Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had my first turtle come up from hibernation on March 5. I've got an even dozen of them hibernating this year. In addition I have two yearlings that I'm raising indoors over winter.

I'm hoping that I will have a few new hatchlings appear over the next month or two. I let my turtles breed & nest naturally in their pen and have been very successful over the past several years.

Now if I can just keep the damn coons from killing my smaller turtles I'll be a happy turtle keeper....... :>
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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

Are all your turtles box turtles, if so do they breed and lay eggs at different times of the year?
I have 8 box turtle's, 4 adults a 5year old, a 4year old,
a 3 year old and a 7 month old no bigger than a quarter.
The adults I wake up once a week for water and they go right back to sleep the younger ones about every 2 or 3 days, the
little ones eat a little fruit and greens.
Thanks Alan

>>Are all your turtles box turtles, if so do they breed and lay eggs at different times of the year?
>>I have 8 box turtle's, 4 adults a 5year old, a 4year old,
>>a 3 year old and a 7 month old no bigger than a quarter.
>>The adults I wake up once a week for water and they go right back to sleep the younger ones about every 2 or 3 days, the
>>little ones eat a little fruit and greens.
>>Thanks Alan

Yes, all of mine are desert ornate box turtles. I live in NM and all of my turtles are local. I have 9 adults, a 6 year old, a 3 year old, and two 1 year olds. I HAD three 2 year olds, but a raccoon killed all three of them last summer.

Yes, mine breed all spring and summer long but so far I have only seen hatchlings in the spring.....usually late March into April.

Baby desert ornate box turtles by vichris08, on Flickr

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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 had my first turtle come up from hibernation on March 5. I've got an even dozen of them hibernating this year. In addition I have two yearlings that I'm raising indoors over winter.
>>
>>I'm hoping that I will have a few new hatchlings appear over the next month or two. I let my turtles breed & nest naturally in their pen and have been very successful over the past several years.
>>
>>Now if I can just keep the damn coons from killing my smaller turtles I'll be a happy turtle keeper....... :>
>>-----

BTW.......... I now have 2 turtles up
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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

For relatively little money and just a few hours of manual work you can construct an outdoor pen that is raccoon and bird proof. No idea about Coyotes.

Construct solid-sided walls in an area of your preference and add a open-able top that has some strong wire to keep out raccoons and finer wire to keep out crows. Another option is housing babies indoors until they get a little larger.

Good luck with them .

>>For relatively little money and just a few hours of manual work you can construct an outdoor pen that is raccoon and bird proof. No idea about Coyotes.
>>
>>Construct solid-sided walls in an area of your preference and add a open-able top that has some strong wire to keep out raccoons and finer wire to keep out crows. Another option is housing babies indoors until they get a little larger.
>>
>>Good luck with them .

Thanks.....I've already put your suggestion in place. I have set up a section of my pen specifically for the younger set. I live in the middle of a good size city that has begun to be invaded with coons. We do have some roadrunners but no coyotes so far, except on the outskirts of town. I now have two traps in my yard and have captured 4 coons. I had one of them completely destroy a trap he got caught in. I have since purchased an even stronger trap. You can see my new trap that is set set (in black) next to my shed near the far end of my turtle pen.

IMG_0982-001 by vichris08, on Flickr

Here's a better pic of the lid on the "secure" part of the pen.

IMG_0983-001 by vichris08, on Flickr

Cheers

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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

Very nice .

And yeah raccoons are pretty smart little devils haha. Beaver traps, not the snare but the cage type, are really heavy duty and very strong to keep beavers from getting out. It looks like that is what the new trap is, or at least of the same quality, so if they get out of that you just might need to set up a distraction from the turtles .

Vichris how are you doing? That is an awesome awesome looking set up you have and those little deserts are perfect looking. I am patiently waiting to see if any of my adults survived this brutal winter. I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old that I kept inside over winter that are really eating well lately.
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Jeff Benfer
gartersnakemorph.com

>>Vichris how are you doing? That is an awesome awesome looking set up you have and those little deserts are perfect looking. I am patiently waiting to see if any of my adults survived this brutal winter. I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old that I kept inside over winter that are really eating well lately.
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>>Jeff Benfer
>>gartersnakemorph.com

Thanks, I'm doing good Jeffery....LOL. Lets hope that yours dug in deep. Probably at least another month until they appear?? Have you ever had some that didn't make it through the winter?

My hatchlings from last year have been "chowing down" really well also. I started using a lot of pumpkin and sweet potato mixed in with my "turtle balls". It really seems to help with eye issues.

As of today I now have 4 adults up from hibernation. 3 females and 1 male. We've had highs in the mid 60's and lows in the lower 40's and upper 30's. Spring is starting to get sprung.

This female (bottom) was the first one up this year.

IMG_0546-001 by vichris08, on Flickr

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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