Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi folks, I usually lurk over on the cornsnake side of things but I recently rescued two baby box turtles from someone who didn't know what they had or how to care for them. They were being kept in a small plastic container with rocks and water on the bottom and had been fed aquatic turtle food.

I've now got them set up (temporarily) in a sweater box with about 3" of potting soil/coco coir, a hot/basking area that stays around 83F inside the hide and a cool side that stays at house temperature which ranges from 63-74 depending on what time it is and if it's overcast or not. They have several hiding places and I make sure they have clean soaking/drinking water and a variety of food daily. So far their favorites are slugs and snails, with moistened pellets following. I have yet to see them touch a veggie, but I keep offering them.

They're both about 2" in diameter and I've seen them both eat, but I have to physically place them in their soaking dish so they'll drink. I do this several times a day to make sure they stay hydrated.

My question is that they both seem to like to hang out in their respective spots. One on the warm side in the 'heat cave' and one on the cool side half buried in a corner. Is this normal behavior? Should I expect to see them sleep most of the day or should they be more active? We're trying to leave them alone as much as possible to negate any stress-related problems, but I do want to make sure they're staying hydrated.

I haven't noticed any shell/eye/nose/breathing issues and other than being picky eaters they seem ok to me, but since this is the first terrestrial turtle duo I've taken in I want to make sure they're acting normally and that my setup is ok.

TIA,
K

Most of your setup sounds fine. Make sure that humidity stays high. Make sure that the animals have plenty to get underneath - not just a hide or two. Use leaves or some other similar item. That makes for high accessible humidity across the enclosure.

The one possible error, that many keepers similarly fail to recognize, is that the one potentially glaring problem with your setup is that there is a single setup, and two turtles.

Young turtles of many species can be astonishingly competitive to outright aggressive. If there is any stress being had, it is most likely not from you guys, but from one turtle to another. Just because they can't swallow siblings whole doesn't mean they won't muscle one another out in a more subtle fashion.

Thank you for your input. So should I go ahead and set up another habitat so I can seperate them? It never occured to me to do so, I figured living together as they had been it wouldn't be an issue, but I can see how it could be.

I did realize the error of my ways earlier and put down moistened coco coir across the surface to give them plenty of stuff to burrow under and keep up the humidity with. We have a rather dry house so the entire enclosure gets a good soaking mist twice daily and I figure with the coco coir it should keep it plenty humid in there.

It sounds like a great setup. As with any living creature you are going to see individual differences. Keep an eye on the growth rate to make sure they are getting equal time at the feeding trough.

What kind of pellets are you feeding?

>>Hi folks, I usually lurk over on the cornsnake side of things but I recently rescued two baby box turtles from someone who didn't know what they had or how to care for them. They were being kept in a small plastic container with rocks and water on the bottom and had been fed aquatic turtle food.
>>
>>I've now got them set up (temporarily) in a sweater box with about 3" of potting soil/coco coir, a hot/basking area that stays around 83F inside the hide and a cool side that stays at house temperature which ranges from 63-74 depending on what time it is and if it's overcast or not. They have several hiding places and I make sure they have clean soaking/drinking water and a variety of food daily. So far their favorites are slugs and snails, with moistened pellets following. I have yet to see them touch a veggie, but I keep offering them.
>>
>>They're both about 2" in diameter and I've seen them both eat, but I have to physically place them in their soaking dish so they'll drink. I do this several times a day to make sure they stay hydrated.
>>
>>My question is that they both seem to like to hang out in their respective spots. One on the warm side in the 'heat cave' and one on the cool side half buried in a corner. Is this normal behavior? Should I expect to see them sleep most of the day or should they be more active? We're trying to leave them alone as much as possible to negate any stress-related problems, but I do want to make sure they're staying hydrated.
>>
>>I haven't noticed any shell/eye/nose/breathing issues and other than being picky eaters they seem ok to me, but since this is the first terrestrial turtle duo I've taken in I want to make sure they're acting normally and that my setup is ok.
>>
>>TIA,
>>K
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

