Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday the weather was wonderful, I took all the box turtles outside for some UV & fresh air.
Chip had to go out alone because he can't stay with the females. While they basked on the porch he took a walk around the front yard then he saw something in the backyard so he decided to find out what it was.
I think it freaked him out!
Destiny on the other hand was grazing & didn't notice this little twerp trying to smell her legs.

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PHRatz

That's really charming. It looks like a photo from a children's book.

>charming

Thanks!
I've just been going nuts with this camera lol and I know you understand that.
I snapped those shots then picked Chip up right away before Destiny saw him. I don't think that she would harm a little turtle on purpose but she could so easily do it by accident. Because of that I don't allow the box turtles near her very often but when a photo opportunity happens, I have to allow it for a moment.
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PHRatz

That is So cute! I put my box turtles out side into their new pen, and they walked around for 1 day and then dug down into the ground and havent moved for 4 days. They were awake and eating and everything seemed fine, the weather has been awsome! 70's 80's it hit 90 today, and they did not even notice....

>>That is So cute! I put my box turtles out side into their new pen, and they walked around for 1 day and then dug down into the ground and havent moved for 4 days. They were awake and eating and everything seemed fine, the weather has been awsome! 70's 80's it hit 90 today, and they did not even notice....

That figures lol.
Yesterday wasn't quite as nice as the day before but Hobo is still out there. Thankfully since the pen isn't ready he stays in different areas away from the tortoise so far. We need that pen ASAP though.
Anyway I found him in the small brick turtle house that we just slapped together for him to use as a napping area. Since I have not yet fed him I took a flat brick plate of salad to him, he didn't eat it. Hours later when it was wilting I took it away.
Later DH decided he needed to run to the store for some printer paper, I thought he'd left when he opened the front door & yelled in "somebody is chasing me!"
I go outside & there's Hobo following him around, I guess he decided he's hungry after all. I gave him a big fat nightcrawler, he ate it then went & buried himself under the purple sage bush where he's mostly been staying since he woke up last week.

Ok so it kind of looks like our aggressive wild boy is wild except when he wants food.
Which makes sense because he's been coming here for years to get a hand out, hence the name Hobo.
LOL
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PHRatz

PHRatz: Neat picture of Destiny and Chip! I bet they enjoyed being outside yesterday. It was beautiful here also! More and more hummingbirds are showing up at the feeders too. That is a good thing! I love to watch the little hummers.

sd2fst4u: my boxies are also out in their new pen. And like yours.....the first day they ventured around exploring it, ate, soaked and then headed to the pile of logs and cubbies and buried under for about the same amount of days....4. Anyway.....yesterday late in the afternoon I was sprinkling the pen as the grass needed some water and out came 4 of the 8 that are in the pen. I of course gave them a bit to eat and after a few minutes of walking around to stretch their legs some more they were gone back into hiding. I imagine that once the weather gets more stable and the night temps warm up more than at present time, they will venture out more and more!

I need to buy some more mealworms and fruits and veggies so I will be ready for them. I have a feeling they will start coming out to say "hello" everyday very soon now!

I hope everyone on the board is having a good day today. Hard to believe that it is already April. I do wonder where the time is going! Well, enjoy the day! Take care................9boxies

I was totally surprised on Sat. when I had the box turtles out to see a hummingbird. Then yesterday a male Bullock's oriole showed up too. So now we have the purple headed finches, the hummers & the orioles feeding off the feeders already!
My camera is going to burn up! LOL

9boxies, I wonder have you ever tried breeding your own mealworms for the turtles to eat? A woman with hedgehogs gave me a starter box once & until she did that I had no idea how easy they are to breed & it can all be done in a plastic shoe box.
I have a 99 cent plastic box will holes punched in the lid. It's filled with a mix of cornmeal, oatmeal, and whole wheat flour. I use some slices of potato, carrot or something moist to give them moisture & they breed like crazy.
It's cheap too compared to 3 dollars for a 35 count or 50 count box of store bought mealies. I keep them in my critter room, nobody ever even notices what they are.
I thought I'd bring that up in case you'd want to try it.
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PHRatz

>>I have a 99 cent plastic box will holes punched in the lid. It's filled with a mix of cornmeal,

That should say WITH holes punched in it, not will lol.
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PHRatz

Wow, that is a great idea......breed my own mealworms.
That sure would save on the money spent on them. With 9 box turtles, even though I feed them veggies and fruit too, the mealworms add up in the cost of feeding them. By the way, do any of you use the trout chow? I noticed in some of the websites that they say to feed trout chow. I never had, but thought that might be something to try. What do you all think?

