Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Sometime ago, someone (sorry I'm soooo bad w/ names!) posted about his/her turles getting attacked by a rat. Recently, I discovered simular injuries on my female boxie. I did the soak/antibiotic thingy and she seems ok. But I am wondering as to the cause of the injuries.

I'm pretty sure there aren't any rats in the enclosure. But I have been having problems with chipmunks! I'm not sure if they are tunneling in or got in last spring when the door was off. I keep trapping and releasing them. So far I've caught 8 of them!

Anyway, would a chipmunk chew on a turle shell like that?
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.9.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Quite possibly. Seems like I read something once
where someone had some baby turtles attacked and
killed by chipmunks.

A few years ago I had four turtles come out of hibernation
with their the top layer of some of their scutes chewed off.

There was white, which I assumed was bone left where the
top layer of shell had been chewed off.

This summer, 3-4 years(?) later, the white is starting
to flake off and there appears to be some sort of healing
underneath. It doesn't look like the normal shell material.
But it is hard and looks better than the white.

I was pretty sure the culprits were shrews that I had seen
around. Haven't seen as many shrews in a while. I think my neighbors cat must have got quite a few of them.

2 sugestions:
Go to a good plant nursery and buy Bio-rid and granules of cyote urine. No, I'm not joking. They are non toxic and keep rodents out of my expensive bonsai and other plants. The Bio-rid works for 30 days. It makes the areas smell unpleasant to rodents and other varmits. The cyote urine granules makes them think that a hungry cyote has marked the area and will be eating them soon.

Second idea is to get a good ratter type dog and train to protect turtles.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Hopefully the chipmunks snuck in there when the door was off during the winter/early spring. In that case I will soon be rid of them as I have been trapping them. If they are digging under the enclosure (even though the wire goes 18' underground) then I've got a whole other problem!

How does one train one's dog to protect the turtles? I have an Australian Shepard but she doesn't protect anything! lol!

I wonder if'n the cyote urine would also keep critters away from my chickens?!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.12.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

If very well might. But you have to reapply it each week!

>>2 sugestions:
>>Go to a good plant nursery and buy Bio-rid and granules of cyote urine. No, I'm not joking.

Oh my gosh I didn't know you could buy that in a granule!
We tried a liquid coyote urine to rid our lawn of gophers but of course being liquid the odor doesn't last long. They finally left us for a while until the people next door moved in a year & a half or so ago. The man started putting poison in the gopher burrows on his property.. so of course they moved back over here. pfffffffft
He knows it all so there's no way to talk him out of using poison, I've tried. :::sigh:::
I am going to look for those granules ASAP! Thanks for the info
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PHRatz

You can also buy fox urine ganules!!
Just remember to reapply each week. I went for the Cyote because I figured bigger hungier animal idea would work better! No problems for weeks now!!!!

Here's a link to an article on chipmunk predation on young box turtles.
My guess would be that if there are chipmunks getting trapped in your screened-in turtle pen, they may very well be gnawing on your adult turtles. Be on the lookout for holes in the ground where they may be digging their way in, though.
Link

Very good article! Who knew? I would never have guessed chipmunks ate such a variety of animals also!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.12.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

I just checked the online database on the Fish & Wildlife website here, and it states that chipmunks are omnivores, and will eat small mammals, amphibians and reptiles, bird eggs, as well as fruits, nuts and other plant material.

It is certainly possible. Squirrels (chipmunks are in that catagory) chew on bones and shed antlers from deer.

Steve

I personally don't think chipmunks would attack turtles. Now hatchlings they may mess with just to see what they are. I have a chipmunk hole and colony of them in my 20*20 enclosure. I have never had a problem with them or squirels for that matter. I don't think chips have much interest in anything besides nuts, fruits, seeds, etc. turtle meat I don't believe is on their list. My guess would be shrews they can be fierce fighters and are meat eaters.

Well now, interesting info. I do believe that chipmunks would chew on a turtle shell the way they chew on bones, antlers, etc. But I also saw a mouse in the enclosure last spring, and have yet to catch it. So that is a possiblity too. (I'm sure as heck keeping the door on this winter! )
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.12.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

I have yet to find a mouse who could resist peanut butter. Put that is a trap, but make sure it is out the of the way of the turtles.

Yes, I've trapped many a mouse in the house using peanutbutter! I just haven't figured out how to do it without getting the turtles.

BTW, I had a 5" snapper living in our family room several years ago. One night I came home and she wasn't in her "pond"! We looked all over the family room and couldn't find her. Finally my husband called for me from the kitchen. There in the middle of the floor was poor Snappy with her neck in the mouse trap! She must have crawled behind the frig, got snapped and managed to crawl to the middle of the floor. I was almost in tears as I lifted the bar of the trap. Imagine my surpise when her neck was free and she blythly crawled away! lol! I put her back in her pond and she was fine!!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.12.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Talk about an angel watching over her shoulder!! Wow! I'm so happy she was okay. I have an allie, but it has never tried to leave the pond set up. Of course I do have a lid on it....... I guess that is a good thing for her. Here I thought I was just keeping the cats from eating the rosies!