If herpetology is botany, than herp husbandry is horticulture. - Ty Smith 2024 This is a bit outta left field I am sure, but we have all been to numerous facilities such as museums, parks, and nature centers and have sometimes been amazed and sometimes horrified of exhibits. These education exhibits are often people's first, real introduction at a species. These experiences are crucial to educating people on these animals, and how important they are to the ecosystem. For snakes especially, this is one of, if not the best way, to get people over their fears and to stop the vilification of snakes. That said, there has been a huge disconnect between people who care for these animals, and people who find these animals in the wild. There are many ways to display an animal and give it all it needs. That said, we need to make sure we are telling the story that we want to tell. For example, a glass box with two inches of aspen shavings, a cat's water bowl, two black-plastic hides, and a plastic bin (with a hole cut in) full of wet sphagnum moss provides pretty much all of a Cornsnake's "needs" (I will go more in depth later), but does it make a connection with nature? I do not think it does. The reaction from guest is often, "Oh, cool! They have a pet snake." What we want, is people to see that animal as if it was in nature. This isn't a "pet" but a piece of what nature has to offer. We want people to be awestruck about a beautiful animal in a beautiful setting. Now, I will say straight forward, all care guides, including mine, are mostly opinion. Sure, they are all backed-up by facts. For example: In my opinion you should provide a water bowl, because the fact is your animal will die without water. You don't have to follow my advice to a "T", but at least listen to the reasoning behind it and account for these considerations accordingly. I am writing these not only to give guidance on displaying animals, but because care has changed a lot in even the last ten years. I have worked for state parks, and I see animals pretty much passed down to "generations" of new rangers as well as the care information. Often rangers are trained to care for the animal as part of their job, but often we see rangers are listening to what they were taught, and not exploring newer care information. This is why I have been places, not just state parks, and have seen care guides from 1992 laying around offices. Almost all of the science of the 90's for herp care was pretty much: "I did this, and it died. Don't do that. I did this, and it didn't die. This is okay." Now we have learned more, and we understand these animals so much more. There is still a lot of trial and error studies, but it is not as dangerous to the animals and we have had over 30 years worth of learning since then. The internet has made care information so much more available as well. What makes me very angry however, is going to a big-box store and seeing a outdated, minimalistic care guide because they want to sell an animal to a child. It truly bothers me when these store treat animals this way. Many are very anti-breeding of the animals they are selling, yet they are usually buying them from "farms" which are usually the the equivalent to puppy mills but for reptiles. On top of this, activist groups support these places because of the general misinformation they are fed by the media and these chains. Get your animals from a reputable breeder, or good local pet store that buys from breeders or wholesalers that buy from breeders. These people care about the animals, care for the animals enough to answer your questions, if they have employees they are well trained and versed in the care of that animal, and are not hiring 16-year-olds that wanted a first job and thought hamsters are cute so now they are in the reptile section. I really don't want to see educators get turned on by animal advocacy groups or worse, face charges for animal neglect. There is always some self-righteous individual who wants you to lose your animals. Sometimes you can do things perfectly, but they don't think animals should be kept as pets or they just want to troll. I hope to share some tips to keep you out of legal trouble. That said, some people are delusional, and will provoke situations out of such delusions or, worse yet, for fun. A lot of snake keepers stopped selling snake sheds (usually to jewelry makers), because activism groups would buy them and stage them in malls, mailboxes, and other public spaces in hopes that the public outrage of a large or venomous animal on the loose would lead to the banning of the reptile keeping hobby. This is the same type of misinformation pushing that leads people to think all of the Burmese Pythons in Florida are discarded pets; for context, a single research facility got destroyed in Hurricane Andrew, and all of the DNA test on pythons in Florida, point to them all being descendants of the hundreds of snakes lost in that disaster. That is not what the hobby is about, and while there is a few bad apples, most people strive to keep their animals happy and healthy. Drunk drivers kill many people in the US every year, but we don't ban drinking or driving because not everyone who drinks alcohol or (notice I said "or" and not "and") drives a car is a hurting anyone or anything. We want to keep this kind of drama out of our nature centers. We want to be the most professional and safest "drivers" on the reptile-keeping road. An (Long) Introduction to Eastern Box TurtlesOh, boy. Now, I left in my typical intro to these articles, but I have to say it here. I am a little apprehensive about this article's naming convention. First off, if you are in Virginia and you are not an educator, you probably will struggle to find one legally... Eastern Box Turtles are illegal to own as of 2021. Now, I do have an Eastern Box Turtle, but I received him as a rescue in 2018 and he is registered with the Department of Wildlife Resources. There is a fear of collection with this species as this species has a low recruitment rate (recruitment meaning juveniles surviving until breeding adults to continue the species). There is some evidence that in a Eastern Box Turtles lifespan, maybe two of its offspring will reach adulthood.
