eastern box turtle questions?
OK I have a hatchling (Peewee), a 3 inch female (Benita) and a huge male (Starburst) . Yes it is legal for me to have up to 5. So lets get to the questions!
1. Is it OK to house Benita and Starburst together in an indoor enclosure?
2. What plants are OK for box turtles? I want to plant the tanks as terrariums.
3. Would it be OK to house 2 hatchlings together? I may buy another from the lady I just bought Peewee from.
4. What's the best bedding? When I bought Bed a Beast for my cornsnake he got mites and I don't want to take chances with my lovely boxies.
5. Where can I find a cheap small exo terra terrarium? I've been trolling craigslist for a week.
6. Is it OK to feed Peewee in my hand? It's hard for her to grab food on a hard surface and I don't want her swallowing dirt. She doesn't seem to mind being held at all and has a very healthy appetite.
7. I feed them all canned dog food, fake crab, and fruits & veggies (the lady I bought Peewee from said that was what she fed all her breeding stock) and the big turtles get Superworms while Peewee gets mealworms. How can I improve their diet? I also dust all food items with calcium supplement.
8. They're all kept at between 65-70 degrees with no added heat source because the lady said they do better without it, although I do put them in the sunlight inside for a little while each day. Is that OK?
9. I use a reptile skin conditioning spray every day and shell conditioner once a week. Good or bad? I also use reptile water conditioner for the water bowls.
Thanks and feel free to add advice for anything I didn't think of!
PS- I've had the two larger ones for a while, but havn't introduced them yet. I got Peewee less than a week ago
Box turtles are solitary creatures. They do not need companions of any sort. They must also be protected from family pets, and the enclosure must not attract nocturnal visitors such as raccoons or skunks.
Other necessities of a turtle enclosure are clean water in a pan that the turtle can crawl into and soak in, and hiding places where the turtle can put its anterior end in and feel comfortable. In the wild, turtles pull up to rest under a log, stump, or stream bank. They excavate a small enclosure into which they extend their head and forelegs (they do not sleep "in" their shells). In a pen, they need an overhang, corner or similar crevice to pull into. It should be snug, so that the turtle feel protected. I solved both problems as follows. I used plastic bus trays (10 cm deep, 30 cm wide, 50 cm long). These are too deep for the turtles to enter and exit directly, so I make ramps out of plastic eggcrate (the plastic grid used in fluorescent light fixtures) covered with Astroturf. The Astroturf is held on with plastic cable ties, and the sections of the ramps are held together by similar ties. About one inch of water is all that is needed. These trays are easy to clean, and the turtles sleep under the ramps.
