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Michael Fedzen

In a 10 Gallon Tank
Michael Fedzen

how "baby" is it. if it's a hatchling and it's shell is more flattened than box-like, it's going to like a 25% water environment kind of like the well planted edge of a pond as they usually spend a considerable amount of time in or near water when they're first hatched. You could use a foil baking pan for the water section...you can hotglue stones to the bottom and sides for traction. If you want to have real plants, take an egg carton and fill it with soil, place it in a window and you can start some lettuce seeds in them and plant them around the sides of the tank when they start to grow--they're cheap, easy to replace and edible. Cocconut fiber is a good substrate as it is digestible in small amounts and (at least in my adult) seems to act as a good source of fiber. Make sure there are a few places to hide or bury himself as well.

As the shell starts to dome they generally spend less and less time in the water and can have a more terrestrial environment though you should allow them to bathe often (put them in a pan of warm water where they can submerge their soft body parts but their shell sticks out and they can walk around easily).

box turtles are small wrecking balls so don't even try to have a lush planting in a 10 gallon. keep it simple. my adult spends most of his inside days in a breeder size tank with cocconut fiber substrate, a branch he can climb over and dig under, a hide box and a divided cat dish for water--just big enough for him to get inside one side of it and usually go to the bathroom but still have clean water on the other side if he needs a drink before I get to school. I also add oak leaves for him to hide under in the fall.

My Eastie is very finicky so I suggest you try as many types of fruits and vegetables as possible and don't feed anything exclusively for too long as your eastie might not want to eat anyting else again. Easties are omnivores that in the wild eat things like snails, worms, grubs, slugs, caterpillars, beetles, mushrooms, strawberries, apples, the occasional greens and blossoms and carion. Mine eats earthworms, superworms, apples and the rare lobster roach--great exercise with the lobsters but he usually just kills them and then looses interest.

Don't forget a good vitamin, especially for the calcium and don't feed vegetables that block calcium absorption like spinach.

The most important thing to remember is that wherever you get advice from, make sure the person knows about Eastern Box Turtles because most pet store box turtles are completely different.
DeadFish Herpetological

The turtle is 3 months old.
Michael