New Turtle

[DragonoftheMountain]

I have acquired a box turtle. A neighbor found her wandering on the side of the road near a field and called me to come pick it up. I was holding onto her for 24 hrs. in case she was wild and if she didn't eat then I was going to release her into a safe woody area near a stream I know of where she wouldn't come into contact with cars. But she has eaten for me, lounged in the pool of water I have in her enclosure and never once tried to box up and her shell is spotless. My friend who knows a bit about turtles agrees with me that most likely someone didn't want her anymore and released her into the field thinking that was a good place and she ended up almost getting run over by my neighbor (thankfully she saw the turtle before that happened!). She is very sweet and active and constantly on the move. For now, I bought a large rubbermaid tub to house her in and lined the bottom with bed-a-beast and put a large shallow pool in for her to sit in. she ate a bit of strawberry I put in for her (i didn't see, but she had some stuck around her mouth when I checked in on her) and I think she might've eaten a couple of the earthworms I found for her, since I couldn't find them in the bin. I named her Greta. When I am able to take pics of her I'll share them with everyone, she is beautiful.

~DOTM

PS- I just wanted to mention that I strongly feel you should never take an animal from the wild and because of this some of the reptile populations are struggling in the wild. I just wanted to mention that if I had any feeling that this turtle was wild I would let her go, but I do really believe she was a pet at one time. I just want to do the right thing for her.

Pics will come soon, cus I need to make sure my camera cable works.

 

[bubadeven98]

hey! I'm Soph and i have a hatchling musk turtle named deven. now, i must first ask you, how do you know greta's a girl? because i have no idea what deven is. but anyway, i checked out this site about box turtles and to get to the exact page type in- http://www.anapsid.org/box.html- and it talks about history, environment, food, ect. hope it helps! i'll try to post pics of Deven, too!

-Sophia and Deven

 

[DragonoftheMountain]

I know Greta is a girl because it says box turtle females have brown eyes as opposed to males to have red eyes and her bottom of her shell according to pics and stuff they say on the net is how a female'sshell should look. I'd love to see pics of your turtle . I am not sure how to tell how other species of turtles are male and female, but I am assuming the same way you look at the underside of box turtle is one way of telling gender. Greta is so far doing pretty good. she loves to soak in her water bowl as much as poss. and so far she seems to be eating some of the different worms I am putting in for her. Some earthworms, pheonix worms, and next I might try either butter worms or waxworms, cus I know if she won't eat them my BD will. I don't think my parents would appreciate a container of worms in their fridge if they aren't all eaten. She seems to pick at her salads. I have been trying to sun her outside as much as poss. and alternate my BD's MVB bulb between the two until Greta's MVB bulb gets shipped in. It cost twice as much for the bulb in the store as it did online WITH shipping! So, I really figured in between using natural sunlight and borrowing the BD's lamp every once in a while both the lizard and the turtle could make due till the bulb comes. I am hoping it gets here tomorrow. I am going to be moving in a few months to a townhouse where the backyard isn't huge and is fenced so I am hoping I can give Greta the run of the backyard there and put out a small pool of water for her and an over turned flowerpot or something for shelter as well as a dish for extra food. and that way I may even be able to keep her out all year 'round because she would probably be able to hibernate during winter.

~DOTM

Ps- my silly camera cord is not working so no pics yet

 

[tomboy1988]

Devan is much to young to sex without a vet doing it with probes and even then I doubt it'd be accurate. As for boxies, that way of sexing isn't fool proof. Their tails tell their sex. Look for vent placement and thickness of the tail.

 

[DragonoftheMountain]

Well, it has been forever since I posted in this thread! Greta is doing great. She IS a she. She went to the vet's and got an A+ in health, but her fecal had come back positive for hooks, so she is being dewormed. It looks like she is kind of unique in the fact that it seems she only has one nostril! Or so I can see on her face. She has laid two eggs, both infertile as she crushed one and the other was dented. (maybe she knocked against it or it was infertile in the first place) She is active, loves to eat and soak all the time in her water dish and will drink from it (sometimes before I can even change the dirty water. Gross! :roll: ) and is otherwise overall content as a turtle can be from what I can tell.

Here's pics of her. (I am technically/electronically challenged and I can only seem to be able to post links.)

Greta and her temporary habitat:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12406565@N02/3728506972/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12406565@N02/3728505298/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12406565@N02/3728505298/

~DOTM

 

[bubadeven98]

hey ppl! hoping my dad 2 somtime help me get pics on of deven . and guess wat :!: i got deven last year sometime in july, and since then he grew only half an inch :shock: :!: yet he is only supposed to grow to be 4 inches :| . and i also need to get him a much bigger cage. and he is now very comfortable with being a pet . at first when i got him he would go into his coconut shell and stay there unless there was food . now he hardly fits through the door :!: and now when i dip my pinky in his water i stick it in the food i have for him so it stays, and he eats right of my finger :!: except we got a bit 2 comforable with that, cuz a week ago he took my finger with him :shock: :!: and such a small mouth :!: but as soon as he felt my finger he snapped his head back and swam into his coconut hut at 100mph :arrow: . yes, he IS a musk turtle, not a snapper . otherwise, he wudda hung on :lol: :!: off 2 do some reasearch bout turtle stuff. bye :!: