Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I post frequently on the Tortoise Forum, but I don't know all that much about box turtles, so here I am. The woman I carpool with informed me this morning that her son (8) was given a box turtle by her daughter's friend, who had it for 2 years prior. It's in a tank (10 gal.?), with no UVB for sure and maybe no heat at all--I haven't seen it yet, but I'll go over there this afternoon to take a look at it and see what I can do. Although well-meaning, they know absolutely nothing about reptiles, let alone chelonians, and since I'm sure this turtle was already kept in sub-par conditions, I need to get them as much information as I can. I also suspect that at some point they will ask me to take it, so obviously I need to gear myself up for that possibility.

I've looked over this site a little bit and printed out some caresheets for them (I already told her the turtle needed an outdoor pen and got A Look, which is one reason I'm guessing I'll end up with the poor thing), but I have a couple of specific questions:

1) Can anyone direct me to a site where I can find specific identifications of various BT species? She doesn't know what kind it is, and I'm no expert.

2) We live in the San Francisco Bay Area (specifically Sonoma County). If there's anyone here from our area, I'd like to know how long you keep your boxies outside and a little more about the accomodations you have for them.

Thank you all for any help you can give me.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
0.0.1 Marginated Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

The question that always comes to mind in this scenario is if they know absolutely nothing about reptiles how did they keep it alive for 2 years? I sometimes find out that these people who know absolutely nothing about animals do a fantastic job just by intuition and sometimes there is something to be learned from their methods. On the flip side I've probably seen as many animals killed by well intentioned kindness as I have due to neglect.
The other thing is you might want to weigh the risk involved in 'saving' this animal (if, indeed, it needs 'saving').
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

The people I know haven't had it for 2 years, Ed, they just got it from someone else yesterday. I haven't seen it yet, so I don't know what kind of shape it's in. All I know is it's managed to survive for 2 years in a small tank with no UVB. My main concern is that the people who have it now have no idea how to care for it. I'm fairly certain they're hoping to just stash it in a tank and feed it turtle sticks.
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
0.0.1 Marginated Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko

.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

here's a link for identification http://www.chelonia.org/terrapenegallery.htm

you could also check out Tess Cook's site http://www.boxturtlesite.org/bxbook.html

good luck.
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My Site
1.2.1 Terrapene Carolina Triunguis
0.0.1 Nymphicus hollandicus
1.0 Melopsittacus undulatus
1.1 American Cocker Spaniels
1.0 American Short Hair? Cat
1.1 Rouen Ducks

Try this link for identification info. A 10 gallon tank is most certainly too small for a box turtle.
Stephanie
Link

I don't know how, but it actually seems to be reasonably healthy. I believe it's a mature male 3-toed--seems to have good weight, eyes clear, nares clear, no shell rot, shell looks good. Didn't get to see any droppings, so I warned them to take a good look, lol.

Conditions he was kept in for the prior 2 years: 20 gal. tank, no UVB, light bulb for heat (winter only), sand substrate, water dish too high to climb into, fed iceberg lettuce and carrots, no calcium, no nada. Oh, and the tank was stashed under a table and covered with a blanket most of the time. The only good thing was he did have a little cardboard box for a hide. His previous owner was a teenage girl who supposedly knows all about animals...

So I left my friend with a pile of caresheets and an offer to take him and either keep him myself or rehome him (meanwhile her 8 year old was manhandling him and hauling him all over, eek).

Jeez, I forgot the worst part: he had purple nail polish painted on his claws!
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Sohni
Northern California

0.1 Baja de L.A. Rosy Boa
0.1 Okeetee Corn Snake
1.1 Rubber Boas
1.0 Leopard Gecko
0.0.1 Hermann's Tortoise
0.0.1 Marginated Tortoise
plus my kids' herps:
0.1 California King Snake
1.0 Mexican Rosy Boa
0.1 Leopard Gecko