Anybody have a box turtle for a pet?

My youngest son is just dying to keep this box turtle I found a few days ago when mowing. Fortunately I found him before the mower found him, if you know what I mean. This guy was doing the box turtle sprint away from the mower and the movement caught my eye. My son was in the house and saw me get off the mower to do something so he came out to investigate.

As soon as my son picked him up, he immediately came out of his shell and seemed completely at ease. Great. So now what do I do? I recall having one or two as pets when I was young and recall them being pretty cool. I just don't know anything about how to care for one or what size cage I need to build, what to feed it etc.

Now all my kids and their friends spend half their time playing with this turtle. The darn thing will actually go towards my youngest son. It still tries to qualify for the turtle olympics 100 yard dash when it sees me. However, at least it doesn't bite anyone; as opposed to the snapping turtle I recall keeping for some strange reason when I was in high school. Hell, he was equal opportunity though; he'd bite anyone who came close to him. Contrary to popular belief, a snapping turtle about twice the size of a box turtle can't really hurt you. Still it does scare you a bit and it can pinch a bit when they get your fingers.

Anyway, how do I care for this box turtle?

I had one as a kid but think I killed it... I don't think a wild turtle handles the stress of captivity very well. Also, many states prohibit you capturing a wild one and keeping it.

I'm pretty sure the best way to care for it is to have it in an outdoor enclosure while the temps are good. Some shade areas, some water...

If they still have interest come winter, you'll need a terrarium or a very large aquarium.

They do like/need water but spend most time on dry ground.

Feed is approx. 1/2 green stuff and 1/2 meat stuff. Worms and such work good for the latter but I recall feeding them hamburger as well.

Box turtles are easy to care for. They eat fruits and vegetables. Make sure that what they don't eat, you remove before it spoils. I suggest starting out with melon or berries. My Russian Tortoise loved strawberries. Stay away from the iceberg lettuce, but Romaine & red leaf are good choices. Banana's are also a favorite. Meal worms and crickets are another good source of protean. They will drink out of a small dish, and once a week you can put them in the sink with a few inches of water for them to take a bath in. As winter approaches, you will need to make sure that the temperature is kept up high enough in the cage that the animal doesn't go into partial hibernation.
I suggest that you weigh them on a very small scale that weighs in ounces or grams to make sure that the tortoise isn't loosing body weight. Post a picture of the critter when you have time.... Junk..

bczoom said:

Feed is approx. 1/2 green stuff and 1/2 meat stuff. Worms and such work good for the latter but I recall feeding them hamburger as well.

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You should never feed any turtle hamburger or any meat for that matter. They can't digest the protean and the meat can also lead to salmonella poisoning in turtles and humans.
If you are going to keep it, decide now, because if not, the turtle needs to develop its habitat for the upcoming winter and to build its energy resources to make it through hibernation in the wild and needs to be set free.
Below is a picture of my present box turtle....

Here is the little guy taking a stroll through an inch or two of water in part of the landscaping. He seems to like to poop in the water. Oh well, I suppose I do as well.

And, yes, it's a phone pic...

bczoom said:

I had one as a kid but think I killed it...

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Junkman said:

You should never feed any turtle hamburger or any meat for that matter.

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Nuff said

Last night I took the family out to a "Florida Cracker" style restaurant and we ate turtle (its called Cooter down here) as well as alligator tale and a bucket of crawfish (mudbugs).

If you want, I can bring back some receipes for "Cooter" and you can have a family cookout.

B_Skurka said:

If you want, I can bring back some receipes for "Cooter" and you can have a family cookout.

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Warning: small son has potent BB gun...

Oh, my mistake, I thought you wanted to keep it long enough to fatten it up until it was a good size for eating. My bad.

B_Skurka said:

Oh, my mistake, I thought you wanted to keep it long enough to fatten it up until it was a good size for eating. My bad.

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I think Dargo's youngest son would be in college before that happens.

