Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello I just bout a three toed box turtle i was wondering a couple of things.
one, when will it come out from hiding two, i have food in the tank and it hasnt eatin it i just bought him today i was wondering if it takes them a little bit to get used to its new home and start roaming and eating.

three how long should i keep the basking lamp on for.

any other advise would be good too thanks.

well since you say you bough the turtles I'm assuming you got it from a pet store, in which case, you're probly going to have a bit of a hard time getting it started(eating, drinking, doing turtle things..)3-toeds are one of the least active boxies.. if not THE least active of them all, which makes them even harder to get started.
anyway, newly accuired animals of most any species is going to need between 1 day to 2 weeks, some might take a little longer to become accustom to their new surroundings. if you want the turtle to be active get rid of the aquarium, infact through it in the garbage.. or buy some guppies, put the turtle in a 50 gal or bigger rubbermaid tub, no smaller than 50 gals, fill it with about 5" of top soil/sphagnum peat moss make sure the substrate is free of chemicles, I'm hoping you already have the proper UV lighting, lights should be on for atleast 12 hours to mimic summer-like conditions, basking temp should be around 95-100 cool side temp 65-70 degrees F, and high humidity, what are you offering for food? do you know if it's male or female? male turtles seem to like yellow foods better, where as females seem to prefer red foods(thats personal experience).
also, no turtle should ever be bought from a pet store, they're often parasite ridden and sickly, and buying one from a pet store will just fuel collecters, and there are plenty of captive bred born box turtles available in the pet trade now.
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well yeah they do sometimes need time to adjust. but it might be trying to tell ya that things arent right. make sure its a little damp in there and put the turtle in water to soak for awile every day too. if it gets dehidrated it wont want to move around. if the turtle is bigger than a hatchling it cant live in a little tank either. and then you need to use good food, like earthworms and grapes, not "box turtle food" that most box turltes wont eat anyway. i put in a link to a good box turtle care page and it has other links from there so you can study up about box turtles
how to take care of your box turtle