Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Okay, sooooo a friend of mine gave me an adult male box turtle and then a little girl I know hatched out some babies and gave me one. I have this 15 x 6 foot area in my backyard and I want to do something with it for the torts (at least for the adult). We have some wire mesh, how well would that work? Does anyone have pics to give me an idea? Thanks for your time

Rachel
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Be yourself! It doesn't matter what other people think!
~*Rachel*~

>>Okay, sooooo a friend of mine gave me an adult male box turtle and then a little girl I know hatched out some babies and gave me one. I have this 15 x 6 foot area in my backyard and I want to do something with it for the torts (at least for the adult). We have some wire mesh, how well would that work? Does anyone have pics to give me an idea? Thanks for your time

Wire mesh.. what's the spacing between the wire?
We had a box turtle pen made with ranch fencing, some people call it dog fencing. It worked just great until we got a sulcata tortoise who stuck her "arm" through & it bent it all up.
If you don't have other animals that can bend up your pen wire can work.
Be sure though that you bury wire into the ground about a foot deep because the turtles can dig their way out of a pen if there isn't a barrier underground. You can hammer rebar around the perimeter of a pen instead of burying something, that works too if you hammer several pieces closely together.
Another thing to think about depending on where you live is predators. If you have wild animals like oppussums, raccoons, cats, or any predatory animal that can get into the pen, you'll need to build a lid for it to keep them out.

I don't have any pictures but maybe someone else will post a few.
Our next pen is going to be made of cinderblock but it's not built yet so I have no photos of that.
You might try posting on the box turtle message board. Quite a few people there have pens & might be willing to post a few photos for you.
Good luck with your new pets!
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PHRatz

Thank you so much... you provided great information.

I'm thinking about putting blocking around the outside instead of the wire mesh (It's not the best fencing I've heard). I can at least step into the enclosure and have an easier time weed wacking if I need to and taking care of the foliage I will be planting. Plus we don't get any predators or anything in the backyard. I'm excited to start building

>>Thank you so much... you provided great information.
>>
>>I'm thinking about putting blocking around the outside instead of the wire mesh (It's not the best fencing I've heard). I can at least step into the enclosure and have an easier time weed wacking if I need to and taking care of the foliage I will be planting. Plus we don't get any predators or anything in the backyard. I'm excited to start building

We've had a lot going on lately I haven't had a chance to get back over here to say this.
I got to thinking about this a few days after I posted the first time.... box turtles can climb very well, better than you would imagine. If you make the pen out of wire you'll likely need some sort of a lip around the top if there is no lid to the pen.

The lady with the screen name golfdiva posted a photo on the box turtle board one time of her box turtle half way up the screening of her completely closed in turtle pen. It was amazing to see a box turtle climb like that!
While you're building keep in mind that they can climb up.
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PHRatz