Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all. After leaving my last message I figured I would leave this one too. From my job I also recieved about a month ago an adult Box Turtle. It looks like it was ran over by some thing a long time ago because it's left front leg is mostly gone and it's shell right above the leg is damaged. But it has since healed. Any ways I let him go in my back yard. Which in the part I let him go in it's surrounded by a fence. The fence is fixed so he can't dig under it. It's in the ground. Is there any thing I need to do for the turtle since he's stuck in the yard. I have laid out a big dish which goes to the bottom of a plant pot to catch water. I just filled that up with water and laid it out. Also the back yard is covered in grass but mostly it is covered in a flower garden. I have mostly cared for water turtles and Land Tortises. I have always let the box turtles go. Thank you for any help.

Mike

i have been researching Box turtles and i will put the list up here for people to go through .. but from what i read they eat a lot of foods that are very similar to torts, uhm dandilions are a great food for them * nods* also if you give your yard a good watering if it hasnt rained hard in a while it will make worms come up for air and the turtle can rumage around for them *lol*

Make sure there is shade and plenty of mosture (damp earth, especially with shade). Tortoise can take more heat and dryness then box. Box are happy between 70-85 (no more 85 in the shade) and in humid environments. It does well with some of the hingebacks, brown mountain tortoises, ca wood turtles, and indonesian tortoises. Won't do well with desert or savana species unless its an ornate or desert box.

take a peek at my albums on my site (url is in your previous post).

I'd provide a deeper water dish, we use concrete mixing tubs. They like to submerge fully. I'd also make sure it has some deep shade hiding spots. Otherwise just occasionally put out some tastey things to eat, like fruits and veggies. It may well find all the meats it needs on it's own from foraging in the yard, but you can offer meat foods as well (they don't stay nice as long in the dish).