So, if you are an educational facility and want an Eastern Box Turtle, work with the state and rehabers to try to find a non-releasable captive. I am not even going to guarantee this is a viable option, as transition of possession of these animals can be legally "sticky" as well. For these reasons, I hesitated to create this care guide, but people do keep these animals in educational facilities, as pets in other states, and even illegally. I would rather give a care guide to someone keeping these animals illegally, than have that animal be neglected (though that is not my intent). I also realize, some people will probably read this and realize that they have a box turtle illegally and will be tasked with a decision. I cannot offer guidance for such decision, but some rehabers and the Box Turtle Sanctuary of Central Virginia may have some help to offer. This guide should also help deter some people from taking these animals, as they are not overly easy reptiles to keep. Many people will disagree with me, but these turtles are not good beginner reptiles. They can take so much abuse, and shake it off quite well. Just because these animals are "bullet proof", doesn't mean you should "shoot" them. In fact, I would say Eastern Box Turtles are probably the most commonly abused/neglected native species in care. I am going to show you a lot of what these poorly cared for animals look like. Now, if you go to a wildlife center and see a box turtle with evidence of neglect, don't go off on that center. Many of these disorders take years to heal, if they heal at all. I have been keeping my box turtle on a pretty tight regiment, and he still suffers from metabolic bone disease, which he developed prior to my care, and it will never heal. Many shell abnormalities that come from poor care will never heal. Just because you see a captive turtle with clear signs of abuse, doesn't mean the current institution is abusing the animal. Keep in mind that in captivity this species can live 70-123 years. Now, the Eastern Box Turtle is a subspecies of the Common Box Turtle (often called the Woodland Box Turtle). These are meadow and forest dwellers, that spend most of their time following instinctual "routes". Along these routes, box turtles find food and occasionally a mate. That is pretty much how finding a mate works for these guys. They just bump into each other. Yes, males will spar if they need to, but there is no courtship or elaborate rituals. Often, these turtles move the most when it is not too warm or cold, but they do like it moist. After a rain is a great time to see these animals. When you follow old trails though, habitat fragmentation is a huge problem. Humans build roads, buildings, and open areas in box turtle trails all of the time. Countless box turtles die in the road and are picked off by natural predators and pets when traveling through open areas like yards. Oh, and kids pick them up, try to keep them as pets, paint their shells, and many more damaging behaviors. EnclosureEastern Box Turtles are active roamers. They need a lot of space. Eight square feet of floor space is the minimum for an Eastern Box Turtle. I strongly say this is the bare minimum as well. This enclosure should be much bigger if possible. I would only use an enclosure this small in the winter as well if you bring your turtle inside. I have seen people achieve this with cattle troughs, homemade wooden enclosures, raised beds, and more. I am currently using a kiddie pool with step-in post, dog wire, and zip-ties for my turtle. I have punched holes in the bottom for drainage as well. It is pretty "redneck", but effective. This is an outdoor enclosure, which I recommend you do if you are in an area from Florida to Canada. This kiddie pool is half-full of soil, and is just over sixteen square feet, though we are in the process of building a new enclosure, which will be 12'x4'. Of course, hatchlings can be kept in smaller enclosures, and stepped-up as needed. I like enclosures with rounded edges, or something to block the corners off. Why? Well look for the answer down in "Feeding and Health" For a fun conundrum to work out, box turtles need some direct sunlight in the enclosure as well as shade and cooler areas. In addition, if they can see out, they will desperately attempt to escape, causing stress and occasionally injuries to the turtle. They are good diggers too, so yes, they can dig under and out of some cages. I recommend having a short wall that the turtle cannot see over, yet sun can come over it and reach to soils in the enclosure. Six to eight inches of this will work fine, and if the bottom isn't closed in, I would bury the wire eight inches or more as well. Males should be housed separately of other turtles. Males can be aggressive to one another, and you don't want these animals breeding in an educational setting. Yes, you can get around some of these issues and successfully keep two males together with and without females, but the general public, when it comes to reptile care, thinks cohabitating animals is bad in almost all cases, so you don't want to have any issues, like two sparing males, to trigger possible complaints. SubstrateSubstrate is very important for Eastern Box Turtles. They need a good, moist substrate to keep their skin and shell looking good. I prefer to use a topsoil and sand mixture (heavier on the topsoil). This allows the top to dry out, while holding moisture within the first few inches. You can use a little mulch and