Reptile & Amphibian Forums

yesterday i bought a russina box it is a female, ibought it to keep my male eastern company. the eastern is about half her size and is scared of her. what should i do to make them become friends?

as far as I know there's no such thing as a russian box turtle, there are russian tortoises which have different needs and housing the two species together would not be a good idea,
but I doubt it's a russian tortoise as they stay small,
box turtles are naturally loners, they do not NEED company,
I think you need to do some major research, you cannot just go buy turtles put them in an enclosure, give them cantaloupe and expect them to be happy

i thought i'd try to help so you wouldn't be scared away from this list. As the other poster stated there is no turtle which is "commonly" known as a "russian box turtle" It may be that whomeber you bought it from didn't know exactly what it was. thi is not your fault. But ifyou are to care for the animal now, then it is your responsibility to find out what kind of turtle it is. I am sure if you could provide a photo (either post a digital one here or email to me or send it by regular mail (a regular photo)) we could try to identify it and help you to figure out the best way to care for it.

It will help to check to see if the plastron (the bottom part of the shell) has a hinge on it like your eastern box. All "box turtles" have this hinge, but so do some other species.

The point the other poster was trying to make, I think, was that homing turtles together which are native to distant different landsplaces is usually not a good idea. If the new turtle is indeed from Russia or anywhere as far away from the eastern U.S. (where the eastern box lives)as Russia, then the two should not be housed togther as they may carry foregin diseases which could hurt sicken or even kill the other turtle. Also, if it is a Russian Tortoise, the habitats you will have to make for the two animals are very, very different. Russian need dry enclosures with access to a small moist retreat. Eastern box turtles need large moist enclosures with access to a large amount of water and also a small dry area.
Try to get us a picture of the animal (the new turtle) if that fails, try the following links to see if you can identify your turtle from a picture.

does the new turtle look like one of these: (scroll down to see the photos after clicking the link)
Russian Tortoises at the WCT

maybe its one of these (again scroll down for photos) these are various box turtles from asia (mostly southeast asia though, not from current Russia or former soviet "Russia"

Asian Box Turtles at the WCT

other Asian Box Turtles at the WCT

or maybe its just another North american box turtle:

North American Box Turtles at the WCT

good luck identifying your new friend.