Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm wanting to build an outdoor enclosure for box turtles. I would like advise, links, personal experience, whatever y'all got!! I'm wanting to leave them outside year-round so I'll need to know how to build somewhere for them to hibernate. Also, what kind of plants could I keep with them? Fence? How to keep em from digging out? Thanks in advance!!

Hi there!
In order to give you the best advice, can you first tell us a little more?
What part of the country are you in, and what species are you keeping?
That said, here are some basics that come to mind:

Box turtles need plenty of room, so make the pen as big as you can manage/afford. I can't recommend this strongly enough, because I feel that it is very important for the health and well being of captive turtles to have spacious living quarters. It will make it easier for you to incorporate a good variety of features if you have more room.

They will need a water source that they can get into and out of readily, and that is easily kept clean. Are you willing to change their water daily, or would you be better off with a more sophisticated setup with pump and filter, etc.

I would recommend having a barrier that goes 10"-12" down into the ground, and a SOLID barrier that is at least 12" above ground. Higher is better, of course, from a standpoint of keeping other things OUT: and you'll probably need to build a pen with a taller fence, but the bottom 12" should be solid so that the turtle(s) cannot see out. If they can SEE out, they will try to GET out. If they constantly try to get out, they can become stressed.
Ideally this solid above-ground barrier should have a slight overhang or lip along the top, so that any attempts to scale it will be thwarted.

Give some thought to where you will sight the pen: if they are to be outside year round, avoid the low area in your yard: you don't want them to be at risk of drowning while they hibernate.

Something else to think about, which we stumbled on by accident here, is to build the pen close to an outdoor living space such as a deck, porch or patio: that way you'll be able to enjoy them regularly without making special trips over to the pen.

I'll post some links for you in subsequent replies.
Stephanie

Here's a good link.
Stephanie
Link

Depends on what you want to have. 3-toes & Easterns can be kept year round outside. I use plastic lattice which is 18 inches high with a brick wall as a base so they can't dig out.
Here is a pic of a small section of my enclosure - What is shown is one of 3 strawberry patch sections. What is shown is about an area of 5 >ft by 12 ft. - It then turns to the left and goes on again. I also have a BlackBerry Tree in the enclosure with a couple of Grape plants growing in it. This way They have a variety of fruit to eat during the summer. See the boxie on the lower left hand corner. It is heavily, heavily planted so they can hide whenever they want to. Sometimes much too well. But I like it natural.

Wow that's a beautiful photo.
Looks like a fabulous pen Turtle.
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PHRatz

I posted these on another web site. Here is another pic - It is one of several waterholes - They are 15 inch flower pot bottoms which I change several times a day. It's hard to see the the pot bottom - But I'm pretty sure they like it that way- They enjoy their privacy. I would like to give people ideas on how I think a pen should be to benefit the boxies. Again, people will disagree with me but the boxies don't seem to.

Great enclosure, Turtle88!!
I agree about giving the turtles their 'privacy'...the more overgrown our enclosure gets, the more our turtles seem to enjoy it.
I wouldn't be able to keep up with replenishing the water the way you are able to, so we opted to install a small pond with good filtration and pump.
There are lots of ways to configure an enclosure, thats for sure.

Stephanie

Here is a pic of a boxie hiding near the roots of some large bushes I have in the pen. It is one bush of many. However, they only seem to prefer hiding in only a few of them. Can't really figure out why.

The male you see in the pic near the roots of a large bush was a victim of an auto accident. The top of his shell was literally cracked in half - although you can't see the damage. Lots of attention went into this beautiful yellow head male -Almost lost him a few times. Now he lives in an non-automobile environment. Had him for about 10 years now. I will always take in an injured boxie. As you can see, they are really "living" life. I'm a stickler for injured boxies. It takes years of attention to make sure they heal. I try to then make their lives as comfortable as can be after they are healed.

BTW, the female you see in this pic was a victim of an animal - the top front of her shell was gnawed & bleeding when I got her. She is 100% healed now. It took several years of TLC to get her in tip top shape. - She now lives in my enclosure without the worry of predators and is one my favorites.

