Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I do not want my turtle to get bored. The longer I have him, the more guilty I feel having a turtle at all. If he was not with me, he would be outside doing his turtle thing, in an environment that changes and can be exciting at every moment. But with me, I feel that his life is less exciting.

I've been trying to pin down the purpose of a turtle's life and I think it is to eat. A turtle was made to eat. That is the primary thought on a turtle's mind. Which worries me, because when he has his food sitting in a little dish right out for him, ready whenever he is hungry, I feel that it robs him of a good portion of his life--the hunt for food. And so I have been trying to make his life a little more exciting. I hide crickets in places around the room and let him discover them; sometimes he finds them, but if I hide them behind things he tends not to look. Lately he just finds a corner of the room and hides there until it is time for bed.

I hand feed him, and this gets him going. Whenever he sees my silver cricket tweezers his head perks up, his neck outstretches and he gets excited. I’ve tried toying with him, making him chase after my cricket-laden hand, and he really enjoys chomping down on the crickets. He also loves--absolutely loves--strawberries and whenever I feed them to him he goes insane. But the rest of the time he either sits under the heat lamp, soaks in his tub of water with all four legs stretched out, or finds a place to hide.

Is this normal? He seems to like soaking in the water, but then again he could be doing it because there is nothing else to do. He seems to enjoy looking for hiding places, but once he finds one he stays there for hours until I fetch him. He loves to eat but after he is done he finds a hiding spot.

I suppose my question is; what can I do to make his life more exciting? Should I try making it more exciting or do turtles like regularity and non-excitement? I cannot change his quarters, but I suppose I could build a few places for him to crawl around within or on top of. But then again, if I do, he may not even use them.

But the rest of the time he either sits under the heat lamp, soaks in his tub of water with all four legs stretched out, or finds a place to hide.
>>
>>Is this normal? He seems to like soaking in the water, but then again he could be doing it because there is nothing else to do.

Yes that sounds normal. When my turtles are outside in summer this is what they do. They soak in water, they walk around some of the time, they eat, they bask with all their legs stretched out. In winter they bask under the heat sources & lights with legs stretched out. They enjoy their baths, they eat on feeding days.. not a whole lot of difference just different location.
I have a portion of the house "turtle proofed" that's where they walk around indoors in the evening. They'll walk for an hour or so, when they find places to hide I know they are finished walking for the day so it's time for bed.
They really don't need too much excitement but the way you are doing it, hiding food for instance sounds like a good thing for one. What turtle wouldn't want to find a suprise morsel of food?
I basically allow mine to do what they want to do & I leave them be while they're doing it... I don't want to interrupt them for fear of stressing them out.
-----
PHRatz

Mikey basically has a routine he sticks to. I let him out daily to wander around, but he usually looks around for awhile and then hides somewhere, unless my cat is up and about, then he follows her or visa versa. Hiding food items and making him chase them down is one of the best ways to inrich his life. If you do a google search on animal enrichment you will get lots of articles that may give you some ideas Most of them are for mammals but you may be able to adapt them to your turtle

Hi there,
If you live where it is warm enough, and you dont have pesticides applied to your lawn, let the boxie out for nice walks in the yard, mine just LOVE IT!! Be VERY careful though, they are much quicker than you think and can disappear in to a hedgerow in a "flash".

From watching my boxies, I have come to the conclusion that they do not like "wide open spaces". My turtles prefer an enclosure that is almost maze like. They like to walk along walls and in, out and over things.

I made some "pathways" in their in closure by piling rocks (we got tons of em on our land, you could uses logs or other material too) to make walls about 6" high. You can see that the grass is all worn down where they have walked from one end of the wall to the other end, then back on the other side!

You could make ditches. Vary the substrate so there is different textures. Use plants (artifical or real) to make walls of plant to walk around, or have them a bit father apart so the turtle can walk through/under them. (I bought my artifical plants at the dollar store really cheap. Then I attached them to a log by hammering in heavy duty staples. This way I can move clumps of plants around.)

Enough, you probably get the idea! Just use you imagination. But don't do all the things you think of all at once. Do one or two things and wait for them to get used to (or bored with) it,then changed something else!