sphagnum as well to give a more natural texture, but don't make it too mulchy. You should have six or more inches of substrate in the enclosure. Cover at least half of the soil with fallen leaves to hold in some more soil moisture. I strongly recommend this be bioactive, which will happen naturally outside, but you will have to add a soil-dwelling clean-up crew if indoors. If adding a clean-up crew (isopods and springtails), I would sprinkle some calcium under the leaves. Mist the soil as often as is needed to keep a good moisture gradient. As far as isopod species, box turtles will eat isopods quite aggressively, so I should stick with a smaller, shyer species. Heating and LightingIf you are keeping your turtle outside, this is super easy. Give your turtle a place to bask, and places to escape the heat. Indoors, you will have to supply UVA and UVB. A UVA heat light heating a basking site to around 90F degrees, and a UVB light that is half of the enclosure's length (keep it on the warm side) will provide what your turtle needs. This light can be a T5 bulb sold as a 6%, shade dweller, tropical, or forest dweller and all of these are fine as they are all pretty much the same. You can use LEDs or grow lights on the cool side to add light for live plants or just display, but give the turtle some shady retreats. Your heat bulb should be on a thermostat. Also, don't panic if your hotspot is 2-3 degrees off of the target of 90F. You can adjust the thermostat to achieve these temperatures. Outdoors, try to situate your enclosure to get good morning sun and a fair bit of afternoon shade. This allows the enclosure to cool at the hottest times, but warm-up when the box turtles tend to bask. To measure these temperatures, you can use either a digital thermometer with a probe, but box turtles will pull the chord up and move it, bite it, tear it, or anything else they can do to destroy it. I recommend using a temp gun which you can buy at a hardware store. Check temps a few times per day, until you get comfortable with reading your animal's body language. If the animal is staying on the cool end or the warm end more than usual, check your temps. Oh, and never use those hang-on-back thermometers that look like a little clock. They are notoriously inaccurate and break easily. Also, your turtle is probably not experiencing the temperatures that these thermometers are while hanging eight inches or more off of the ground. Humidity and WaterYou probably know box turtles can't swim... Well, that is a lie! Now, don't throw one in a pond, as they use their lungs to help with buoyancy, but they do love to soak and swim in shallow pools. I offer water in a 3 gallon feeding bowl (meant for livestock) which is buried in the soil. My box turtle will get in there to cool off and even swim a fair bit. I have some gravel in the bottom so he can climb out easily, and he will kick the gravel around searching for prey in the water. I mentioned soil moisture above, but I will say it again. The top should be fairly dry, and it should get more humid as you dig in. Ambient humidity should be very high, as our humidity is around 78%. They like it warm and wet, but be cautious when temps randomly drop. Cold and wet will lead to respiratory issues. DecorBox turtles will dig, and root-up decor, but in my experience, they do fine with live plants. I like to plant native plants in the enclosure and let them establish. I try to include some bushier plants for shade, and narrower plants, but I keep some space between pants so the turtle can move around them. You can half bury logs or place large rocks in that extend bottom to top (so they don't crush themselves when digging). A good hide, which I like to incorporate, is to bury two standard cinder blocks in the soil, and put a patio paver on top to make a little "house". If you bury it correctly with one side open, it give the turtle a nice burrow, and the top makes a great basking platform. Some good, native plants you can use and find at a greenhouse would be Black-eyed Susans (Rudbeckia hirta), Dense Blazing Star (Liatris spicata), Lobed Coreopsis (Coreopsis auriculata), as well as some other Coreopsis sp., Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella), Mayapple (Podophyllum peltatum), Virginia Sweetspire (Itea virginica), blueberries (Vaccinium sp.), Virginia Strawberry (Fragaria virginiana), blackberries (Rubus sp.), Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), and countless other species. You can consult my Best Virginia Native Plants for Eastern Box Turtles article for more. As far as non-natives (not my first choice), they will do well with clovers, hibiscus, and mustard greens which all are edible for your turtle as well. Feeding and Health (the Long Section)Box turtles have seemed pretty easy so far right? Well, here comes the tough stuff. I always ask at programs, "What do Eastern Box Turtles eat?" I get mainly plant-based answers and a couple insect or worm answers. Eastern Box Turtles are omnivores, and feed on not just vegetables, but also some meats. I have seen a box turtle munching on a road-killed Virginia Opossum, as well as I have seen one in the rib cage of a dead deer eating the organ meat. I have watched them chase lizards, but obviously not catch them. If a box turtle were to find an Eastern Wormsnake, I would bet it would eat it. Our rescued box turtle was being fed live mice prior to us taking him in. This is abnormal, but it shows that box turtles are capable hunters.
