Ornate hatchlings are a lot of fun. They are very robust and active. I call them "little tough guys".
A tank is ok for right now, but just make sure that it doesn't stay too wet. Basically, you want to set up a moist end and a more dry end. Ornates are prone to respiratory and eye infections with high humidity. That's one of your risks with a tank.
UVA and UVB light is essential, and my ornate hatchlings will bask. Make sure that the light is unfiltered, meaning that it doesn't have to go through glass, plastic, or screening. Give them a warm spot, approaching 90 degrees. Mine will cycle themselves around their enclosure...they'll bask in the hotspot, then run around like maniacs, then bask, then run around.
I recommend a small, shallow water dish in their enclosure. Put it on the moist side of the tank. Daily soakings would be adequate, but it's always good to allow them access to water whenever they'd like. It needs VERY frequent changing, as they love to urinate in the water.
As far as substrate, I've found that ornates don't really require something to dig in. For an Eastern, it's virtually essential. You can use something easier to clean like those reptile carpets pre-cut for your tank size. However, they DO need a place to hide. Tree bark, wooden or rock caves, and terra cotta pots broken in half are things that I've used. I also recommend FLAT stones or slate in the tank, as their nails tend to overgrow very easily. A friend of mine feeds them on fine sandpaper to avoid this. That would make me nervous, plus the fact that it would be expensive to keep buying clean sandpaper (is that an oxymoron? clean sandpaper?). Having said that, they WILL dig if provided the proper substrate. I just haven't found a really great substrate for ornate hatchlings. My standby, sphagnum moss, just stays too wet in my humid Southern climate. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Don't feed them Ceasar dog food!! I worked at a Nature Center that fed their box turtles Ceasar dog food. They varied the diet, but the turtles always held out for the dog food. The juvenile box turtle became grossly deformed, and the adults all developed deformed beaks, deformed nails, goiters, and were grossly overweight. Plus, a couple of them would eat and then vomit a short while later...I don't know what that was about.
Feed the baby ornates just about any living thing that you can get your hands on...earthworms (they may not eat these initially), mealworms, waxworms, small superworms (my ornates' personal favorite), pillbugs, etc.. If you need to provide a prepared food item, which I do because of time constraints, soak an aquatic turtle food like Reptomin and feed them the mush. Several times a week, offer collard or turnip greens, tomatoes (another favorite of mine), prickly pear cactus fruit, mullberries, blueberries, raspberries, etc. Always offer the greens, even if they don't eat them. You can also chop the greens up in a food processor and mix them with the Reptomin mush. My turtles eat this mixture with gusto. I mix it in a 1:1 ratio by volume. Vary the diet as much as possible! As a treat, I even offer frozen and thawed small baitfish very rarely. They love this! I only do it about once a month, though. I don't imagine that they ever eat fish as a part of their natural diet! You can also offer pinkies, but this is a horrible scene to watch.
In the wild, the majority of an ornate diet is insects. These insects come gutloaded with VERY high calcium grasses and plants that grow on the plains and arid areas where the turtles occur. These grasses and plants can also be high in vitamins. It is important not only to gutload your insects, but dust them with vitamin and calcium powder. I like to dust with calcium one day, then multivitamin the next. Some elect to dust with a calcium/vitamin D3 combination, and that is perfectly fine also.
Be watchful of bullying. These hatchlings are like little tanks, and I've had to separate more robust hatchlings much more frequently than with Easterns. I always feed them separately.
Good luck with your babies! Like I said, they are very rewarding and fun as long as you provide what they need.
Here are two pics...one is a desert, the other is an ornate. Both are from last year.
Oh, and I wouldn't worry about your three-toes laying eggs. It depends on where you live and whether the turtles are routinely hibernated. If they're kept outdoors in a temperate climate, their reproductive systems are most likely on a strict schedule. Female box turtles will simply retain some sperm, and fertilize the follicles when the time is right. They should lay in the spring, then maybe again in the early summer, then maybe again in mid-summer. That said, if they do lay eggs now, buy a hovabator and incubate them indoors.
Good luck!