Here is another pic of my enclosure - This is my big-boy. He's been with me for close to 25 years. He is the undisputed king. When the other males see him - they move out of his way. It's fun watching it. He doesn't have to chase the males away- the others just run! Hope you guys enjoy the pics and get an idea of of how my enclosure looks like.

Great advise y'all!! I live in Shelby, NC (Foothills) I plan on keeping Eastern Box Turtles. What I really need to know is how to set up somewhere for them to hibernate.. And what do I need to do during hibernation to ensure they make it till spring..

My boxies really don't require much to hibernate. They normally dig about 4 inches under the soil & they've made it through the harshest winters. However, I do have a couple of piles of leaves just in case for them to go into. Just make sure they can dig as deep as they feel they need to go. Don't think I have ever had a Eastern go deeper than 6 inches.

We here in Central VA had to seriously amend the soil for the hibernacula, since the soil in the enclosure is mostly heavy clay, and we weren't sure how far down the turtles would be able to burrow in it. What we ended up doing was digging a 24" deep, 24" wide trench, amended the excavated dirt with peat moss and dead leaves, then refilled the trench, piled more leaves on top, then laid logs across that (mostly to prevent the leaves from blowing away).
In the past, when our turtles have emerged in the spring, I've removed the logs and carefully removed soil, and I have found that they leave tunnels: some of our turtles have burrowed all the way to the bottom of the trench! Others have only burrowed a few inches: go figure.
Stephanie

Thanks for all of the advise!! Few more questions: What are the dimensions of your enclosures? Are pine needles harmful or irritating to box turtles? How many turtles do you keep in your box turtle enclosures? Any recommended literature?

Turtle88 all your photos are wonderful! I loved hearing about how long you've kept some of these turtles, awesome!
You're a sucker for an injured one too, like me.
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PHRatz

Yes, injured boxies are my personal challenge. I take my boxie hobby seriously. I do my best to take care of an injured boxie and after it is healed to its max, it will have a nice life in one of my enclosures. As you can see, they have a pretty good & very long life.(I guess I'm doing something right)
In regards to the boxie that was injured due to being crushed by something, Personally, if I found it, I don't think I would release it without me personally physically examining it or if I was a novice, I would have someone in the field take a look at it. If I thought that injury would hinder its survival, I would take it in & use it as a breeder & release its young where I obtained it.
The female boxie that was in my pic in the lower corner has healed quite well but very friendly. BUT - it has produced 2 clutches that I personally witnessed (it probably had more). With that being said, a total of 8 hatchlings was successfully hatched & immediately released at the area where she was obtained. I know she has a clutch in the pen somewhere this year - but being that I did not witness it, any hatchlings found in the pen will not be released because I do NOT know the boxie which had them which means I do not know its origin. I would not release hatchlings from parents obtained hundred of miles away into a new area. Don't think it would be wise. Am I doing the right thing? I hope I am. But I know people will disagree with what I am doing.

>> but being that I did not witness it, any hatchlings found in >>the pen will not be released because I do NOT know the boxie which had them which means I do not know its origin. I would not release hatchlings from parents obtained hundred of miles away into a new area. Don't think it would be wise. Am I doing the right thing? I hope I am. But I know people will disagree with what I am doing.

Turtle, we can't please all the people all the time so don't worry about it.
I always pick up the injured, even if I don't keep them myself & the vet does keep them, I always pick them up.
If we find babies though because of those we took in this year.. we're just going to have to find a safe place to release them like you do.
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PHRatz

>> Are pine needles harmful or irritating to box turtles?

Erich,
My vote would be no pine needles because pine shavings sold as bedding materials are harmful to small animals. That's because pine contains phenol which can lead to liver & respiratory problems for animals housed on it.
So if the pine needles are so fresh that they fell off the trees & those needles do have an odor then I'd think it'd be bad for the turtles.
I may be overly cautious because in your region maybe pine trees are common & maybe wild boxies burrow under the needles in the wild but if the needles were in my enclosure, that would make me nervous.
We're pine free here, the only tree that grows naturally around me is mesquite so I don't know much about living with pine trees.
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PHRatz

The reason I ask is because where I want to build the enclosure is under pine trees..