Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I would like to get two box turtles for my son and us to raise. He is 10 yrs old and has experience with a redfoot tortoise and well as bearded dragons and is very responsible with them. I know it is wrong to keep wild box turtles and keep them captive. We have a neighbor that has some, but they keep wild ones that they find and I think that is wrong. Does anyone know where I can locate two young ones that we could raise? Our local feed stores and pet shops don't seem to have them. I live in the New Orleans Metro area. Any information would be helpful. My husband is going to build a safe home for them in our yard. Thanks, Diane

There is a section of this website titled "adoptions". You can search through a list of rescue organizations. I believe there are both Gulf Coast and Louisiana rescues. Often, the Gulf Coast site has younger box turtles. They are pretty discerning about who they adopt to, though. Good luck! If you can't find turtles to adopt, there are ads starting in June/July for captive bred box turtles in the classified section of this website. You can also search the care sheets for info. on the different species.

After I posted this message, I found out my friend may have baby box turtles. Someone gave her a couple of young ones, but she's not sure what they are. She's got them in a small secure area in her yard. I'm going to take pictures and put them on this site in the next few days and maybe someone can tell me if they are box turtles or not. My husband is getting ready to build an outdoor 6' wide x 4' deep and 2' high habitat. I want to make sure we have everything set up for their new home, before I bring one or two home. Thanks !

Great! It's so rewarding to raise young box turtles. It takes a long time, but your son may be getting pets that will stay with him for most or all of his life.

Since the turtles sound young, make sure hubby puts a screen top over the enclosure to keep out predators. Also use non-toxic wood. Depending on how young the turtles are, you may want to keep them inside until they're 3 to 4 inches. Any smaller than that, and they could be really hard to care for in such a large pen.

A baby gulf coast box turtle

The turtles are about 2 1/2 - 3" long. We are planning to put mesh across the entire bottom (attached to the frame, so they won't dig out). Also, the top will have a frame of wood with wire mesh to protect them. I was thinking about using pressure treated wood so that it would hold up, but I'm now thinking that may be bad for the turtles. Any ideas on what would be better to use? I was planning on putting some plants in there, such as collard greens or mustard greens. I want to put some soil, some sand in areas and rocks. Would that be a good idea? Thanks, Diane

I'd leave out the sand, it can get in between the folds of skin and cause irritation, I've heard redwood, pine and fir some of the best woods to use outdoors, just seal them with a finish of some sort and they should be good.

also make sure you give them enough soil to bury themselves.
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Thanks for all the helpful information. I'm sure I'll have lots more questions, once we set up everything. Thanks, Diane