Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, today is a lot cooler than yesterday. It is only supposed to get up into the mid to high 60's. Anyway.....it will be good when the weather settles and the temps stay more consistently in the upper 70's and upwards.

There are still some of my turtles who haven't made an appearance. By the way, for those of you who hibernate your boxies outdoors......do you take the leaves off of their hide places or leave them there until they dig up through them? I have been thinking that maybe that is what is keeping them down under! Maybe the leaves I put over them after they all dug down in the winter are keeping the ground from warming where they are. What do you think? should I remove the leaves and then when they are up, mulch the leaves and work them into the soil in the pen where they like to dig? Anyone? I am really wanting to do everything right for my "shelled" kids.

Today I need to go to the store and get some veggies and fruits for them. So far the ones that are up have only had banana, tomato, carrot, mealworms and some yellow squash. Not a very good menu for them I don't think.

The baby boxie has finally eaten a mealworm and a little bit of soaked turtle stick. He stays buried most all the time, but I have him in a plastic container with a hide at one end and a water tray at the other and every day I put him outside where the morning sun hits the container as does the late afternoon so he can get some sunshine if he so desires. By the way, I did go ahead and put some sod in there, but......on the end where his hide is, I have a flat little plastic tray that contains the moss he digs into, so he does not come in contact with the soil of the sod. (Just in case that is what caused Squirt to get his magenta spots......which by the way are gone now.) Oh, my grandson told me I should name the baby Squirt II. Who knows......some day a good name will hit and stick. Until then he will go by "lil bit".

Ok, just wanted to check in this a.m. and see if anyone had written anything. I hope all of you have a good day today. Take care!...............9boxies

My Easterns live outside year round, and I really try to just let them do their thing when coming out of hibernation, and so I avoid hastening the process. I figure that they know what they're doing.

Ok, then I will just leave them alone until they decide the time is right. Thanks! .......9boxies

Just a suggestion: you might try a waxworm for lil bit.

Yeah like Steph said.. no need to do anything.
I left the grass hay on top of Hobo, didn't touch a thing & then he came out when he was ready.

Our little Kibbles loves waxworms. Also likes a small bite of nightcrawler, tiny baby roaches and small dusted crickets.
Baby did like a bite of strawberry and a bite of banana. I was suprised it'd eat fruit but it did.
Mealworms though haven't worked out.. the baby doesn't seem to be able to digest them because they are the only thing I've fed to the baby that got pooped out whole, so I stopped feeding them.
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PHRatz

btw brrrrr it is so cool today I had to put a jacket on this AM. It's supposed to be down in the 40s tonight with storms. Yuck!
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PHRatz

PHRatz...could you please tell me where you feed your hatchlings? My three toed will not eat in front of me. Sometimes I will see him (her) Nickie...take a wax worm into his little house. So I've been putting some wax worms, cut up red wrigglers etc. in front of his little house. He looks very healthy and seems to have grown since I got him, but I only saw him eat once. I tried to feed him in a plastic container (shoe box size) but he just tries to get out. Help....
Terry

Maybe it has something to do with ornates being more bold?
I take the baby out it's enclosure every day for a bath the same way I do for adults except that for the baby I use a small plastic critter keeper.
Baby takes the bath first, and don't stand there & watch the whole time.. I peak in the door periodically to see how we're doing. I wait for a poop before I take it out of the bath. Then I put the baby in a dry container and drop in whatever bug it's going to have that day.
I have never had a problem getting it to eat for me, doesn't matter if I am standing there or if I leave the room.
For some of my adults I have to drop food in then leave... Hobo, Charity & Chip all want privacy with their food so I leave when I feed them.
I don't what the deal is with the baby.. it's been this way since day 1, bath first then food, never had a problem getting it to eat.
I remember Ken saying something once about how bold his ornates are compared to the other species.. so maybe that's part of it?
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PHRatz

9boxies.. did you get hit too?
Last night at dusk Hobo started burrowing into the ground in a spot far far away from his winter burrow. It felt warm, he was near a corner of the cinder block fence, the wind wasn't hitting that spot so I thought ok I'll let him stay here & then I put one of the little turtle houses over him.
Glad I did that MAN that was a lot of hail, high winds, & heavy rain at 1 AM!
I can't find Hobo this morning but he's not in the little house any more so he must be out & about I just haven't spotted him yet.
The lawn desperately needs mowing.
My winter grass is so tall right now that in some spots I can't even see the weenie dog!
Good grazing for the tort though.
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PHRatz

No, we didn't get a storm but the temps dropped early in the evening. This morning is still cool out but is supposed to get up to around 68 today. I hope it hurries up and does so.

Our first hummingbird stopped by on Tuesday, so I put up the feeders.....or two of them. One in front and one in the back. The little hummers were eating at both yesterday. I sure do hope the weather change doesn't make them wish they hadn't arrived yet. I just love the hummingbirds. Did you find Hobo? .......9boxies

I checked around we don't have any hail damage it didn't even beat up my newly planted flowers.
Hey I saw the first hummingbird on Tuesday too!! I was thrilled then got the feeders out too. Yesterday I saw the first male Bullock's oriole on the hummingbird feeder.
Spring has sprung when I don't see the sharp-shinned hawk anymore but I do see the oriole's & the hummers.

I went out looking for Hobo a little while ago.. still didn't find him but I'm sure he's fine.. he always is & he did have the little house that did protect him from the hail.
I'll bet I'll see him this evening when he's ready to eat.

We're supposed to get more storms tonight..yuck
I love the orioles.. saw the first one around 1995, they've come back every year & they've been breeding so we see crowds of them now.

