Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ive had a box turtle (i think shes a 3 toed but im not sure) for almost 6 years this summer, i "rescued" it from being run over by a golf cart at one of my previous jobs. shes only about 5-6 inches tall, im not sure how long & dont want to check because shes sleeping right now, shes a decent weight, has had a few health problems in the past but with a little luck will be avoided from now on. she lived in a small aquarium after i first got her (i realize the error of my ways now, trust me,) a kiddy pool outside when i had 3 other boxies of various origin (never outside again, the other 3 mysteriously disappeared...there were 3 fences, i dont think they walked off by themselves) a plastic cement mixing tub for the last yr & a half, & now, an acrylic aquarium a friend built. the tank is 4 ft long x 3 ft long x 2 ft high & houses neil (the female -yes, really- boxie) mike wazowski (florida yellow belly) & pudge (african side-neck.) the others are aquatic, i know, if someone can tell me how to attach a picture i will, so it makes more sense. anyway, i was hoping someone could give me general advice on housing, plus her toenails are getting really long, any help would be appreciated immensely. she doesnt move around too much, just eats at ungodly hours in the middle of the night, & not every day lately, which has me worried. shes willingly eaten rep-cal box turtle food, & worms when i can get a hold of some, & strawberries on occasion. ive been told not to buy worms from bait shops because they are bred in unhealthy conditions, she wont eat crickets, i was hoping to spruce up her menu to get her to eat more often. suggestions? sorry if im asking too much in one post, im new to forums. so thats neils background, does she sound healthy? ive been having bad-mom nagging thoughts...help? btw, im sure all this is posted somewhere , but my last question, im not sure how old she is, i know it has to do with the shell but im not sure what part...can anyone enlighten me? im really not a bad mom, i swear...but now im paranoid.

thanks for any help you can give me.
MAF

i figured out how to upload pictures...

more...

more of neil...

she needs more land in the enclosure, and her eyes look like she might have a vit. a deficency or maybe a URI?
if you could get her outside that would be best Bill Tracy has some nice pens on his site( http://billsboxturtles.com ) maybe you could get some ideas from there
good luck

Looks like an awful lot of water for a terrestrial turtle... Hard to tell, but it looks like she could benefit from more room to move around on dry land, so to speak.
Have you considered an outdoor space for her? There are very economical ways of creating suitable setups outdoors where she'd probably do better, too.
Regards,
Stephanie

I agree with the 2 other posts, you need to give her more land to roam on. My female boxie is in a 4x3x3 enclosure, 90% of it is land. I use a cypress mulch/peat moss substrate, with a little sphagnum moss on the cool side for her to bury. The warm side has a water dish she can climb into and swim around in. My boxies only eat every other day, sometimes every 3rd day. They love strawberries, green leaf lettuce, mixed veggies, strawberries, and the occasional banana. I've also had success with baby pinkie rats (dead but warmed up in warm water) and I like to look for worms after it rains. They won't eat if they're not hungry (so you may be trying to feed her too often) and get bored if I don't give them a good variety of food. Good luck!

I live in California and have a lot of raccoons. If anyone has raccoon resistant outdoor pens for box turtles I would like to see them.

Stephen

In addition to any responses you get, check the archives (if you haven't already), and you'll see a few different creative solutions.
Stephanie