One thing I've noticed with mine, although they aren't babies.. is that they appear to prefer to lead separate lives.
The females live peacefully together, by that I mean they won't fight but they will compete for food. Because of that I feed them separately, that way I can be sure they all get enough food.
They are solitary animals in the wild, they tend to live that way in captivity as well. They're near one another but they don't interact with one another if they can help it.
A couple of months ago two of them appeared to be "hanging out together" but then I realized no they were just competing for the same spot. Once they each established their own spot they stay away from one another now.
Good luck with those babies you adopted.
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PHRatz

Its been my experience that it isn't really necessary to provide separate habitats, provided a single on is large enough, has an assortment of places to hide, and that the youngsters are supervised at mealtimes. That's when competition tends to arise, but it is highly variable among individuals, so you'll just need to onserve yours to find out if one is a 'bully'

I don't know what the 'floorspace' is for a sweaterbox, so I'll reserve comment on whether its big enough, but I will state that, in my opinion, its preferable to have a single, comparatively large habitat in a situation such as yours, rather than house them individually in small ones. In other words, if it were me, I'd create a setup that was twice the size of the current one (or more). That way they each get more room and can still avoid each other.

I have 5 2-yr-olds that have been housed together all along, in progressively larger setups, without incident. In another case, I have 6 yearlings that have been housed together that nipped each others tails early on. Go figure.

Stephanie

>>I have 5 2-yr-olds that have been housed together all along, in progressively larger setups, without incident. In another case, I have 6 yearlings that have been housed together that nipped each others tails early on. Go figure.

That's very interesting to see such different behavior in different groups so I have to ask..
Are these 2 year olds and yearlings related or are they from different parents?
It's not important really, it just piqued my curiosity.
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PHRatz

Good question...

The yearlings are clutchmates, Bertha's finest from last year.

Three of the five 2-yr-olds are clutchmates, a fourth is from the second clutch of the same mother (Millie), and the fifth is the offspring of a different mother (Myrtle).

The mothers may or may not be related, but I hope to be finding that out within the next year.

Stephanie

>>
>>The yearlings are clutchmates, Bertha's finest from last year.
>>
>>Three of the five 2-yr-olds are clutchmates, a fourth is from the second clutch of the same mother (Millie), and the fifth is the offspring of a different mother (Myrtle).

Okie dokie thanks for the reply. They're just interesting critters no matter what they do.
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PHRatz

Thanks a lot for all your input, folks. I really appreciate it.

Right now they're getting the same ZooMed pellets my slider gets but that's changing after I make a trip out today. I'll be picking up pellets specifically for box turtles from the same manufacturer preferably. Bob, my slider, has gotten nothing but the ZooMed pellets her entire life (she's 7 now and I've had her since she was tiny)as the staple of her diet and I've been pleased with how well she's done on them.

The sweater box I'm using is about 4'long by 2'wide by 6"deep. Not ideal for two box turtles to live in forever, but while they're still babies I think it'll suffice until we can build them a larger enclosure.

They seem to sleep a LOT. Is this normal? I know my snake, Darwin, sleeps during the day but that's because he's a bit nocturnal. I'm not sure about box turtles though.

So far they seem to be getting on together just fine. No competition for food or spots. The only time I've seen them both eat at the same time was when I brought in the motherlode of garden mollusks for them to gorge on.

Also, while they were struggling to get the snails out of their shells they were making this odd sound that was like a hybrid between a grunt and a quack. What's that all about? Another normal behavior, I hope.

I'm just a paranoid new turtle mom, I want to make sure they're doing ok. Thanks for indulging my paranoia

Sleeping alot is normal. Relax. If they seem sluggish or listless when they're awake, that's an indication that there may be a problem, but if they're alert and interested, even when still, that's normal.
You know, the first time I heard that noise they make when they eat, I laughed out loud. It almost seems as though their jaws creak as they clamp down...in my case that impression was reinforced because the turtle making the sound is a VERY old individual.
But even the tiniest babies do it. I don't know how the sound is produced, though.
Personally I think the size container you have them in is adequate for the two for the time being, and if they continue to relate well to eachother, they can probably stay together.

Regards,
Stephanie