Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi i have an ornate box turtle and was wondering how i should set up its outside enclosure for summer. I heard they are dry envrionment turtles and i heard they like it more humid but less than T.Carolina. So i was wondering how i should set it up and could they be housed with Eastern box turtles?

I heard they are dry envrionment turtles and i heard they like it more humid but less than T.Carolina.

The overall environment may be drier, but their burrow microhabitat is more humid. I'm still trying to come up with a good replication of such a microhabitat myself!

In the past, I've had outdoor pens where I just let the grass/weeds grow uninhibited. Each night the turtles would bury themselves into the undergrowth in slight depressions in the ground, and it would provide a similar humid microhabitat for them.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

yeah but the humidity here is in the upper 80 and 90's would that make much of a difference in how i set it up?

>>yeah but the humidity here is in the upper 80 and 90's would that make much of a difference in how i set it up?

Whew! All the time?

Check out a weather almanac like on www.wunderground.com for various areas within the ornate's natural range (Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas); I know it can be quite humid sometimes in those states, but I don't think it's consistently that humid all summer.

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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

ok nevermind but some days it does get that high would that be bad for the ornates? Like maybe a couple days in the high 80%?

>>ok nevermind but some days it does get that high would that be bad for the ornates? Like maybe a couple days in the high 80%?

No. Feed them well, keep them outside in the summer, and they'll probably surprise you with their hardiness.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

ornates and even desert box turtles need the same conditions as corolina complex turtles. if you put carolinas in dry areas, they do just what the ornates do---- dig! all box turtles need high humidity and do whatever it takes to find it or make it--they dig down and they pee in the burrows to keep it moist. since you live in a place that has high humiddity in the summer, you wont have to worry much. just make a nice big outdoor habitat with plants and stuff and a nice pond---- did you know ornates love to swim?

Ok that helped out a lot thanks. Ive never seen mine go in the water but ive seen a few pieces of mulch in there so i think he goes in at night. He loves when i spray the squirt bottle on him though

So with basically the same needs could the ornates be kept with eastern boxies in a large enough enclosure? Would they breed together, the easterns and ornates(i dont want that)

>>So with basically the same needs could the ornates be kept with eastern boxies in a large enough enclosure?

They "shouldn't," but I have done so for the past 20 years. Keep in mind that my experience is primarily with the two turtles I've had for that period of time (I've had others come and go), and those who keep larger numbers of turtles may have stats to support keeping them separate.

Would they breed together, the easterns and ornates(i dont want that)

Not if they're the same sex.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet