Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 4 adult Eastern Box turtles that I keep outside in a pen all year round. There are 2 males and 2 females. Last year I got 1 baby who I keep inside in a 10 gallon tank and this past September I got 10 babys who are also inside in another 10 gallon tank. What I am wondering is when is a good time for them to go outside. Will they make it through a winter being so small? I am going to build another pen just for babies because the adult pen has a pool for them to soak in but I know that the babies can get stuck in there and drown because I have found a few unfortunatley that did not make it. Any advice would be appreciated because I cant keep keeping these babys inside my house will be filled with turtles. By the way I live in NY.

My suggestion would be whenever your adults are up and have stayed up for a week or two and no more cold fronts are forecasted.

How are you keeping 10 turtles together in one 10 gal? I had my 8 in last year, one was in it's own tub and the other 7 in a spare 60gal and it was still a bit cramped for them.

It is a bit cramped for them but right now thats all I have for them.

"It is a bit cramped for them but right now thats all I have for them."
I honestly do not believe that. You've had since September, you could have easily went to any store that sells large rubbermaid storage containers and bought one for $10-15. Thats what everyone else does for their babies.

If you still have a few months until it's safe to put them out I suggest you go that route, the extra space really is good for them. Once you put them outside all you have to do is scrub up the tub and you can use to store reptile supplies or anything else you wish.

I put my babies outdoors when they reach 3 or more inches in carapace length. In my experience, they are much more hardy at this point. I agree with you, it is a good idea to build them their own pen. I have several small transition pens for raising young box turtles. It would need to be well covered to protect from birds, racers and other "herp eating" snakes, and mammalian predators.

With proper diet, temperature, and humidity, a baby box turtle should be 3 inches by 2 years of age at the most. (There are always stragglers, of course.) Most will be that size after one year, but I usually wait until the following spring to place them outdoors. I want mine to become adapted to the outdoors for several months before brumation.

Picture taken just before being placed in the outdoor pen -
Three-toed...

Baby turtles live outside in the wild all the time so sure, of course they can make it outside BUT since these are in your care you can do a lot to be sure they all make it to adulthood. First off-make a pen like Tim Spuckler's covered pen just for the babies! You can probably find a picture of the pen and directions of how to make it by doing an archive search in. Make the pen as soon as possible and wait until the temps only go down to the 60's at night. This way the turtles will always be hungry once they warm up in the daytime.

Many people let the babies grow to about 3 inched long before setting them out-but they do that if the idea is to let them live with adults. SiInce you will not have adults in the baby pen, you can set them out sooner.
Tess

Great advice as always, Tess!

"Many people let the babies grow to about 3 inched long before setting them out-but they do that if the idea is to let them live with adults."

I can't speak for others, but I keep juveniles separated from adults until they are sexually mature. I rotate the turtles between "rearing pens" according to overall size and disposition. Personally, I've come to the 3" rule because of overall hardiness...they seem to be active at the surface much more, have less eye problems, and readily accept the non-living food items that make up the bulk of my outdoor turtles' diets. Also, I sometimes forget that most box turtle keepers don't have to deal with one terrible predator that I have to battle...FIRE ANTS! For whatever reason, the ants seem to target turtles that are less than 3".

I wish I could keep them indoors until they are full grown. I tend to give my indoor turtles much more attention..."out of sight, out of mind" kind of thing, I guess. A 3" turtle requires a suprisingly large amount of space, though.