Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here's some pics of my new Three-Toed burried into the compost/leaf pile. I can't figure out if she's trying to cool down or is just being anti-social.

When I first brought her home she was outgoing and curious, now for the last three days she has just stayed buried except for when I took her out to eat, and in these pics this is the most I've seen of her. What does everyone think? Am I just being impatient? I have kept the pen moist, watering it every four or so hours and making sure her water is clean and where she is digging in is wet.

The area only gets full sun from roughly 10 to 11:30 a.m. and filtered sun to full shade the rest of the day.

Don't take it personally, she's just doing what comes naturally. Wild box turtles spend the great majority of their time hidden from view, it's what keeps them alive. The less time they spend out in the open, the less likely they are to be spotted by predators that want to eat them or humans that want to kidnap them. When the weather gets hot or cold, they will bury themselves and wait for more moderate times. This time of year, they're usually only active in the early morning and late evening and spend the rest of their time conserving energy.

Do you have hollow logs or something like that for hides? They will either hole up under hides or burry like yours is doing most of the day. You have to be or become a morning person to enjoy natural movement and behavior. For me it's motivation to drag my ass out of bed at sunrise, but what a beautiful time of day to be outside anyway.
Jeff
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Jeff Benfer
You'll get your regius's to the wall, man!
1.0 pastel Python regius
0.1 mojave Python regius
0.1 normal Python regius
0.2 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.1 Ambystoma tigrinum
2.2 het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.1 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
1.1 heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus

I do need more hiding spots, but I'm building a 10X8 enclosure this weekend that will accomodate for more hides. I plan to put in a three-foot stump/log I cut down last summer, a couple of stumps I plan to hollow out and some other things.

I figured it was natural for her to be hiding out so much, but I guess I thought she would be more outgoing b/c when I brought her home the first day she was really active.

Consequently, I may be getting two older juvenile easterns next week, so maybe they'll be a little more active. I'll have to find a good way to divide the pen so each species gets the same sun and shade, etc.

To both questions: yes.

Remember that turtles are ectotherms and will hide during the heat of the summer months. I have a few here that I hadn't seen in a few days: they had re-buried themselves in their hibernacula to avoid the near 100 degree heat we'd been having. It's called estivation.

Don't worry about it, but if I were you I would provide plenty of hiding spots, plants, shade, and pack as much variety in there as you possibly can. The pen here has filled in so well that I don't see much of my turtles unless I go looking for them, which to me is as it should be.