r/Boxturtles

Hey all, I recently got a 3-toed box turtle, and she has been adjusting well to her new home to my best knowledge. However, with food, it’s a bit strange. I have tried to feed her romaine, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, baby carrots, turtle food pellets, even all mixed in together with fresh-killed crickets. She will eat the dead crickets, but won’t eat anything else. She will also eat them live, and very happily. She doesn’t hesitate to eat them, but everything else she refuses. All the produce foods are store bought if that means anything, is there something I’m doing wrong? Any advice would be great!

Hi guys! I was looking for some advice on here, I work in vet med at an animal shelter. Yesterday we had a mom come in with her little boy (who was VERY upset lol) and surrendered this baby box turtle. Intake did not ask the boy where he took it from, no fault of their own they did not know about box turtles and how they stay within a mile radius of there homes. They are used to cat and dog surrenders. The boy was also keeping the box turtle inside, and I do not know for how long. The turtle is smaller than a golf ball. Anyways, I opted to take the turtle home with me, because we don’t have space right now to house animals, let alone a turtle. And I have a quite large yard and garden. After doing some research I found out about the mile radius, and how sometimes they will search for their homes forever. Now I am unsure what to do, I was going to release him/her into my garden and let him go about his way, but now I am scared he won’t make it. I’ve been watching tons of YouTube videos, and considering making him and enclosure on my property, so he’s safe from predators and I would more than happily take good care of the fella. There is no reptile rehabilitations for turtles in my state, only a “reptile house and rescue” place that would keep him in an enclosure as well. The next rehabs I could find are a state over. I live in West Virginia. I have done a lot of rehabs myself, with working in vet med, birds, squirrels etc. so I want everyone to know I am willing to put in the time, resource and research for this guy. Would it be wrong to build him an enclosure in my garden? Of course I will upgrade size of enclosure to meet his needs over the years. Will he stand a chance if I let him free in my garden? Please don’t be harsh on me, or my fellow coworkers as this was a type of situation we do not come across very often.

just dawned on me that all water my box turtle has interacted with since I got her (water bowl, soaking dish, and misting) has all been tap water. I live in the usa and with the additives i’m glad it hasn’t been harmful yet.

is it still okay to be using it for her misting and water or should I be using something else? is this something others have thought of?

I (17) have had my EBT for around 10/12 years now. Recently I started buying her more live food since I can finally afford it, but she’s acting kind of strange with it. Instead of eating the roaches, crickets, and worms, she’s just hunting and killing them, then leaving the bodies piled up on one of her rocks. There’s was a pile of like 9 bugs within about 10 minutes.

She’s had crickets and worms before with no issues, and her tank is definitely big enough for live feeders, but now the second she sees movement she goes after them and doesn’t actually eat most of them. I bought 48 Dubia roaches today and almost half of them are already dead in the pile.

Am I doing something wrong, or is this normal behavior? Do I need to buy a breeding box for the bugs instead?

Hey everyone, I love eastern box turtles, and have for years. I've tried to learn everything I can about them. I have a rural mail route, and see lots of box turtles. For the last two years, I've been keeping notes on where I see them, if they're male or female, and recently I've started weighing and measuring them. I have data on about 120 box turtles.

I have no degree, no formal training, and no connections with any research or conservation group. I'm just autistic and like turtles and data collection.

I want to put my data to good use. I want to help conserve this awesome species. I've read that people have a really hard time finding them in the wild, and that conservation groups struggle with lack of data. I want to help, but have no clue where to start. I could really use some advice.

Thank you!

Got my daughter a baby box turtle a week ago. I was told to feed it mainly leafy greens (with calcium powder) some fruit and the occasional worm. It ignores all greens, walks away from them like they’re not even there and goes crazy every time we feed it a worm. My questions are: 1) can they live on a worm-only diet? 2) how often should they been eating worms (again it’s a baby)?