Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have 2 large outdoor housings for our box turtles. One measures 4' x 6' x 24" and houses 2 female eastern box turtles (approx 5 yrs old and 3 yrs). The other measures 4' x 5' x 24" and houses 1 male three toed box turtle(approx 5 or 6 yrs old). It is all made of untreated white wood with mesh top. Works great, except one problem. It now has started getting termites (I live in the New Orleans area). Can we spray for termites on the outside of the boxes without hurting the turles. This is set up pretty close to my home and I don't want termites in my house either.

Another question - Any ideas on what to feed. They are all growing and gain weight and appear healthy. We've had them for several years now and they eat anything alive, but are picky with greens (won't eat). They will eat a few berries, but overall, just want live food. I just planted strawberry plants, parsley and squash in the houses. If I cut up collards, turnip greens or something like that, they won't touch it. I have one female that will try stuff, but the younger female and male won't touch much of anything. They will eat can dog food and if I leave dry box turtle food in there, they eat some of it. Any suggestions, as I want them to have a balanced diet and want to make sure I have enough types of food in there at all times (such as plants) so they could nibble if they wanted to. Any idea on what kind of plants to put in there? Thanks, D

I would cut up and mix some of your vegatables and greens with your canned dog food and make something like meat balls with it. They'll eat all of it and be the better for it.

BTW I mix venison with several different veggies and greens and an egg or two, make them into meat balls and freeze them. When I'm ready to feed I just take out several of the meatballs and thaw them out and feed the turtles one(or two) each.
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Vichris
"The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane"- Marcus Aurelius

I would advise against spraying.

Think about re-building the enclosures (or at least the sides) with CMU's (concrete block) They're cheap, termite proof and solid.

I would say no to the spaying too, because if other bugs or worms come into contact with the insecticide and then the box turtle eats that bug or worm it would likely get very sick, brain dead or dead. What you could do is move to another enclosure, spay, then wait at least twice as long as it says to wait before human or pet contact to be safe.
Finally this might be enough of a push for you to just build a new bigger, more open new enclosure I myself need that same push right now. If the weather stays fairly dry I hope to accomplish building a new bigger, more open enclosure in the next couple weeks before all mine come up for good for summer.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

I use building blocks and they work well. It’s easy to change the size of the pen. Mine seems to get bigger each year. Mine has gotten so big it’s hard to find my turtles unless they are walking around looking for worms, which they do a lot. I “seed” the pen with several hundred worms each year. I think its good to make the turtles work a little to get there food. The worms I use are not the typical garden worms that dig their way under ground. The worms I get stay on top and eat the leaf litter, which the turtles can find, buy moving the leaves around. My eastern box turtles favorite food is wild mushrooms. The ones they like best have a white or brown or pink or red on top with a pure white underside with gills. They also love to eat cantaloupe the rind and all. once or twice a year i will cook up a Vegetable omelet. I put a litte bit of anything i can find that i think the turtles will like. I also take a hammer and grind up the egg shells and put that into the omlet too. My turtles seem to love it.

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Jack

Hey Jack,
What kind of worms do you use that don't dig down but stay in the mulch and were do you get them.
Also, do you just lay the building blocks on top of the ground? what keeps your boxies from digging under them and out? What kind of building blocks are those and were do you get them, they don't look like the standard cinder blocks but maybe they are a coblestock brick? I can't tell from the photo, I really like the idea of being able to adjust the size and not using wood which will eventually rot.
Thanks for the info.
Jeff
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

They may be these (See link). They are cinder block 'cap' blocks. Depending on what the soil is like where you are, you may not have to dig down much, although by sinking them you would add to the stability.
Link

I don’t know what the name of the worms are that I use. The Internet surpassingly does not have a lot about worm. I found these worms one day when walking through woods that are open space near were I live. There is no water in this woods but when it rains storm water form the housing developments that surround the woods floes into it. I found them in and near the dry streambed were the water floes. Piles of leaves get washed to one side and when I moved some leaves looking for regular worms I found them. I call them wiggle worms because they wiggle a lot when you try to pick them up. They also can move on top of the ground very fast like a small snake. Form what I have read on the Internet this type of worm might be a non- native worm that that was sold for fishing. It only takes me about 20 minutes to fill several 20 oz paper coffee cups with worms. I then take them back to my turtle pen and dump them for my turtles to find them.
As for the blocks I bought them over several years at Loews home improvement center. They cost about $3.25 each. At first I laid them down flat and one on top of the other but I got a new turtle that was much bigger then the others and he could climb out, so I had to turn them on edge two high. They stay well that way. In the spring I have to go out and level a few that have started to lean over the winter.

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Jack

If I set up my outdoor habitat with the stones, my 2 dogs would jump in there. I have to have something with a cover. I still think I could build something smaller like I have and use the stones and put a top. Our yard is not as big. I love your set up. It is so natural for them.

I like the look of the stone blocks and like you said it is easy to change the configuration if you want down the road. I was going to use non-arsenic treated 2x10's two high and sunk in the ground a few inches and cap them with a 2x6 so they can't climb out, but now I am thinking about the blocks, they sell them at menards for 98 cents, so cost would be about the same as using wood and the blocks would certainly hold up better over time and I think they look more natural.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

sounds like a good plan. Just make sure that it is high enough so they cant climb out.

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Jack

So what keeps your from digging under the blocks? did you run bricks underground too?
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

I have eastern box turtles and I have never even see one try to dig out. it must take a turtle a very long time ( days at least ) to dig a hole large enough form them to get out, so you would have lots of time to stop them. However I have watched them climb up and out of an Enclosure that i thought was impossiable for a turle to climb out of in just a matter of seconds. And when the turtle reached the top he did not Hesitate
for even a second he just pushed himself right off, and the drop was about a foot and a half. He them picked himself up and started to walk away. Years ago (like 50) when I was a kid I used to find box turtles in my neighborhood each summmer. I would build an enclosure for them out of chicken fence and the next day they would be gone. People always told me that they must have dug there way out, but I could never find the whole they dug. Now I know that the turtles did not dig out they climbed up the chicken wire and made there escape that way. If any one has had a box turtle "dig" out i would like to hear about it.

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Jack

D, check out my online book for a picture of my pen in Houston. It was termite proof. You will only continue to have issues so you might as well start out fresh. Spraying for termites require you spray the soil as well as the wood, so it is not a good idea. Turtles will eat bugs that have gone through the poison and could get sick or die. Or drink runoff water-not worth the chance.

Others have offered good ideas on different foods. I have some food tips in the online book too, as well how to get your turtles eating a more varied diet. www.boxturtlesite.info/bxbook.html
Tess

Thanks for all the suggestions. I do think we'll need to rebuild with cynder type blocks. I'm also going to try all the feeding ideas. Thanks a bunch. Diane