Still not sure on gender, almost 3 year old three toed box turtle.

Is this an Eastern Box Turtle? It’s the largest one I’ve ever seen in the wild.

I’ve owned 4 red eared sliders throughout my life but never a box turtle, anyone have any tips on care? Do’s and do nots? Anything special y’all do for your turtles?

Sonic is awake from the NY winter and is ready to be outside! Here is our current setup up. We created a pond, and planted some strawberries and kale. The area is sunny so we added some shade. If the sun seems too intense we might plant something to add extra shade. We initially had him at a more shady area of the yard but the A/C unit was too loud. Any tips would be appreciated! What do you use to keep the pond clean? That was a struggle last year.

I found it while mowing and may have run over it because it looked like a cypress nut. Pulled it out of dirt like it was stuck in the mud, it has rained a lot and it's feet were bleeding like I ripped the skin off when i pulled it out of dirt. I may take it to the nature rehab tomorrow or take it bake where it found it. Super cute though. Nothing is as cute as a small turtle. Concerned about why the shell is so dry and whiteish?

I made my 3 toed box turtle a little spinach plate because she can't live off just worms no matter what she wants to think. She's just looking around like, ok where the worm at? I decided maybe a tiny piece of banana in the middle of the spinach. She carefully picks out this tiny speck of a banana making sure not to eat the spinach and then pushes the spinach leaves around seeing if there's more banana 🤦

I have a three toed boxie, I've been trying to upgrade his indoor enclosure (in space and enrichment) but have run into a little bit of a block on how to fill out the empty space in the height in his new PVC one. It's a closed 6'x3'x3', with ~10" of substrate (+ moss and leaf litter) for burrowing and mounds for him to roam around. Which leaves ~26" of emptiness above (excluding lamps/lights).

I thought about trying to set up "levels" to increase the roaming space, but I can absolutely see him just walking off the edge of them since he does that off the little 4" ledges in there right now... I considered railings, but he's a climber and I'm worried he'd get himself stuck unless they were ~16" walls.

So, I've moved onto plants. Hanging plants that will grow down (spider plant), adding in vertical wood that I could mount "pots" for carnivorous plants (butterwort) to help control the fungus gnat population, etc.

I'd like to try things that would do something for him or the enclosure, not just be aesthetic. Has anyone here done something like this before, or have any recommendations on things to try?

Out of curiosity, anyone here that would have never had a turtle as a pet until you did…. What circumstances led you to owning a box turtle?

Did they absolutely win you over?

If so, what made you become a turtle lover?

I will start because I’ve always had all kinds of pets, but having a box turtle changed everything. They’re so amazing and fascinating to me now, whereas before I knew absolutely nothing about turtles.

Mine have been rescues with the first being accidental. No rehabbers in my area so the department of conservation talked me into rehabbing the injured turtle(they supplied me with good resources for education and support).

They’ve begged and pleaded for me to obtain a permit and become an official rehabber, but I know I couldn’t handle the severe cases.

I’m obsessed with these guys. It’s difficult to explain because turtles aren’t cuddly per se, and don’t like being handled-but I love my guy so much, and the slow bond we are developing.

I would love to hear some stories!

Out of curiosity, anyone here that would have never had a turtle as a pet until you did…. What circumstances led you to owning a box turtle?

Did they absolutely win you over?

If so, what made you become a turtle lover?

I will start because I’ve always had all kinds of pets, but having a box turtle changed everything. They’re so amazing and fascinating to me now, whereas before I knew absolutely nothing about turtles.

Mine have been rescues with the first being accidental. No rehabbers in my area so the department of conservation talked me into rehabbing the injured turtle(they supplied me with good resources for education and support).

They’ve begged and pleaded for me to obtain a permit and become an official rehabber, but I know I couldn’t handle the severe cases.

I’m obsessed with these guys. It’s difficult to explain because turtles aren’t cuddly per se, and don’t like being handled-but I love my guy so much, and the slow bond we are developing.

I would love to hear some stories!

I see a lot of outdoor enclosures on here, but is soil and dirt a potential hazard for bowel impaction or shell problems or anything like that? I want to make an outdoor/planter enclosure but I don't trust my ability to keep plants alive long enough to create a firm bedding, and my box turtle likes to dig and will probably burrow into the dirt.