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PHRatz

Where do you live PHratz? I live in Dallas and I haven't seen an oriole since my family moved from Kansas City when I was 10. The lack of interesting birds is one thing that disappoints me about Dallas. It's strange. We have hummingbirds and finches to a certain extent, but nothing flashier than that, that I've seen.

>>Where do you live PHratz? I live in Dallas and I haven't seen an oriole since my family moved from Kansas City when I was 10. The lack of interesting birds is one thing that disappoints me about Dallas. It's strange. We have hummingbirds and finches to a certain extent, but nothing flashier than that, that I've seen.

Ahh what the heck people can find out one way or another anyway lol.
I'm in Midland haven't always been here but I've been in west TX since the '70s & until 1995 or so when I saw the first oriole I do not recall EVER seeing a bird that's colored.
We have dull gray dove, brown sparrows, black grackles, ravens, and then gray finches, black & white mockingbirds, brown or gray thrashers. The only birds with color are the brown finches with red heads.
To see a bright orange bird around here something I never even saw when we lived in OK.. first time I saw one I just could not believe it! That first one was always on the hummingbird feeder, year after year I see more & more of them.
The females are peach colored, kind of dull but the males are gorgeous. I lure them here on purpose now because it's just too cool to see them!
The field guide says for summer time they do like to nest in low shrubs like the mesquite & I'll be darned I see them in the mesquite. Another reason we don't cut down the 2 mesquite we have.
My sister lives in Plano.. she's got cardinals, robins & bluejays around her house.. we never see birds like that here.

AND I did find Hobo.. he was out & about, then chased me down for food. So he is ok out there.
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PHRatz

Plano is just north of us and where I lived as a teenager. I JUST started seeing cardinals last year. Bluejays are hit or miss, but robins are everywhere. I was so excited when I started seeing cardinals b/c that's one of the few birds that remind me of growing up in KC.

But you're right, other than that, we just have boring, ugly birds (comparatively speaking, of course).

Yeah exactly the birds here in general are nothing pretty to look at. We like to watch them but nothing colorful that stands out until those orioles showed up.
Last year we started seeing ringneck dove.. looked them up they're African!! TX P&W's website shows they are considered introduced but established so are now "native."

A few weeks ago my vet showed me a salamander that a man brought to her in a toolbox. He'd found it in his barn, didn't know what it was & it scared him so he scooped it up in this toolbox lol. She had one of her employees searching the 'Net for this thing because we both said oh no way it can't be from HERE!
Well OMG it IS from here. It's a tiger & it's native.. I have never seen anything like it around here in my life.
Beautiful animal

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PHRatz

How odd. Tiger salamanders are very common here in W. OK. Sometimes they can even be found in the holes for water meters.

As for colorful birds there's, blue jays, cardinals, gold finches, house finches (the ones with the red heads), blue birds, orioles, and last summer I swear I saw a painted bunting in the yard! There's also red winged black birds that are rather pretty. What you'll see really depends on what time of day you're outside and if you put out seed and water.

And this is a very silly dove that danced around on our deck last summer.

I'm afraid I made this even more O/T

Yeah see we'd expect to see a salamander in an area where there's actually WATER! lol
It's dry sand here but there must be enough moisture in some spots if they're native to this region.

Back on topic..
you can't see a whole lot of background but where this wild box boy is sitting is what so much of this place looks like..
dirt.. dirt everywhere:

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PHRatz

btw I once saw an indigo bunting here on my bird feeder.. but it was only once so it must have been passing through.
Painted are beautiful but not seen around here.
Saw one in Ft. Davis once but that's pretty far away & in the mountains.
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PHRatz

This is probably true about the Ornates. My ornate Nora will eat in front of anyone and eats whatever you give her. The Eastern won't eat unless you leave. Well this one is a little three toed baby. I will try doing what you do. Thanks for the advice.Terry

Terry after you asked I made a point to watch the baby yesterday. I noticed Kibbles does walk around & try to climb out of the container some while in the bath.
I still don't let baby out until I see poop. I'd say 20 minutes maximun is how long Kibbles is staying in the bath.
Once I see poop I'll offer the food. I think unloading first stimulates that appetite.
Try waiting to see if you see a poop then try the food.
Let us know if this helps at all.
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PHRatz

My baby three-toed box turtle stays buried in moist Sphagnum nearly around the clock. I take him/her once a day (occasionally skipping a day, once or twice skipping two days). I put the little fella in the bottom of a bucket higher parts of the bucket cut off. I drop in earthworms, wax worms, and meal worms - he the turtle will eat a lot - and he/she doesn't care whether I watch the feeding.

BTW, only fruit/veggie eaten is tomato so far. Have tried carrot and apple with no success.

Thank you all....I put Nickie in a little bucket and soaked her a bit..I didn't see any poop..so after a half hour I thought the water was getting too cold, so I took her out and put her in a clean container with a little peat moss (very little) and high sides so she couldn't see out. I put in some wax worms, meal worms, and red wigglers. I counted them first so I would know if she ate any. I left her there for about 25 minutes. I couldn't believe it...she ate one red wiggler and a wax worm. She was just sitting in a cornor looking around when I looked in on her. I will do this now every morning. Thanks for the help! Terry

Oh, and I let my baby three-toed soak AFTER he/she eats. Sometimes the turtle stays for just a few seconds, other instances.... well I've never timed how long the little fella stayed in the water, but maybe 15 min is the longest soak. The turtle can climb out of the water dish whenever he/she wants, and then the little guy/gal eventually gets buried in Sphagnum again - the Sphagnum surrounds the water dish.