My turts anyway, seem to enjoy this!
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Turtles especially those more adapted to land do like to hunt, and explore new places. But they don' t seem to get excited in the same way that mammals do. Any change in their living quarters would prevent boredom. They love to explore....and even smell new scents. Try giving them a new hide or alternating a few.

Wild boxies spend a considerable amount of their time hiding from predators. Most of their foraging for food is done in the early dawn hours before bright light. Most of the day there is little movement as movement expends energy and alerts predators.
Maybe they don't take things as excitable as we do; and it accounts for their longevity.
Ric
p.s. I agree with their high regards and excitement of savoring fresh strawberries. Now if I could just satiate my curiosity.

A little off topic here, but neither of my boxies are all that excited about strawberries! They will eat them if nothing else is available, but starwberries are not their favorite.

Now, mulberries and bananas are a whole different story! Did you ever see a boxie JUMP trying to get to a piece of banana? Or RUN to get the first mulberries? lol! I have!
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

I found out this week that they do seem to like some differences in the walking area. My DH has been on vacation which is a whole other story lol .....
but instead of going on a trip he put a new floor in the bathroom & a new cabinet. The largest area in the house is also the turtle proofed area. He had it filled with boxes, tools, cords, a huge mess. The boxies seemed to enjoy checking out all this new stuff on their floor.
-----
PHRatz

Lol! When my daughter still lived here, I would let the turtles take turns walking around her room! Always lots of different stuff to explore, especially under her bed. (I only did this when she wasn't home! heehee).

Even the snapper and painted enjoyed their turns!
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

>>Lol! When my daughter still lived here, I would let the turtles take turns walking around her room! Always lots of different stuff to explore, especially under her bed. (I only did this when she wasn't home! heehee).
>>
>>Even the snapper and painted enjoyed their turns!

ROFL doing this only when she's not home?
That's just evil bwahahahahaha!

I blocked off the bedroom because Shell E kept getting under the bed where I couldn't reach her, I got tired of using a long measuring stick to drag her out from under there lol.
One time before I "turtle proofed" any rooms I let the painted walk around. The problem was that he's so fast, I turned my head for a minute & he was gone! We had to turn the sound off of everything to listen for him, found him in here where the computer is, he was just looking around.
Maybe he wanted to use the computer to contradict some of the things I've said about him online? LOL
-----
PHRatz

One of my boxies was always over by the computer too! You don't suppose they were pm ing each other? lol

My plan for next spring/summer, is to gut my daughter's ex bedroom and turn it into a turtle room! Did I say plan? Maybe fantasy would be more accurate, but we'll see...!
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

>>One of my boxies was always over by the computer too! You don't suppose they were pm ing each other? lol

Maybe they were! We're gonna have to watch out from now on. lol
>>
>>My plan for next spring/summer, is to gut my daughter's ex bedroom and turn it into a turtle room! Did I say plan? Maybe fantasy would be more accurate, but we'll see...!

My fantasy is to win the lottery which won't be easy to do since I never buy tickets lol then have a house built with a room just for the critters. A room with a utility sink & a drain in the floor so it'll be easier for me to clean all of them.
Then have another room just for the sulcata. I'd love to have the sulcata in a patio type room that has the central heating from the house & a locking door that leads to the outside.

Your fantasy isn't that elaborate so maybe it'll work out for you.
-----
PHRatz

Ohhh,,yes, a utility sink! My hubby promised me one come summer, last summer that is! lol, it hasn't materialized yet!

Oh well, he did put electricity in the chicken coop for me this summer, so I can't complain too much!

My problem isn't money so much as time an know how. Oh well, I'll just keep plugging, a little at a time!
-----
0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

>>I do not want my turtle to get bored. The longer I have him, the more guilty I feel having a turtle at all. If he was not with me, he would be outside doing his turtle thing, in an environment that changes and can be exciting at every moment. But with me, I feel that his life is less exciting.
>>

Every now and then I dump a few dozen live crickets into our box/wood turtle enclosure and they go crazy running around climbing over each other trying to catch their treats. Some are quite adept at snapping them up while others stalk them more slowly trying to corner them. Either way, they get a major boost of activity that requires effort on their part to earn the reward unlike when simply giving them nightcrawlers.
-----
_____

PHWyvern