Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

Very nice Desert Box turtles...especially the hatchlings. What's the locale?

Albuquerque NM
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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

Nice pics! Thanks for sharing them.
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PHRatz

note. In the second pic, the one where they're mating, you can see some finished wood in front of the female. That is the steps to our hot tub. They seemed to have a thing for mating by out hot tub. We saw them lockup there numerous times. We're thinking about building a ramp so they can get right in the hot tub this summer
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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

Nice looking babies.

I read that they like worms and other small insects for their first meals. I dug up some small earthworms and given them small crickets but have not observed them eating anything yet. Any one have any tips for a newbie?

I've got them in a sweater size rubbermaid box in my sunroom. Do they need anything special as far as moisture, humidity, etc....?
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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

Vichris Variables

Yes they do tend to like wax worms, earthworms, nightcrawler bits, crickets, roaches.. but I've found that my baby desert box can't seem to digest mealworms very well so I stopped feeding those.
They do need higher humidity, a lot of people use spahgnum (sp) moss as a substrate to keep the humidity higher.
Check out this site for A-Z info on how to care for box turtles including hatchings.
Box Turtles

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PHRatz

Ditto to Ratz.

They also need access to unfiltered natural sunlight as often as practical, or you can provide full spectrum artificial lighting. I'm assuming that your sunroom is encased in glass. The glass will filter out beneficial wavelengths of light. Watch the temperature in a sunroom closely.

I've actually found that very young baby ornates don't take to earthworms as quickly as Easterns. I've had baby ornates turn their noses up to them even when they were very hungry. Ornates of any age have a hard time turning down appropriately sized crickets, mealworm beetles, and small superworms.

I'm assuming that these hatchlings were recently discovered outdoors? If so, they may have just emerged from a late season nest. There is usually a period of fasting following emergence from a nest...and/or brumation. Don't worry, just keep trying.

Good luck. Keep us updated.

dunno about ornates or luteolas but my three toes cannot resist maggots, you can usually buy them at bait shops, ask for mousies or spikes, they have no harder shell for the turtle to break down so no waste.