fault and the damage was minimal and I could fix it for less than what the Ins. was going to stick him). The other a kid was flying down the road and couldn't stop and had to wipe out a fence to keep from hitting me.
Anyway, Box turtles need a shallow muddy cool/shady water shed to go to breed. Or at least this is what I have observed in the wild. They tend to group up at small mud holes about 1-3 inches deep in water but with a 1-2" thick mud base. I have seen as many as 11 box turtles gathered at one of these holes. I watched one day as three different pairs did the hootchie coochie. Not something you just walk up on everyday. Other than that Box turtles need a shallow spot of clear clean water that they can get into to drink. they don't drink much as they get most of there water from the plants they eat and when they do drink the are somewhat like camels as they will store water for long periods in their system. If you get lucky and they happen to breed and lay eggs it is very important to know. DO NOT PICK UP, read everything you can about them before touching those eggs, If they are turned the young will most likely die. They are like alligator eggs as they have a up side and a down side, they must always be kept that way to form and develop. Good foods for box turtles, Carrots, broccoli, green beans, squash, raisins, grapes, spinach, freeze dried krill and yummy grub worms. Yea those big white fat ones! But super worms from Petsmart/Petco are a good substitute. lol As for a pond if your wanting to build something for a turtle enclosure I would suggest looking at building a small shallow but semi wide stream bed. The turtles could walk through and cool off get fresh water and it add to the natural scenery of the enclosure. Very simple to do and would be easily made with a filter so even a small fish or two could live in there for added viewing pleasure.

 

[sissy]

oh geeze a pet crawl away from home you mean they can move but not that fast

 

[j.w]

Mmathis
Can you post some pictures of your pets :regular_waving_emot

 

[marla]

oh geeze a pet crawl away from home you mean they can move but not that fast

Yes sissy when they got outside they could move. Problem is we didn't know she had gotten out, we looked for days and yes asked neighbors. Sad as she probably could not have survived our winters.

fishin4cars, we had several eggs over the years, non viable...I would find them under furniture when I would move it to vacuum. Our box turtles were different spiecies, so even though we had a male and female would be rare to have one hatch...not that they didn't try their best and very often

 

[sissy]

:lol:When we moved to VA my son then 17 found a turtle and painted on his shell in day glow paint our phone number just to see what happened to the turtle after he left well a year later we got a call from people all the way over in cascade saying they found our turtle and we went to get him .He was not a pet just some turtle coming around here and now he stays around here because I give him food except for 5 weeks ago my neighbor knocks on the door and says I found your turtle down by my house .Geeze this paint won't come off his back and darn turtle going to haunt me for years to come:lol::lol:by the way how long do turtles live .

 

[sissy]

That or change my dang phone number geeze never new it would come to this .I thought it was funny at the time now well getting old so far 8 times .This turtle is going to haunt me

 

[Malak]

That's hilarious. Better than a note in a bottle! They can live 20 years depending on species of course.

 

[sissy]

oh geeze would like to strangle my son .I have not seen that turtle for a month either his road kill or I will get another phone call

 

[Mmathis]

fishin4cars -- Yes, your info is accurate! Actually, I've had boxies for about 10 years, and these little guys (and girls) are the off-spring on my original pair, both of which escaped before I realized what good escape artists box turtles are!! [Marla, I know exactly what you mean about loosing a pet turtle] The first 2 years I found eggs and left them alone, they were the victims of too-dry soil, ants & other such critters. Then I started bringing them in and incubating them -- that whole process was an education! The trick is to mark the the top of the shell so you know which side is "up." I even took them out periodically and candled them [the eggs] so I would be sure I had viables. There is some, but not a lot of information about the gestational changes [and time tables] that turtles go through. It was interesting to see the eggs go from nothing but a network of blood vessels, to actually seeing little bodies inside: cute little feet kicking, eyes, shell, beak.....!

For my POND, my idea is to have something with the volume of a regular pond, but build in a "false bottom" which would keep the depth for them at a couple of inches. My goal is to NOT have to empty and change their water every single day - sometimes twice a day!! I want to go with biological [and mechanical, or course] filtration, maybe have a few plants.... Been reading up on filters, especially some DIY trickle filters that look interesting. Box turtles are messy -- they usaully always poop in their water!!

I did something like this when they were in their 1st couple of years -- I didn't hibernate [or brumate] them during the winter, but kept them inside in a 55g aquarium. At one end of the tank, I siliconed a piece of plexiglass across the the tank, front-to-back (it was maybe 1/4 to 1/3 of the tank's length), with maybe 10" of depth. Then took some more plexiglass, drilled holes in it (for water & waste to circulate) and raised that up as my false bottom -- used KNEX pieces for supports. When the rest of the tank was filled with substrate and "hides," I made ramps so they could easily get in & out of their "pond." I got an Eheim canister filter, which worked great, except that box turtles make LOTS of waste. Since this was a temporary fix until I could put them outside in the spring, I was more concerned with mechanical rather than bio-filtration.

So, that's my/our story! J.W, I will try for some pictures.

 

[sissy]

they are like ducks pond gets messy fast no matter what you try best way is just to have shop vac handy to get muck from the bottom and have a hose in there refilling as you are cleaning .Don't know any easier way

 

[addy1]

Sounds like you have your work cut out for you, post some pictures when you have time of your work in progress, when you get it going. And the turtles of course.