**Update**

I'll be darn. The turtle seems to be doing just fine. He seems to like melon, banana, and corn on the cob. I was concerned that he wouldn't eat, but that worry seems to be unfounded. My youngest son seems to want to carry the darn turtle around with him everywhere. Strange enough, when he sits the turtle down, it actually just sits next to him and looks around or sleeps. If someone else approaches he bolts off at a surprising pace!

I guess he seems to be fitting in nicely and now I won't have to buy a darn rodent for a pet for him.

What about the dogs & the turtle?

Any confrontations?

Here's a turtle tongue twister for your tiny tot.... :

-Thirty little turtles in a bottle of bottled water.
-A bottle of bottled water held thirty little turtles.
-It didn't matter that each turtle had to rattle a metal ladle in order to get a little bit of noodles, a total turtle treat.
-The problem was that there were many turtle battles for less than oodles of noodles...

Ok Jakki that was pretty good, but Jimmy Buffet made up this little ditty a few years back live on Chicago radio about a sea turtle that was attempting to mate with divers off Key Largo. Jimmy has a great sense of humor and is genuinely a nice guy, we were able to meet him in Key West a dozen years ago and while the meeting was just a chance encounter, he took the time to sit and chat with us over a beer (it was at his restaurant and he bought the round). I also was lucky and happened to hear this live as it was being composed.

Well, I just finished building a much larger "home" for the box turtle. And, oh yeah, he is actually a she. Her new digs includes a wading pool (paint tray sunken into the floor of her cage), an artificial half log that she sleeps in but, for some reason, feels the need to climb several times a day, and a sun bathing area replete with a heat lamp on an automatic timer. The bottom is 3" of sterilized potting soil sans the vermiculite or pine. I buy worms at the pet store and turn them loose in the cage. She (now named Nina) seems rather adept at digging them out when she is hungry. She also loves grasshoppers, crickets and spiders.

Anyway, here is an article that appeared in our local paper this morning. I'll have to cut and paste it because they require logins to view the article from a link. Here it is:
Apparently when counting the rings on the scutes, the above mentioned turtle was about 15 years old when the guy brought it home. It looks like my son may have his turtle for a while now...

Brent, so apparently you need to put a toaster on your front porch so your turtle can see her posse?

By the way, nice description of the new turtle house, but . . .

I'll have to post pics of the "turtle den", as it's called later. I just jumped off of the mower (my grasshopper) and grabbed a huge grasshopper for the turtle. I figured that she might be afraid of it because it was about 3" long. After the damn thing spitting all over me, I finally got it by the rear legs and carried it in to the turtle, uhm, I mean to Nina.

I lowered the grasshopper offering down into the cage until it was about 2" from her face. I couldn't let it go because it would jump out. Nina slowly put her head out and put her nose right against my thumb. Oh great, I thought, now I get bit by the turtle trying to feed it. Instead, she then slowly turned to the grasshopper and, in a flash, chomped it!

I let it go and the battle was on. The front half of the grasshopper tried to scamper off while it's rear part was being eaten. With rather surprising speed, Nina dropped the rear half and quickly pursued the front half until she managed to pin it down with one front leg. Then, with perfect aim, she bit it's head off and ate it. No longer in a hurry, she seemed to enjoy dining on the rest of the grasshopper over the next 5 minutes or so. She ate everything except one wing and the feet. Cool! My six year old and I are best buds now!

I just had a hard time explaining to him that Nina ate a huge meal and wouldn't likely be hungry for another such feast for a couple of days.

Cool story Dargo. We had a Labrador Retriever who used to bring box turtles home from the creek bottom and put them on the front porch. My daughter would take them back down to the creek, and he would find them and bring them back again. One day he brought home a whitetail fawn unharmed . We named him "Lucky" and raised him till he was big enough to fend for himself then took him to a wildlife rehab park here and turned him back to the wild. That's another thread for another time, though.