Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey,

This is prob a dumb question but I thought I would ask it anyways. I know some people who have done some kind of training with Tortoises and I was wondering if anyone has done training of any sort with box turtles. This is more out of intrest than any thing else, just curious! I realize that reptiles aren't exactely trainable animals in most cases.

Also does anyone try any kind of enrichment with their box turtles?

Thanks
Kristen

Not a dumb question at all.
I've never tried to train any of mine, although I would relish witnessing a repeat performance by one of the males, who directed a urine stream in the vet's face during an exam.

Stephanie

That's not a dumb question at all. Why, I have a whole circus of performing box turtles. I have one that juggles up to 6 razor-sharp knives, a pair of Eastern boxies that do backflips through rings of fire while playing "Stairway to Heaven" on the bagpipes, a family of three-toeds that have a highwire act that is just unbelievable! I call them "The Flying Bug-Eyed Shell Shockers." No safety net for them, they wouldn't hear of it. Danger is their middle name! Oh yes, I can't forget my ornate box turtle that sings opera like Pavarotti! Guaranteed to bring a tear to your eye when he let's loose with that powerful voice. Always brings the house down.

Okay, I exaggerated a LITTLE bit. I DO have one that nips at my toes when he wants a grape, though. That's pretty spiffy, eh?

Kristen, this is a very good question, especially about the enrichment program. Wild box turtles live in a very exciting world and often when they become pets they are thrown into a small container with mono-bedding (one kind of bedding) and a few things like a water dish and a overturned box. These animals invariably become rock-like and often get sick. Box turtles need stimulation and therefore I have always said they should be kept in outdoor pens, at least get lots of outdoor time in a safe pen.

Enrichment programs I do it putting new things into their pens so they can smell it, walk over it etc. I have put such things as wild mushrooms or berries, bundle of vines, new statues or yard figurines, even my shovel or rake. All bring out the turtles to investigate.

As for training turtles, some are very greedy and will do anything for food They are trainable because of that fact. But they are better trainers then trainees, lol!
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

Thanks for all the responses. I live in Canada which, and it is currently winter here any suggestions for indoor enrichment? I recently got a hatchling Eastern so most of the time he/she just sleeps I want to try and give some kind of enrichment when the turtle gets older. Thanks for the suggestions thus far.

Kristen

Kristen, giving the young turtle opportunities to smell and see all kinds of foods is important. It enriches their lives, plus help them to be less picky as they get older. So put foods the turtle will not eat in the pen also. I would place things as common as apples slices, to uncommon as kiwi fruit. Other things to consider are climing opportunities so its legs will grow strong. However, you must becareful as you don't want the turtle to flip over and can't get upright due to all the stuff in the pen.
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

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I try to keep things interesting for my box turtles also. I like to plant different plants in there, or add a tree limb or try putting different foods in there also. When I plant new plants in their enclosure my most curious box turtle will watch from wherever she is until she seems like she just can't hold back her curiosity and then she comes over to supervise. Which may mean walking across my feet,or the plant in the process. When I put mushrooms in there thinking I'd add a little variety to their menu, they ended up rolling them around instead. They seemed to have fun with them. Maybe one day they'll figure out that those things are food. THey really seem to love the stimulation of seeing and experiencing new things. It's a lot of fun to watch them as they explore.

Jill

Reptiles are very trainable and there are several examples of conditioned reptiles including box turtles. (There are lots of crocodile farms that have trained crocs as well as experiments with corn snakes that demonstrates their ability for spatial learning).

By default many of my turtles are accustomed to sound. A box with rocks rattling inside will make them think I am about to feed them.

As far as enrichment is concerned I agree that it is an important component to the overall well being of a captive animal. Here's something I do to stimulate the senses and activity of my turtles. I hide a dead rodent in their enclosure. I do not recommend doing this in an indoor enclosure.
The dead rodent should just be starting to smell. Don't let them see where you placed the rodent. You'll be amazed. I snuck upon an enclosure that houses more than 30 box turtles and hid a dead rat. I was careful not to elicit the attention of the turtles and this happened one early afternoon during the heat of the day (this past summer).

Before I knew it almost every turtle was looking for something. While it is an unscientific demonstration I was left convinced that the turtles smelled the rat and then went looking for it.

They even detected it before there was any conspicuous group of flies! So I ruled out the buzzing of flies enticing the turtles appetite. It took less than 5 minutes for them to find the rat and enjoy their snack.

I've since done this with fish and have had the same results. It can be useful towards breaking up the monotony.

Good luck with your turtles

Carl Franklin
Click here for more box turtle info

Keeping them curious and active is important. I rescued an adult eastern box. I made sure to give her lots of various veggies, including natural ones. I also gave her a dead mouse every-so-often, she was in an inside enclosure. It takes a full day of warm heat to make a mouse start smelling bad (bloat). But the tort will probably find it quickly. If not, take it out after a few hours and throw the mouse in the freezer. They can be refrozen twice before they are too rotted to give.

If you just got your little guy, let him/her get settled into the cage before you start adding stuff. Don't want to stress it out with new stuff. Hey, a food to try--organic wheat grass (aka cat-grass). Replicates a lawn to munch on.

Oh, you can also give worms, night crawlers, "mousies" (it's a bug larva).

Worm Box
Another idea...get some potting soil, bake it in the oven at 400 for an hour and let cool (that will kill any bad micro-things). Then put it in a plastic box (about an 8" x 8" x 2 " deep), add water to make it kinda muddy. Then add worms and/or nightcrawlers. Replicates a square of earth that they can rout for worms in.

My Eastern laid a clutch of eggs, half were sterile and the other half went bad. She went to a school for the fall and then to a rehabber for winter, and released the next spring. If I hadn't rescued her, she would have ended up as a dog toy or a street hockey puck (my neighborhood was not nice for such critters.)

Barb

yes, my turtles and tortises are all trained go to the sliding glass door from which hands magically appear and through tasty treats to the awaitng visitors:1.1 three toed box ,sulcaltta various other s alll trained around the basis of food. josh

I recently re-did my indoor box turtle inclosure and the turtles seem to love it. It has a deep substrate (mix of cypress mulch and unmilled sphagnum moss). The enrichment part is I found a few rotting branches in my back yard that were full of bugs (pillbugs, snails, slugs, etc...). I put one in the enclosure as well and ever morning I see the turtles digging through the wood looking for food. I have been collecting other small insects (I do not use fertilizers or insecticides) and adding those to the enclosure.

I'll try to post a picture of the enclosure later.

Home to my box turtles

Wow, I didnt expect this many people to reply with such good information to this post. Thanks for all the great ideas, I have started trying some of the techniques mentioned, but since I have a hatchling I will wait to try the others. Thanks to everyone who responded the info was great and really helpful.
Kristen