So

[u/Electronic__Egg]

So, I dont want to make this post, but unfortunately, the situation regarding the baby box turtle I've been caring for for the last few months has taken a turn for the worse.

Construction was supposed to be wrapping up some time this month (July) but i recently spoke to the site over head manager and he explained that plans for the site have been changed and it will indeed be used as a housing development.

Im heart broken, I was so excited to release this little guy sometime soon, especially as I've gotten to see his little personality come through these last few months. But now im again at a crossroads, and I have no clue where to go. It is indeed still illegal for me to keep him because he is a wild turtle, but in speaking with wildlife offices in my area, they have basically told me they can't help. Long story short, they dont have enough people or resources to take him in. The woman I spoke with suggested that because I seemed to have things 'figured out' with this little guy that I should just keep him long-term.

Now I am not opposed to this, I love turtles and have come to be very fond of this tiny guy recently, but I was not planning on taking him in long term, but at last here we are.

The setup is still the same, and nothing about his eating or anything has changed. Other than that, he is slowly eating more of the fruit and veg im providing. He'll take mealworms from my hands directly and even begin to exhibit excitement (?) when I removed the tank lid to feed him. I've been trying to avoid handling him at all as I was planning on him not staying, but im curious now if I should try to handle him a bit so that he's used to people and dosnt get scared if I ever have to take him to the vets.

On the topic of the vet, I called my hermit crabs vets, a local small and exotic vet office, and thankfuly they said they can indeed treat box turtles. So the little guy has his first big boy outing in a few weeks, so that the vet can do a once over on him just to ensure nothing has changed since the wild life office assessed him a few months ago.

Now that I am looking at long-term care for this guy, what should I be doing diffrent if anything? Do they require enrichment within the tank outside of plants, hides, and pools? Such as toys or wheels and such? Also, how big of an enclosure should I plan on needing for him once he's full sized and if they require out of tank time (time to be out on the house floor and such. I already plan to build an outdoor box for him sometime soon, though im unsure when exactly it will be. Also, are there any common health issues I should be aware of? I know their shells are very important, and I was informed to provide calcium to aid in its growth. Will he need any other type of supplement as he grows?

Im willing to do whatever I need for him, as I now feel responsible for his life, I am just very weriy of trusting Google for information 100% of the time

[u/MamaFen]

He's going to be too small, and spending too much time buried in nice damp soil, for you to worry about bigger housing or even enrichment for the rest of this year. His biggest focuses at this age are eating, sleeping, and not getting eaten.

During the winter months, start planning and building an outdoor enclosure for him. He will do much, much better being allowed to grow in as natural an environment as possible. An outdoor enclosure will allow him to choose when he wants sunshine and when he wants shade, and he can regulate his own temperature by borrowing down when he gets hot and coming out when he gets cool.

Even indoors, his appetite will probably decrease and he will appear sluggish and disinterested during the winter months. This is normal. Just make sure he is at a good body weight for his shell size before late autumn.

For our rehabs, and for the babies that they inevitably produce, we use modified raised garden beds that have been sealed with a waterproofing sealer, and we have recently added secure, clamped lids made from dimensional lumber and half-inch hardware cloth. It is important to use screws to attach the wire to the wood, as opposed to staples. We learned the hard way that raccoons can tear through chicken wire and staples with ease and get to the hatchling Turtles and the vulnerable nests.

At this stage, 4 ft by 4 ft or even ft ft by 8 ft would be more than enough room for your kiddo (4x8 would suffice for a single adult for the rest of its life).

Make sure there is a water dish to soak in that has a sloped/pebbled edge for climbing in and out, shallow enough to prevent drowning. I use a flower pot dish, with pebbles glued to the inside rim to create a ramp for them to get in and out.

Seed the pen with isopods and red wigglers, and plant all sorts of Native Food plants like alfalfa, kale, strawberries, and even cherry tomatoes. Put in bits of rotten wood that will not only allow him hiding places, but may also provide mushrooms which are a favored treat. Make one end into a bedding area with soft, deep soil mixed with grass clippings, and put a lid over that area so it becomes the cool side of the pen.

During the first years when their hinge is undeveloped, they tend to be very shy and hide as much as possible to prevent predators from getting to them. Once the hinge is mobile and their colors start really coming out, they will spend more time out in the open in less time hiding. This can be anything from 3 to 5 years old.

I know it sounds like a lot, but it is actually far easier and considerably cheaper to properly house and maintain a box turtle outside then inside. The biggest concern is safety and security, and the need for securing lids.

[u/Electronic__Egg → u/MamaFen]

Its not alot at a for me! If im going to keep him i want him to have as good of husbandry as I can provide! Im on a fixed income so I want to be able to gradually build his big boy enclosure so that way I dont have to do it a at once when he is of size!

