Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I did something I don't believe in today, I bought a Western Ornate Box Turtle from a source that usually takes wonderful care of its Reptiles. The Western Ornate was in deplorable conditions, in my opinion. OK, I know that I did a stupid thing, but the boxie looked like it was salvagable. Anyhow, I know alot about Eastern Box Turtles, don't own one myself) I have housed this Western Ornate in the largest Rubbermaid Container I think that you can buy (almost 4 feet long by 2 1/2 feet wide and as I understand that Ornates prefer a bit of a drier substrate than Easterns, I have mixed sterile play sand and sterile potting soil 50/50. In one corner I put a huge mound of sterile sphagnum moss ( misted.) The poor Ornate was only being fed crickets at the store and took them voraciously!! I normally dont feed an animal when I bring it home but offered the poor Ornate small pieces of Cantoulope, Collared greens and apple. It tore into all three. He has now walked around his enclosure about one thousand times, eaten, and is gone to ged in the damp spagnum moss. If I am doing anything wrong, {other than purchasing this poor creature) please let me know. By the way, I thought that it was a female creature, but it has really red eyes. With the Eastern Box Turtles, red eyes ususally mean a male. Is the same with the Western Ornate Box Turtles??

Do you have a heat source in the new enclosure for the ornate?
All my boxes are western ornates & even though I live in a desert it's cold right now. I keep a Dragon's Lair heat mat under their home only on one end. I use that particular brand because it is made to go under plastic enclosures without melting them. It does not stick to the enclosure, it sits underneath it without touching the plastic, I bought it from Big Apple.
If it gets below freezing at night even with the heat in the house turned on I use a ceramic heat emitter pointed at one corner of the heated end of their tub. That way they can sit/sleep only above the heat that's coming underneath, sit/sleep where both heat sources warm them or they can move & use none at all.. their choice.

As for food, they are the most carnivorous of all the North American box species. Mine do eat their salad but usually would rather have live bugs to eat. When they are healthy adults I don't feed them daily, so when I do feed them I'll feed bugs one feeding, salads the next feeding. In a perfect world they would eat what I offer but there's always going to be one who has to be picky & won't eat what I offer that day so I'll give in & find that one who's being picky something else. (they aren't spoiled or anything lol)

Yes, usually males have red eyes but that's not the absolute way to sex them. I have a male right now who's eyes are not red & I've seen a wild red eyed female once, but only once.
Males have very large thick tails & heavy bulky legs, some of them have concave plastrons some don't. Females have a teensy little whisp of a tail & a totally flat plastron. So I look at the body not the eyes to determine sex.

I'm not going to say you did the wrong thing in buying this turtle. You did what you felt you had to do, right? I think that's what most of us do.
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PHRatz

Ahhh I just read further down & saw your other post.
If you don't live where it gets cold in winter you'll probably want to disregard what I've said about heavy duty heating supplies.

I don't know much about the Easterns you were wanting because I don't live in Eastern territory so I didn't have much to say about them. You are a Western owner now. You're gonna love this little guy!
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PHRatz

You will like your ornate I love my guy, Mikey. Ornates eat more insects than veggies, but I make Mikey eat his salads for his own good. I feed him like how ratz feeds her, every other day and I alternate feedings back and forth between bugs and veggies. With my guy though if he won't eat his salad one day he gets a salad again, and keeps getting salads until he finally eats it. This has made him learn to eat what I give him, lol. He also gets pinkie mice (frozen/dethawed) every now and then, but they don't have to have them.

Even though ornates come from the desert they still need some humidity as they do spend a lot of time under ground where it is a more humid microclimate. One of Mikey's hides is a humid hide. I keep him on indoor/outdoor carpeting and he has several hides. One with a towel in it (he loves to cuddle into towels ::shrugs:. For the humid hide what I do is put some gravel or pebbles into a tall deli container and fill it with water and put it in the back of the hide. He also has a water dish available all the time with clean water. I see him soaking himself in it regularly. I also soak him frequently for about 20 minutes at a time.

Mikey also gets a lot of time out of his cage and loves to explore and chase the cat

You should get your new addition checked for parasites, just in case

>>> With my guy though if he won't eat his salad one day he gets a salad again, and keeps getting salads until he finally eats it.

Yes! I do the same. If one of them gets picky & won't eat the salad I'll let that one have bugs but the next feeding that one gets salad again & keeps getting it until it's eaten. Usually it will be eaten that next time, they just get moody with the food sometimes.
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PHRatz

>>Even though ornates come from the desert they still need some humidity as they do spend a lot of time under ground where it is a more humid microclimate.

What kind of turtle are we talking about? "Ornates" (T. ornata ornata) don't come from "the desert," unless you consider Wisconsin, Nebraska, etc. to be deserts. "Desert box turtles" (T. ornata luteola) can be found in the Chihuahuan desert, however. Both are available in the pet trade, but come from vastly different climates and plant communities. Regardless, all of 'em enjoy the option of a humid burrow.
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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet