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I wish it never happend.. but one of my cousins brought my a box turtle. I don't think I should release it. I wanted to make a out door turtle enclosure any way... so why not?

Can anyone give me some tips?

I can get a hard form pond. What kind of filter would be needed?

How much land should be provided?

Do I enclose the entire enclosure in mesh wire? (To keep predaters out and turtle in.)

Should I build a enclosure just for it... or is it possible to build one it and my red eared slider can live in? I don't know if that's possible... I wouldn't think they'd leave each other alone. Even if i provided two ponds.

Also what is a rough estimate of the cost for a out door enclosure?
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

I'd be afraid that a box turtle would fall into a pond & then drown. I keep a shallow dish that's actually the bottom for a flower pot, it's about one inch deep & that works great as a soaking dish for box turtles. We dug out the ground so that the dish is flush with the ground so the turtles can walk in & out with no problems. It's easy to pick it up to clean it too. No need to worry about a filter with an inch of water in a shallow dish.

As for the price of a pen for a box turtle, I don't know. Depends on how big you want the pen & what materials you use.
I do know though that ranch fencing which is wire fencing that's not sturdy like chain link fencing, did not work for the front of our pen because it bends out of shape too easily.
We're going with cinderblock brick for the new pen, I think they cost about a $1.25 each? Building materials & their prices are not my department around here.
You do need an underground base that's about a foot deep for the pen so that the box turtle can't dig it's way out.

When I had a pen I didn't let my aquatic turtles in the pen with the boxies, I'm afraid someone would get hurt/killed or disease may spread among them if I did that.
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PHRatz

Thanks for the reply.

After I posted I finaly found a great article. So I now understand the basics.

Think a 4'4' pen would work? I only need to house one turtle.

I am thinking about using wood. I'll make it wood on four sides and mesh lid on top. (to keep my dog and any predators out.)
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

You should really try to make the pen as large as you possibly can right from the outset. They need plenty of room to roam around, and 4'x 4' isn't really as much as a turtle could use.
I realize that alot of articles/literature say that that is enough, but I think of it this way: is a 6'x 9' cell really "enough" for a human being?
There are planty of economical ways to make a spacious pen: concrete blocks, wood and wire mesh combinations, even coreplast on a PVC frame (check out the link for this last).
If you consider that a turtles home range is 2-3 acres in the wild, with a wide variety of naturally available foods to eat, trees, clearings, a water source, and so on and so forth, it would be very difficult to pack that much variety into a small space.
Stephanie
Link

I'll tell ya, the reason we don't use wood is because it's so expensive to begin with then after a few years it rots & looks horrible.
When we built our fence this year we went with cinder block because it never rots and after all the estimates we got, wood was going to cost a lot more.
Our first box turtle pen was for one turtle & it was about 4x6, IMO it was too small. Our turtle was recovering from injuries when it was first built so she didn't stay in the pen 24/7 but in the evenings she always wanted out of it to roam so I'd have to let her out for walks. For pens the bigger you can build it, the better.
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PHRatz

I think it will be big enough but if you can go bigger do it. Bigger is alwas better. But for 4 feet by 4 feet that is big enough for 1 turt. Also you mite want to take him out every now and then.

build the pen to fit your budget then add on if needed. my pen if about 5ft X 11.5ft but im thinking of ways to put an addition on.

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0.0.2 R.E.S.
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0.1 Eastern Box Turtle
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Than all of you for the helpfull replys.

I know to build it large now.
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

The entire east side of my house doesn't have water ever stand. But I was wondering if I should Raise the turtle enclosre off ground level? Using cinder blocks with a pieace of plywood placed on them.

I've been having trobule invissioning the turtle enclosure. But this is what I have came up with.

I'll use cinder blocks to make the wall. Make a wood frame for the lid, and use metal hardware cloth for the mesh. (it has real small gaps)

I live in the country and want to protect the turtle from predaters. (and my dogs)
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

I think your enclosure would be better without a block 'floor', and here's why: turtles regulate their body temperature by moving around from sun to shade, and in the hottest part of the summer, the best place for them to keep cool may well be partly below ground. Then, if your turtle stays outside for the winter, it will need to get below ground to keep from freezing. In other words, turtles need to be able to dig.
You need do to have blocks (or some other barrier) below ground around the perimeter so it doesn't dig out, but it'll pay off for you if the rest of the pen is just dirt.
Hope that helps.
Stephanie

Turns out I have enough cinder blocks already. (I was looking around and found that I have 34.. lmfao.. I had no idea)

I'm going to make it a 4'X10' pen. The cinder blocks are the flat kind. Can I bury them a inch? They are 8"x16". I'll have to buy a few to bury for a digging peremiter. Speaking of which, I bury them flat with the surface showing up from ground level?

I have NO IDEA how I want the lid... I almost just want to make it slip on. But it'd be imposible to open that way. I guess I will put a hinge in the middle. With it slipping on over the cinder blocks.

I only have to buy a few cinder blocks, wood, and hardware cloth.

What do you all have planted in with your turle?
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

You can do a couple of things, that I can thinnk of offhand:
You can dig a narrow trench, 8" deep, for the perimeter, and sink a row of blocks much like you would for a foundation. A little more digging for you, but leaves more usable space for your turtle. I recommend this option.
Or you can inset them, laying them so the the flat 8"x16" face is up. In cross section this would give your wall an 'ELL' shape, with the 'foot' toward the inside of the pen. While slightly more convenient for you, its not he ideal option for your turtle, since it would eliminate valuable usable space.
Either way will prevent the turtle from digging out.
Make sure you have some sort of overhang for inner rim of your block walls, to discourage climbing. All it takes is a 1"-2" lip.
Good luck.
Stephanie

How high do the walls need to be?

Right now they are 8".. that's a little small i'm thinking. What is good though? 12" and beyond?
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0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Checkard Garter Snake
0.1.0 Green Anole
1.0.0 Red Eared Slider
1.0.0 Russian Campbell Drawf Hamster
0.3.0 Love Able muts

Yeah, 12" or even 14" would be best, preferably with a slight lip or overhang along the the top inner edge.
Stephanie

Our turtle enclosure is about 25'x30', so we have more room for a wider variety of plants, but here's what I planted for the turtles: a blueberry bush (self pollinating), solomons seal, mayapple, hostas, ferns, spiderwort, foam flower, liriope, and wild strawberries.
Some of these were planted to provide cover, others for food.
I am currently scouting native species for the new section, as we hope to expand soon.
Stephanie

The walls of my turtle pen are wood. In and effort to conserve money AND wood, I kept my eyes open for people who got their fences replaced and got the old boards put of for the trash. They work great. You'll just need to by a few pressure treated
2 x 4 boards to use as the posts. I've found that turtles climb mesh, though you can prevent them from climbing out by folding the top over to make an over hang, but not extremely attractive, though it works.

Just wanted to speak to the part about keeping the slider and boxie together.

I have kept my painted and boxie together for 2 years now. The first day I put her in the pen, I watched her carefully because of the pond for the painted.

Sure enough, she fell in. I took her out, and she has never fallen in again!

This spring I got another boxie. Put him in the pen and watched. Sure enough again! He fell in...only once! lol They are pretty smart cookies!

The boxies and the painted rarely come in contact, and when they do it is very briefly. So far I have had no problem w/ passing around diseases, biting, etc.
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
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