Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My herp vet asked if I would incubate another client's box turtle eggs with my leopard gecko eggs. Since they needed the same temperature I agreed. The woman brought them over saying that she usually throw away the eggs in the past since she didn't want to bother with the whole incubator thing. They had spent a few weeks in the tank before she had brought them over so we didn't think they would hatch.

Well....I went to check my leo eggs and found that two little turtles were poking their heads out of their eggs. They are soooooo cute!

Now that they are here I don't know what to do with them. I've read a few care sheets but there are a lot of differences in opinions. I'm leaving them in the incubator until they are totally free of their eggs. What do I do next????

Thanks,
Randi

Do leave them alone until they are out of the egg on their own and free. Then... here's a message I typed earlier that should help. Please read this forum for more information:

I use a 40 breeder tank for my babies so I can get a proper heat gradient set up, then I use a thermostat hooked up to a dome fixture with a ceramic heat bulb at one end set to 81 or so. That is the hot side. The whole thing has a flourescent UVB bulb (I use reptisun 5.0 or iguanalite 5.0). Substrate is usually 3-4 inches of bed-a-beast mixxed with soil. I scatter some grass or clover seeds around on top, plant a houseplant or small fern, make a rock cave, put in a glazed ceramic plant saucer (really shallow), and that's it.

The light is on a timer, the heat element is on 24/7 with the thermostat. Keeps it warm at night.

With this setup, I feed daily by removing them and soaking them for 20 minutes in a few mm of lukewarm water. Then I feed them in a nother bin for 20 minutes (no water in this bin). While they soak and eat I clean their water dish (EVERY DAY! this is a must!), check the plants in their tank, water where needed, and mist the whole thing. THen I return them home and sometimes put a butterdish lid in there with a few fruits/veggies on it to snack on.

I move the feedings to every other day after about 4 months. At 9-10 months they move outdoors permanently.
In you case you may need to get the shell a bit more solid and getting eating more reliably.

I'd also recommend that once a week you dust with herpti-vite and rep-cal

Now, I've never bred turtles, and I'm pretty new to the whole turtle game anyways.
However you said you needed some help fast, so I thought this site might help.
Scroll down past breeding pairs and you'll find all the info on hatchlings that I would think you would need.
Hope it helps.
Tania
http://www.boxturtlesite.org/bred.html
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~~Tania~~
(and Jake, Peter, and Mary) the lizard family.

Randi,

they'll not eat for a few weeks to a month... so don't worry... it's important to let them emerge on their own and to absorb their egg sac on their own (it's attached to the bootom of their shell)...
once this has happened.. move them to the setup described in the other post... it's a good description...

Good luck and enjoy.. baby boxies are beautiful... they'll star tot act like adults at about 6 months to a year....