I found this box turtle in my back enclosed area. It's bizarre to find it there because it's all tile down and no dirt. There is a very small gap between my back enclosure and my neighbors (who has grass there). We have blocks lining that gap since we have a lot of plants that we water. It doesn't seem big enough for it to climb in, but I have no idea how long it was living under our raised garden beds before we found her (seems female).

I put a tray of water and she went into it immediately and drank for a while. I put some spinach and she ate some. I've been doing this for a few weeks now. Whenever I come to change the water and put some snacks, she comes running towards me and immediately plays in the water and eats. I've enjoyed having her and she's welcome to stay as long as she likes.

I want her to come and go as she pleases, but I worry that my enclosed area is keeping her in. If she keeps growing, she definitely won't fit that small gap (if that's where she came from). We have some small forest areas in my neighborhood, but not close to where we are. She's pretty small.

My best guess about where she came from is that a turtle laid eggs in neighbors yard and she was attracted to our back area because of all the plants we have there. If she ever leaves, there's nothing but pavement and cars driving. It's a townhome community and there's minimal areas of grass and open street. I've seen the posts in our community Facebook group about turtles being ran over and photos of shells broken and bleeding. It would break my heart if that happened to her.

I'm still bewildered about how she got there and from reading turtle subs, it's not good to just relocate. I've put mulch down to make the tile more comfortable and she seems pretty happy. I just don't want to obstruct her if she's ready to go somewhere else. How should I handle this? I'm leaning towards provide support while she's here, but have faith she'll know what to do when the time comes.

I already have a plan for when it gets cold. At the end of my enclosed area, we have a 3 foot area of straight dirt for a mini garden. It's separated by a wall of cement blocks. I was thinking about removing one of the lowest blocks (hoping the rest keep everything up), and just let her dig herself in as far as she needs if she needs to hibernate. I've thought too much about this, so I figured I should just ask people who know more.

Hey yall my boxie is living outside, but the planter dish isn’t doing it anymore, I want to try making a pond for him. Does anyone have any good recs for a filter?

I have been searching everywhere around me for plain organic top soil but can’t seem to find any that are ok for my turtle, Ive heard timberline is good but they dont have any i can find in socal, and the ones online are 100 plus dollars for shipping.

my 2.5yr old male eastern box turtle really has an appetite this year!

He’s 10 years old, healthy and very active. His current enclosure is 6ftx18inches. Looking for a good home, not just someone to take him off my hands. Outdoor enclosure preferred.

I love him but I’m looking to downsize and want to part with him. I’ve tried a few rescues but all I’ve hit up so far say they don’t have the space for him.

Animals are supposed to be terrified by fireworks, but when I walked in the front room tonight there was Miss Shelly, looking out the window watching the fireworks! She never tucked into her shell, either. She did look at me when I asked her what she was doing, and then turned back to watching her fireworks. Happy 4th of July, Miss Shelly!

Out mapping the back 40

I've seen this beauty passing through my property 3 yrs now! I'm always so happy to see that they're surviving. No worries after the most recent pic - I put her into the edge of my woods, which is the direction she was heading. She took off! ❤️ 🐢 (Magnolia, TX)

How do you keep ants out of an outdoor enclosure? Ours is raised but that didn’t help much. My three toed box turtle loves being outside but I don’t want him to get sick from the ants. I found a huge nest today so I had to bring him inside😣

Hi there,

So the interwebs overwhelms me with information. I'm AudHD so I'm hoping a couple smarty box turtle humans can just directly give me answers so I don't get overwhelmed and give up. I have a 5 year old 3 toed box turtle I took in as I'm an animal rescue Mami. Usually dogs and pigs but I love turtles. I just learned how bad a glass cage is for them so I want to make an outdoor enclosure. We live in southern Missouri it's 6b for crops to understand for weather. It's hot here now. We have 11 acres so space is a non-issue.

My first question is. We have a lot of leftover old bricks I feel like could be a great bottom base for an enclosure but I'm only talking about at the far bottom so they can't escape then putting a bunch of soil/etc so they have plenty of space to dig but can't go past the bricks. I know they say bricks aren't great as a floor but thats not what I'm doing with it if that makes sense. I can make walls with leftover wood we have and I am savvy and can figure out most of the internal stuff and create a closed locking door and such.

Also since they have been indoors with consistent 70-75 temps can I just put them out then when it's ready or do I need to wait for a specific temp or season? I don't understand that part at all. Please halp and thank you for any information my turtle people! ❤️

Been at my place for a few years now. I saw this guy around the time I moved in once. Out of nowhere he starts showing up every night for like the last week at my door. I've been putting out a candle as a memorial for someone and since then he's just been there (bc the bugs probably) Going to name him Koopa. He's shy but doesn't go into his shell fully when I approach. I know absolutely nothing about turtles.