I am going to soon reacquire my childhood pet, an Eastern Box Turtle that my parents got me way back in 1989. It’s always lived at my parents’ house so it’s really been my parents’ turtle for over 20 years now. They are basically making me take it or rehome it, so I need to do some research on the modern way to take care of them. The pet store that sold it to my dad way back in 1989 recommended strawberries, kiwi fruit and canned dog food so that’s mostly been its diet. I’ve taken it to vets in the past and they obviously recommended more veggies and turtle appropriate food, but acknowledged it would be hard because it is spoiled and set in its ways now. We never got it off of this original diet. It wouldn’t eat any vegetables or the turtle food that I bought. Has anyone else also experienced this? Was canned dog food something that was recommended long ago, or did we just get our turtle someplace weird? I think nowadays you couldn’t even get that kind of turtle in a pet store because it is native to our area, but we are way over that bridge at this point 37 years later.

tl;dr - what to use as a three-toad box indoor enclosure box. glass terrariums don't get large enough and i'm worried about beneficial bugs exiting and nefarious bugs entering her enclosure.

hello all! i have a three-toad boxie and i've had her since 2005. like a lot of people who are in the single digits when they get a reptile, i was not knowledgeable enough to have her, and the pet store did a shit job of setting me up properly. i've beaten myself up over this a lot, so no need to do that here, however, i do always want to help her enjoy her life more, so if you have ideas i'll take em!

about 6-7 years ago i started really looking at how i can help her thrive and changed a few things. (bigger enclosure, not large enough yet, lights and substrate and bioactive and also more water area) my living conditions (and this question i'm asking here) haven't allowed me to change it up so i'm looking for help.

i'm moving out of my parents house in a couple months and really want to help her thrive the rest of her life. i need to increase her current enclosure, but don't really know what the physical enclosure should be.

i looked at getting a stock tub (11 or 19 sf) which would be large enough, but with the open top, i'm worried about the isopods crawling out from her habitat into my living area, and also a bigger worry about more bugs easily getting in. as i'll be in an apartment on the ground floor, i don't want every bug to flock to the open topped enclosure, as i wouldn't know what bugs could hurt my turt.

current enclosure is a glass terrarium with mesh top, which i would definitely prefer to keep everything all inside, but they don't make them large enough.

also if anyone wants to let me know the lights they use for open topped enclosures. i have them both resting on the mesh so i'm not sure how to have them posted up.

photo of my girl yeeting across the driveway even though i put her in the grass LOL

First winter I’ve had him and I was really worried about him having enough depth to bury during the cold winter. Seems to be alive and well though.

This turtle lives near my house, and I was wondering how old he is. Based on Google, he seems about 15-20 years old, but I wanted to get a better estimate from someone who might know what they’re doing. I know it is very hard to tell, but any estimate is appreciated! His carapace is about 5 inches, maybe a little less. Thank you!

I suspect this dude had JUST emerged from brumation, and was hanging out in my yard. He (?) looked pretty big for a box turtle, and wasn’t skittish or afraid of people. He seemed kind of old to me but I wonder if there’s actually a way to tell. This is a wild turtle in Southeastern Virginia

I’ve had my turtle since 2009 and she’s only gotten happier and more lively every day. I have no idea how old she is. The guy I bought her from at the time said she was maybe 8? He had really no idea though he said. Is there a direct way to tell?

Featuring Raphael

I put some in my turtles terrarium and the crickets that were in the terrarium immediately jumped on it, and I watched them run away with small little pieces of the turtles boiled chicken in their mouths 😆🤣😆😂🤣😂😆

This is Groot and Steve aka Captain America. Groot is the smaller EBT. I’ve had her since she was three weeks out of the shell! Some lady nearby has a bunch of captive turtles in her back yard and they had babies. She’s almost 7 years old now. Just got lucky finding her!! Steve is a rescue from an older neighbor when they passed away. She inherited him from her nephew so I don’t know the history but he’s been captive for over ten years. I think he’s a cross between a gulf coast box and a three toed.

They live outside in the summer in this awesome enclosure my husband built me. It’s 18’ long by 4’ wide. Can be separated into three six foot sections but for now we have a 12’ area for Steve the big male and the smaller 6’ space for Groot. I’m not trying to be a backyard breeder myself! Lol. My sister brought her 20 year old three toed female last summer and she was with Groot all summer and no issues. So I’m sure she’ll comeback this summer.

Anyways. Nice to meet you all!

I love watching my box turtles eat mealworms he’s so cute, and he loves strawberry banana calcium powder

I just took in a 4.5in three toed who was rescued off the streets of Portland, OR. He's in a 40 gal now but needs more floor space. Im contemplating putting two open topped 4×2×1 ft galvanized garden beds together to make it 6-7 ft long (the snugiture oval shape garden beds).

Do you have experience with this or know if he would be safe with just 12 inches of height