Oh, I got off topic as usual. anyway......back to the mealworms.....do you just put regular, storebought worms in the shoebox along with the cornmeal etc. and that is all there is to it? Or do you have to do something special? How long does it take for them to breed and multiply? I guess I need to try that. As it is, I keep the storebought in the fridge, which is fine with me, but I don't know how healthy that is for us. Ha-ha-ha! Ok.....thanks for the idea. ....9boxies

After the woman gave me the original starter shoe box full of mealies, I screwed up & lost them all. I found that actually I need 2 plastic shoe boxes because when I clean the box, I found that I need to save the old food substrate because it's always full of unhatched eggs. I threw that away & that's how I lost them all. I went to the pet store & bought a new box of mealworms then started over.
I just throw them in a mixture of cornmeal, oatmeal, whole wheat flour & sometimes powdered milk to give them calcium. Kind of depends on what I've remembered to buy. Then I leave them alone but not in the refrigerator, I leave them out at room temperature.
Once a week I make sure they have some sort of fresh moist vegetable, celery, cucumbers, potatoes, carrots all work. I stay away from fruits because those fruit flies appear like magic. lol
I'm not sure exactly how long it takes but it's just a matter of weeks, they'll morph into a pupa, then emerge from that as a beetle that doesn't fly. The beetles will lay the eggs & in a few weeks the substrate is writhing with fresh meal worms.

Eventually they eat up all the food substrate, that's why I change it. I bought a giant sized tea strainer at the Dollar Tree & I'll use it to sift through the old substrate about once a week to get anything newly hatched out of there. In a month or so that box will end up with nothing in it but old food, then I throw it away.
I have a never ending supply of mealworms, I like that because I have 7 turtles that'll eat them & it does run into some money if you have to keep buying them all the time.

It's kind of gross at first but you get used to it & when you see how much money you save, it's easier to get used to.
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PHRatz

Oh, thanks for the mealworm info. I am going to try that. I had to go and buy two containers of worms today, so I might just empty one of the container of worms into a shoebox (I have several of those plastic ones around that I use for keeping my craft stuff in)and see if I can succeed in raising them. I have the corn meal and oat meal, all I need to do is go and buy a bag of whole wheat flour. Yes, I think I might try that. By the way, one more question concerning them. In the store you can buy medium, large or giant mealies. Is that just the different sizes that they grow to as they are developing into a beetle, or are those different types of beetle larvae? I do hope it is the different sizes they grow through, then I don't have to buy worms for Squirt...the baby boxie.......either! That would really be neat.

Ok....... thanks again PHRatz. I really appreciate your sharing the info. I'm sure some of the others on the board will try their hand at raising mealies for their pets too. In that case......."thanks" from all of us. ....9boxies

>> By the way, one more question concerning them. In the store you can buy medium, large or giant mealies.
Is that just the different sizes that they grow to as they are developing into a beetle, or are those different types of beetle larvae?

The really large ones they call superworms are a different species from the small & medium. I don't breed the superworms, I forget what they're called, I think it's zoophoba?
When I used store bought to start another colony I bought a box of the medium sized & just dumped them in my shoebox & waited for them to do their thing. It didn't take too long.

You're welcome I hope you are successful because not only does it cost you less money but you also know what your homegrown meal worms have been eating, I think they make a more nutritious food item when you grow them yourself. Sometimes I toss powdered milk in for calcium.. depends on what I remember to buy for them. lol
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PHRatz