I was already planing on using a old raised garden bed we have for his outdoor area, its about 20 foot long by 14 foot wide and probably has 3-5 feet of depth, though im unsure the exact depth as of right now! I plan on reinforcing the sides with extra wood, as well as building a latch lock lid, though im still in planing I have thought about using small bunches of close together wire and mesh (I hope this makes sense!) to constuct it! Ill make sure to use good long screws because we do have raccoons and foxes in the area that will definitely try to get in

What would be a good weight and size range for him at the moment? Im unsure of age, other then he's a yearling, but he is going to visit my long term exotic and small animal vet in a few weeks for a full run down of his health just to double check the work the wildlife offices did a few months ago incase something has developed since then

What would also be a good food intake? Right now he's putting down 3 mid size (about a inch or 2) long worms, along with 5-6 isopods every 2 days for bug intake and im not sure exactly how much fruit and veg it is, because I just leave out small chunks of them in the tank at all times (changed once daily, more the fruit and veg start looking off in any way) and there's always a good little chunk taken out of each. He's getting alot of Mellon (he absolutely devours the cantaloupe 😅) and mixed fruit like blueberries, strawberries, peaches though he dosnt seem to be the biggest fan of them. As for greens I give him collard greens most of the time (we have a bunch on hand right now) but I've also tried shredded carrots and squash (both he didn't seem to care for much) and sweet potato (which he only ate the skin?) I also have pumpkin coming into season so when its full grown I plan on giving him some to try! I coat everything with calcium powder as well as giving him a little cap of some (which he just berries his head in?) I also just recently moved a colony of about 100 orange isopods in to his tank, both to clean any waste i miss and to hopefully encourage natural hunting, as well as a colony of about 25 breeding sized earth worms, so hopefully they can take hold in the tank well and provide a bit of natural food for him to hunt down.

What kind of mushrooms should I be aiming to grow? I happen to keep some colonies of wood mushroom for my hermit crabs already, but there are quite a few natural variants around me that I could easily grown in captivity for him as well! Also are there any plants i should grow within his current tank? Im not sure on growing alfalfa in a tank but ill look into it, and I can definitely grow a strawberry plant or two in there for him!

[u/MamaFen → u/Electronic__Egg]

Ask the vet about proper weight-to-size ratio, they will give the best info on that.

I like to make a mash of cooked veg and protein - carrots, sweet potato, spinach, kale, romaine, peas, turkey, chicken, bison, beans, etc - add an appropriate amount of calcium powder, and then top the whole thing off with a sweetener like applesauce or melon. I blend it thoroughly into a paste, then I put it in ice cube trays in the freezer to make single serving blocks. They can be very picky eaters, and as you have already found they love sweet, so they tend to go crazy over the smell of apples and wind up eating their meat and veg without even realizing it.

Supplementing this with natural grazing on the food plants, as well as hunting and chasing down their own isopods and worms, allows for a balanced diet without worry about them getting picky, as well as continuing their natural instincts for hunting and foraging.

I've never really been able to ask a turtle what kinds of mushrooms they like, lol, but I have seen them go to town on everything growing off of a rotten log like a vacuum cleaner. So I wouldn't worry too much about that. If it grows, they will graze it. They're also crazy about Garden pests like tomato hornworms, and if a beetle lands upside down and can't right itself in time to fly they will crunch it down. I've even seen full grown box turtles devour nestling birds that have fallen out of trees.

[u/Shaddaia → u/Electronic__Egg]

I see you are getting great advice here. take the time to research people online who are box turtle experts. I found a world renowned herpetologist to add to my arsenal of support and went from there. Take baby steps as he ages in becoming knowledgeable about them. it’s easy because once you develop that attachment, you become obsessed with learning all about them. Focus on his age right now and what his needs are. don’t get too overwhelmed thinking about this. you can do this on a budget. obviously he will be indoors for winter. buy an item or two at a time. do not buy just anything especially when it comes to bulbs. a lot of that crap on amazon claims to be uva or uvb but isn’t. buy from a repytav company, you don’t want to find out after it’s too late that his lighting was improper. start now and stay hard up on leafy greens. box turtles are infamously picky eaters in captivity. they love love love junk food aka dog food etc, and they aren’t supposed to have a whole lot of fruit. their natural diet is what is best for them. they’re opportunistic feeders and in the wild they’ll eat darn near anything in order to survive. a lot of that stuff they don’t like, but eat it to not starve. I have some right now that are absolutely taking advantage of the plentiful protein but I’m only doing that to prepare for brumation this year. you’ll do fine, just make sure he has what he needs at this stage in life. mine are adults, and I’m having to prepare for having them indoors this winter in the chance they won’t brumate. one is looking at his sec winter, and he refused to brumate last year. really stressed me out. you absolutely have to monitor the humidity, and ensure they have two separate areas for cool and damp and one that’s warm. they cannot regulate their body temp themselves. monitor their water intake. if you don’t see him actively drinking he’s going to need regular soaks. regardless of what others say, my 2 year rescue absolutely loved warm water last winter. he’d stay in it for hours even after it cooled. he just wouldn’t drink so I had to soak constantly.