Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Yesterday I decided I had better get out in the turtle pen and trim the grass away from the fence and just tidy things up a bit for the boxies since it is starting to warm up nicely outside now. Well, I noticed a rock had moved from the edge of one of the cubbies I have in the pen so I picked it up to move it back into position. Well, wouldn't you know it.....one of the turtles was directly under it. I'm not really sure who he/she is as I usually have to see all together to see who is who. They are really all basically the same being that they all came from the same backyard. I can distinguish them apart by their size and one by its eyes. She has beady eyes, thus she is named Beady! Then there is Blue.....his head is a greenish-blue color. Anyway.......the pen is now ready for all to make their appearance, and hopefully that will be soon. I am anxious to see how all are doing being that this is the first time I have over-wintered them out in the yard.

PHRatz.....I'm glad to hear that Hobo is up and about now.

Oh, I do have a question about feeding the turtles when they come out of hibernation. Is there any certain food that one should provide for them once they are up and ready to eat, or is it just a good idea to provide (what I call a buffet) a mix of fruit, veggies and mealies or other bugs so they can eat what they want to eat for their first meal of the spring. In past years that is what I have provided for the first meal, but just got to thinking that maybe there is something special we should provide. ...9boxies

Oy I spent quite a bit of time yesterday evening trying to get the pen cleaned up & ready to use too. There is so much left over morter lying on the ground. I don't think I'm ever going to get all those chunks of it picked up.
We need that paid for dirt spread around inside the pen too.

I remember last year when Hobo came out he spent about a week getting himself together. Kind of like a really long morning for him lol.
He refused food from me for that first week, when I did offer him something I created a buffet for him & let him pick through it to eat whatever he wanted. I didn't do anything special just gave him that variety to eat as he wanted and after that first week he did eat from what had I offered.
After that he got back into his habit of stalking me for food on the days he wanted to be fed. The rest of the time I'm sure he's eating what he stumbles onto when he feels like eating.
There are plenty of little black beetles & other bug for him if he wants them.

How is the one who was under the rock? Did you put the rock back or did that one stay out?
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PHRatz

Actually, I was kind of afraid to put the rock back on him (as he had moved some when I picked it up and the rock seemed like it might mash on him), so I just dug a little hole through the leaves and dirt under the cubby and stuck him there. I figure he will be out today as it is supposed to be nice and warm again. I will check off and on and when I see him I will fill the little pool I use with some tepid water and let him/her soak for a while and then put him back in the pen. Or I might leave him out in the yard a while.

Speaking of leaving him out in the yard......if male turtles are all together in the yard....not the pen with the females.....will they still fight? I really don't want to keep the males and females together, but I only have the one pen built. I am thinking that if the males are going to fight.....which they didn't last year but I don't know about this year since they are now older....I might need to find new homes for the males. What has been our experience with males kept together! ......9boxies

That last sentence should have said...."what has been "your" experience.....not 'our'.

I would've been afraid to put that rock back myself.
Our Mr. Hobo seems to be having a very long morning like he did last year. He's not leaving the cactus pen and he can get out of there when he wants to. Every time I check on him he's just sitting there like he needs that cup of coffee. lol
Yesterday I took him out of there & showed him a puddle of water I'd made. He really wasn't very interested in getting into it. So I put him back where he was because he's still using that same burrow to sleep in at night & it is still pretty chilly at night. I can tell he remembers where he is, there is a water dish available to him & he knows where it's at. Until he's out walking around like he normally would, I'm not going to try to feed him.

Until we took in Hobo I hadn't been keeping males, Chip lives indoors & will for at least another year while he's still not fully healed. Last fall I had Chip outside on the porch sunning & eating when Hobo walked by. You have to walk up 2 steps to get onto the porch. Well Chip looked down, Hobo looked up, they didn't look too happy to see one another.
They won't be living together any time soon, Hobo is bigger than Chip.
I would think during mating season if males are with females they're going to fight over the females.
Hopefully someone here who keeps males together will chime in on this?
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PHRatz

My experience has been that males aren't as aggressive towards each other when they're raised together. This is just my experience, and I'm sure that others have experienced different things. Captive raised turtles in general seem to be less aggressive when it comes to just about everything besides eating

When a juvenile is ready to go into the adult pens, there is usually some initial "interest". Some aggression occurs (usually male/male or male/female), but it usually subsides within a day or two with no damage done.

There's really no way to determine what their behavior will be. The best bet is to watch them closely and separate as needed. My biggest problem with siblings has not really been out and out aggression, but competition for food.

Thanks for the replies PHRatz and kensopher! So I guess I will watch the males and see if they are getting along or trying to fight with each other. Right now I have two males up and so far they are not messing with each other. My Hobo is up, as is Blue. We had gone to town to buy some wire so I can gat an arbor made in the pen and plant some vines around it for extra shade. (My brother-in-law gave me some seed for a vine called the hyacinth bean.....grows very fast and is edible by humans.......so I am hoping it is the same for the turtles.)

Anyway.....when we got back home we went out to the pen to see how and where to erect the arbor and I looked over and saw a little head looking at me. It was Blue. Hobo had gotten up and ate some food the afternoon before. Anyway.....I suspect that most all the turtles will be up within the next week as the temps are going to be warm from here on out I think.

Oops, I think I got off-topic......but anyway.....no females are up yet, only males, and so far so good. When the females come up perhaps I will just put the males out in the yard. Oh, I don't know. Originally I wanted all loose in the yard, but then decided I had better build a pen to keep them in so I wouldn't have to worry about mowing the grass and maybe hitting one. Of course we decided to plant tomatoes, squash,chiles, watermelon and cantaloupe last year too and were afraid they would destroy the plants so all went into the pen except Hobo since he was found after the others had been put into the pen. He didn't seem to bother the plants.....oh, except for one tomato he helped himself to one day. Anyway......I am still thinking I would like to have them loose in the yard. I wonder if I opened up the pen in a small area if they would go out wandering and then come back "home" to their cubbies when they got through wandering the yard?! I kinda doubt it. Guess I better not try to fix something that isn't broken right now. Maybe some day they can have the whole yard again.

I hope all of you are having a good week-end! Take care! ..........9boxies

Those people I know who have more than 30 box turtles in their backyard planted tomatoes, squash, watermelon.. all that stuff for the turtles to eat & they do eat it.
If they're roaming then plants like that won't be safe.
I've been trying to figure out where to put an arbor or trellis in my pen too. I want to plant honeysuckle, I realized if I put a trellis up against the fence then they could possibly climb out so can't do that..

I wonder too.. if you have enough cubby holes, enough cover so that males don't see each other all that often.. I'd think that would prevent some battles from happening.
I don't know what I'm going to do one day when Chip is well enough to stay outside.
Your thoughts give me thoughts though so keep thinking out loud here please.
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PHRatz

You could do the old switcheroo...put the turtles out in the yard and put the garden plants in the turtle pen. I have 3 old turtle pens that now make wonderful rabbit baffles for my veggie gardens. Plus, my turtles have proven to be great composters. The soil in the old pens is some of the richest in my yard.