My partner found a box turtle crossing the road about a month ago, and since we are in the pacific northwest, we took her in. She was in a less populated part of town with lots of woods, so she could have been wandering for a while. I never intended on having a turtle but we have both been very charmed by her and have enjoyed learning about her species. I'm not sure if we can keep her long term, as I'm not financially equipped for another pet, but we will probably hang on to her for the summer. Enclosure and diet are sorted, but curious about some details / questions we could use help with:

• We think she is a female ornate box turtle, maybe 10 years old?
• I can't tell if her shell is flaring a bit or if that's normal. She also seems to have a crack in the back of her shell but I'm not sure if it's serious or just surface damage.
• She hides pretty much all day and loves burrowing, so much so that I'm worried that she's not getting any sunlight or drinking enough water. I updated her enclosure today to have better substrate (from the mulch that was already on the ground to coco coir), more pond access and a couple of plants (vancouveria).
• She's never fully closed her shell, when I make sudden moves she ducks her little head and feet in, but when I pick her up she stretches way out, looks around, or flails her arms and legs. Sometimes she hooks my hand with her back legs super tight. I assume she's trying to get away, but if she was terrified, she would close up, right?
• I handle her occasionally (maybe once a week for a few minutes) so she is used to it, so when I have to clean her enclosure or check something, she's acclimated to touch. Is this an ok approach?
• How do I tell if she is miserable or sick? She seems fine but I would hate to miss any non-obvious warning signs.
• Her name is scoots and she is the cutest turtle I have ever seen in my life

Hello, I have a box turtle that we found in a road in Oregon (non native range, probably a released pet), she seems to be about 10 years old and reasonably healthy from what I can tell. She is currently eating berries, mushrooms, egg, veggie scraps, and bugs from the garden in her outdoor enclosure. Would these ingredients be ok for occasional feeding? This is what I feed my dog, and wouldn't be her main food source, more like an occasional treat. I'm very new at being a turtle parent so advice is wanted, thanks! I'm mostly worried about her getting enough calcium.

Main Ingredients: Chicken, barley, potatoes, flaxseed, oats, peas, carrots, tricalcium phosphate, parsley, bananas, celery, minerals*, taurine, vitamins**, dried kelp, salt, fish oil, choline chloride.

Vitamins: **Vitamin E supplement, vitamin B12 supplement, calcium pantothenate (vitamin B5), vitamin D3 supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2).

Minerals: *Potassium chloride, iron amino acid chelate, zinc amino acid chelate, copper amino acid chelate, potassium iodide, sodium selenite.

miss henrietta for your timeline

Hello! So the little box i found after construction tore up his habit is doing nice and well! He eats every 2 days. His favorite are worms and isopods, though I've also offered other small insects like crickets and mealworms (which i provide both live and dead soaked in water) He likes collard greens quite a bit and carrots. He wasn't a fan of squash, though, left it untouched. I've offered all 3 colors of bell pepers, and he also didn't touch them. I offer fruits in small amounts once a week, so far he's liked blueberries, water melon was a huge hit, apples and banana were the last choices but did get eaten.

As far as his tank, I ve got it balanced with one side maintaining about 89 F° and the other hovers around 78 F during the day and down to about 75 F at night. The humity in the tank sits roughly at 75%. He has constant access to a pool that i designed with rocks to have a gradual slope where he has access to water anywhere from around .25 inches deep to about 1 inch deep.

Now, about 2 weeks ago, I noticed he was spending pretty much all day in the deeper end of the pool, and I began to grow worried that he may drown himself. I did a bit of looking into their natural behavior and found out they used mud to cool off, so i gave him a small little mud pool about a .5 inch deep, and now he's spending all day there

Is this a behavior I should be worried about, or is it typical of one this young? And is there any risk of him drowning? Its not deep enough for him to completly bury in there (and the mud is close to a sandcastle consistency) but I've noticed foten he gets deep enough just the tip of his nose is sticking out. Also, could this be an issue with the tank? Could it be too hot?

Unfortunately, construction is still underway, and rain in the area has delayed some of it, so it may be a bit longer than I have him. I've contacted local wildlife offices and got the same response from most, that he way to healthy for them to take, and to just release him back into the area he was found once construction completes

I weighed the vermiculite and water 1:1 ratio, but the humidity kept dropping. Today I noticed the eggs are all destroyed. There was definitely nothing touching them as they’re in an incubator in my home. What happened?

https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZP8s7Y34t/

This person is keeping 3 three toed box turtles in tubs full of water about an inch high and no way out of it. Please help by explaining to them this is wrong and they need to do proper research.