#1.
"I Just Got/Found/Was Given A Box Turtle, What Do I Do To Make
It Happy?"
If
the turtle was found in a nice wooded area where it would seem that
it could have lived the rest of it's life, or you saw it crossing
a road out in the country, please return it to where it was found.
CLICK
HERE AND READ !!
If the turtle was found in a heavily populated
area with roads and highways, or where construction has been planned
and the wooded area will soon be destroyed, then it is best to keep
the turtle in captivity. Keep reading this page.
If the turtle was purchased at a pet store, then more than likely
it was a wild caught turtle collected for the pet trade - a sad thing
indeed. Always try to buy captive bred turtles. There's a 95% chance
they will be healthy. They will do much better in captivity than a
turtle that has lived most of it's life in the wild and now has to
adapt to captivity. Wild caught turtles also go through stressful
shipping and are usually transferred in over packed containers in
filthy conditions. Many die from this alone. Those that do make the
journey will most likely be ill and full of intestinal parasites.
So you should take the turtle to the vet for a check up. Bring a stool
(poop) sample for the vet to check.
#2.
"I've Had My Turtle For A Week Or More And It Hasn't
Eaten Anything Yet!"
Even in ideal conditions, these turtles can
take quite some time to adjust to a new home. Especially if it is
a wild caught turtle. Baby turtles will live on their yolk sacs not
eating anything for at least a week.
Be sure the turtle has:
• Deep moist substrate to burrow under - I use a mix of top soil
and sphagnum moss. Keep it moist !
• Wide shallow water dish for drinking and soaking - plastic
paint trays work well sunken into the substrate.
• Heat lamp at one end of the enclosure and proper UVB lighting,
on for 14 hours a day - must be dark at night.
• Daily 30 minute soakings in luke warm or room temperature water.
Offer food afterwards.
#3.
"I Have My Turtle In A 10/20/30 Gallon Fish Tank And He/She Seems
Unhappy, Do I Need A Bigger Tank?"
Answer: NO!
What
you need to do is to get rid of the fish tank. The quick and cheap
solution is a large Rubbermaid™ tub. These things are huge yet
light enough to drag around. They are easy to hose out in your yard,
or rinse out in your bath tub. Try to buy a 50 gallon fish tank for
$14! For a heat lamp, you can use a cheap clamp-on aluminum dome shop
light available at any hardware store. For UVB, I use these 48 inch
fluorescent fixtures that Wal-Mart sells for $8. The expensive part
is the UVB bulbs. I use 48 inch fluorescent ZooMed ReptiSun 5.0 UVB
bulbs that I get on-line from who ever has them the cheapest at the
moment. www.lllreptile.com
has had them on sale for $19.95. I also get them at reptile shows
for even less sometimes.
#4. "How Can I Tell How Old
My Turtle Is?"
The truth is that there really is no way of
telling age accurately. It has been thought that you can count the
rings in the scutes and come up with an age. This is false because
turtles can grow several growth rings one year and maybe one or none
in another year. The way I try to guess at age is by looking at how
worn the shell is. A very old box turtle will be worn smooth as to
where you can barely see the growth rings, or maybe you won't be able
to see them at all.
Many
other questions can be answered by following the links on my "Info
Links" page.
Just click on "Info Links" to the left.
Feel
free to EMAIL ME as
well.
