r/Boxturtles

Hello everyone! Previous reptile owner here. Went to an estate sale and they gave me this guy for free. I kind of went off of my base knowledge of reptiles when i brought him home. he had no water or food (seen in photo 1). His light is a regular LED bulb. no red light or anything and they only fed him once a week. i know he’s a box turtle, it would help if i knew what kind and any care tips anyone has. I live in CO, i have no clue if he was store bought or wild caught. I took everything out of his enclosure and washed it, then i took a small container, cut and sanded it, and put rocks in the bottom so he could grip and to weigh it down. I gave him cucumber and blueberries as well to see if he was hungry at all. He drank water for a solid 10-15 minutes and after an hour, is eating. I want the best for this lil guy.

Found in Texas very far from a pond. He is very friendly and not scared of me at all which makes me think he might be an abandoned pet. I kinda want to keep him but I need to know what he is in order to feed him. He hasn’t been interested in the food I’ve given him so far.
UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who gave advice. I put it back last night. I was worried because I had never seen a turtle in our neighborhood before and our dog had gotten a hold of it so I wasn’t sure if it was hurt or if I needed to take it to a doctor. I appreciate your concern but some of y’all genuinely need a chill pill.

Ok, so I have a friend on Facebook who is in poor health who rehomed many of her pets. I took in a box turtle and this is the set up I got. I know. I know this is woefully lacking. So this is the history I was told about her: she was "rescued" from the wild by my friends daughter about 3 years ago. The turtle was found trapped in branches and vines? Since then she has lived in this 36x18 aquarium. She has been fed a primarily vegetarian diet with no vitamin or calcium supplements just the occasional turtle treats. The bulb that was in the light was a regular bulb, no UV ray. The last Pic is the set up I was given.

Last night I did a small makeover of her space (which i am aware is too small) I removed the towel and laid down a layer of LECA, a mesh screen and a couple inches of substrate. I added several much smaller pots rather than the one very large pot. It seemed that she enjoyed exploring and made several trips into the hide, and buried herself in the substrate but she also stands in the corner kinda staring at the glass. I added a tint, but im worried its just not dark enough.

Im also worried about the state of her shell and general health. What do I need to do next for my girl?

(NSFW for cyst contents and blood)

Every couple years an eastern box turtle shows up at my house during the annual travel between the two neighborhood creeks. They’re almost always female, but this one was a male. Usually, they hang around for a couple days or weeks, and I provide water and treats (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, cherry tomatoes, meal worms) before they continue on their way. I have noticed that they all seem to be roughly the same size when they show up at my house. I wonder if they leave the creek behind my house and transition to the other one at a certain age or something.

One day during creek travel season, I was sitting outside and noticed this dude in a bush. I told him “I don’t think your face is supposed to look like that,” and then apologized for insulting him. I then googled what the heck was going on and concluded he probably had bilateral aural abscesses. They were so big he could not fit his head back in his shell. I called a rehabber who’s helped me with wild animals before and luckily she was certified to rehab reptiles!

I put him in a turtle sized cardboard box and loosely folded it shut, as I was concerned about airflow. I did not realize what good climbers they are! The entire drive he was scritch-scratch climbing the inside of the box and poking his head out attempting a jailbreak. I eventually put a folder on the top of the box to try to contain him. It did not really do much lol. He was a stinker. He also peed in the box pretty early on. I do not think he liked me very much lol.

The rehabber debrided his abscesses and gave him some antibiotics. He was ready for pickup and release about a week later. To prevent a redo of the escape attempts, I borrowed a homemade small animal box from a friend to transport him.
When we got home I put him back under the same bush I found him in facing in the same direction. He stuck his head in the bush and showed me his butt. I do not think he enjoyed being kidnapped.

The third picture cracks me up because he looks so mad at me. Also notice the scar on his shell near his tail! Tough little accident prone dude!

I was curious if this is good growth and if it seems to be in good condition

Luna got some much needed outside time today!

nobody been posting turtle stuff so here yall go!

My 6 year old ornate box turtle became sexually mature this year and I don’t know what to do with him aside from what I’m already doing which is keeping him confined to his own enclosure. I have three separate enclosures, one with an adult female and two juveniles and another with two males and one female, all 6-7 years old. Everyone gets along but I had to set up a new separate enclosure for this guy this year and I feel sort of bad. He is so riled up that he’s not even interested in the worms I’m trying to feed him. Occasionally, I put him in the enclosure with the older turtles to see if he can behave himself and he instantly makes a bee line for one of the turtles (he doesn’t discriminate what sex they are) and will chase them down and try to bite them and then try to mate with them. It’s stressful for them so back in solitary confinement he goes but I start to worry when he doesn’t seem interested in food because he has higher priorities on his mind.

I’m including a video of him right after I separated him from the other turtles because he was harassing them so then he zooms around his enclosure rearranging furniture on his mad hunt for a mate. I feel for this guy but he’s sort of a menace to the rest of the crew who all seem to respect boundaries 🤣

My three toed has had some mild puffy eyes, and I’m really worried :/ .. I could use any advice please!

I dechlorinate my hose water with API, he eats nightcrawlers and super worms sprinkled with the reptivite vitamin, and his substrate is organic topsoil.

The only thing I’m worried about is I should have gone with coconut coir instead of the topsoil, maybe the wood chips are bad? He had coco fiber when he was living inside but it was too expensive to fill his 8x4 enclosure. Here is a pic for reference.

To eat a rotten watermelon. I was so disappointed that I left this melon too long before harvesting but my box turtles enjoyed it. There were six at one point but one skedaddled before I could get back with my phone. (I maintain a sanctuary for non-releasable EBT. 4 of these five I raised from eggs laid by those females. They are in a very large outdoor enclosure and a high percentage are female. I do not sell or give away. Properly licensed in my state.)

I'm new to both reddit posting and having a turtle. My moms boyfriend brought us a turtle he couldn't take care of(him and his kids literally picked it up off the road a few years ago) When they brought her to my house she was in a literal hamster cage with wood shavings as her substrate. I did a bunch of research and put her in the tank I was originally going to use for an aquatic turtle I didn't get bc i'm in the attic.(it's an 100gal galvanized tank that i epoxied).

My main questions/struggles would be how do i keep the substrate from molding but still holding moisture? Right now it's a mix of organic top soil,organic soil, and Some coco coir stuff.
I don't know if i should add plants and what kind? and she won't eat properly. Only when it has worms in it. I know turtles are smart and i want to be recognized and have a bond but i don't know if that's possible.
The enclosure is much larger than what she was in but it's crammed with stuff in it, because it was originally for an aquatic turtle so it's taller than it is wide. The light situation looks stupid because i have nothing to hang it on. The black things are pond liners to attempt to keep in some humidity and heat because my AC is always on.I was thinking of making a diy type of ramp as a second floor for basking but I don't know how. This is stupidly long for my first post i'm sorry. But please i'll take any advice

My girl has this chronic dry spot on her head, anybody know what it could be? Fungus? skin cancer?
Any recommendations to treat?

I would also take any recs for knowledgeable box turtle vets in Los Angeles area

Fun fact, I’m immune to poison ivy.