Greens and Vegetables *Best*
Greens and Vegetables *Occasional*
Greens and Vegetables *Avoid*
Many of the vegetables to avoid are high in oxalic acid, which binds calcium. In very low doses, it is fine, but I generally just avoid them all together. Iceberg Lettuce and Celery offer no nutrients, and corn is a grain and is not something these animals tend to eat naturally. Other lettuces are fine, they are just not as nutrient rich as other greens. Cucumbers are similar, where they offer great hydration, but little else. Broccoli is low in oxalic acid, but low in calcium; while Swiss Chard has more oxalic acid, but it is super high in calcium to beyond balance this out. Now there are more than what you see above. I would see what is at your grocery store and research it to see if it is safe. My last note here is that yellow, orange, and red bell peppers are awesome, and high in calcium and vitamin A and C. I try to incorporate orange bell peppers in most meals. The capsaicin, the component that makes peppers hot, only affects mammals and not birds or other reptiles. Berries are a grouping of fruits that include things such as watermelons. Yes, the watermelon is the largest berry. It is hard to classify all of this because culinary and biologic definitions contradict and it makes it so hard. Really, I just lump in all sweet fruits into this group. Below are several options. Berries and Other Sweet Fruits
You will have to gage your box turtle's behavior when it comes to fruit. Sometimes, box turtles will pick-out the fruit and leave their greens. In these cases, you can either puree the fruit, or use baby food as a dressing. This means the turtle has to eat the greens for the sweet fruit, but everything has a berry flavor. Even then, you may have to be sly with some fruits. If I put cantaloupe in a salad, my box turtle will pick out the cantaloupe as he loves it. So, insted, I don't use it in salads, but as a stand alone treat every so often. None of my animals like dragon fruit though, for some reason. I suspect in the past, when I have gotten it, it was not completely ripe, as it tasted pretty bland to me as well. Insects are an important part of a box turtle's diets. Here are some great options below. Insects and the Like
All feeders (except Soldier Fly larvae) should be dusted in calcium with vitamin D3, as insects have high phosphorus to calcium ratios. Vertebrates need calcium to manage their metabolism, pH, bone health, muscle health, and much more. It takes calcium for vertebrates to process phosphorus, so this is why we should always supplement insect-eating reptiles with calcium. Black Soldier Fly larvae are one of the only insect feeders that have more calcium than phosphorus. I like to offer insects alive as treats (on days where I don't give a salad), and it allows the box turtle to intelligently dismember its prey as they would in nature. Sometimes, due to their smaller size, will crush Black Soldier Fly larvae's heads with forceps and include them in a salad. They will eat them live, but they move quicker than the turtle can eat them. You could also throw some in a plastic bag and freeze them for a few minutes, to kill them, and let them thaw back out. Box turtles seem to really dislike freeze-dried foods, so they probably won't willingly eat the freeze-dried worms you get for chickens. Meats should be fairly lean. Here are some of my personal go-tos below. Meats
Now, your meats can be bought at the grocery store, or you can get Reptilinks. I feed a link that is 25% veg, 25% fruit, 25% insect, and 25% rabbit once a week, and mix a little bit of something else above in a salad. I dust this link with calcium with D3 as well.
I like to offer bee pollen to all of my animals that feed on insects or flowers. It is rich in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that are greatly beneficial to your animal. Animals eat it in trace amounts from flowers or from feeding on the pollinators themselves. These may be trace amounts per flower, but how many flowers is your animal eating? In the case of box turtles, that is a lot. If you haven't realized, calcium is important. I have had people tell me, in the past, my animals are in risk of overdosing on calcium. Now, overdosing on many vitamins can happen, which is why I limit the powdered vitamin supplements to once a week, but calcium is nearly impossible to overdose on. If the vertebrate body has a sufficient amount of calcium to work properly, it just doesn't synthesize any more and passes in the waste. Your turtle would have to eat enough much calcium, and not enough moisture, to cause a blockage in order to die from too much calcium intake. In other words, you would have to starve and dehydrate your turtle, all while force feeding it several spoon-fulls of calcium at once Calcium is critical for invertebrates and especially turtles. Calcium deficiencies cause life threatening disorders such as shell pyramiding/abnormalities, shell rot, metabolic bone disease, immunity deficiencies, digestion issues, and so much more. Many of these will never heal. Your turtle NEEDS calcium. Feeding it calcium alone though isn't going to cut it. Your turtle needs vitamin D3 and UVB to synthesize the calcium into its body. Funny enough, you need this as well. This is why some of the first vitamins doctors recommend older patients is calcium and D3. I will never forget, when I worked for parks, I had a guy argue with me over how he had a box turtle that lived just well for eight years in his care without "this fancy lighting and vitamins". I reminded him that a box turtle should live 70 or more years in captivity, and not eight, but I quickly learned that arguing with someone like this who has their mind set is frivolous and pointless; no matter how good your points are. So, let's talk about these health issues.
Shell rot is a rotting that typically starts in the keratin scutes of the shell, but will spread to the bone itself if not treated. Poor nutrition, lighting, excess moisture, and/or exposure to infected are generally contributing factors. This usually appears as tiny, circular spots in the outer layer of the keratin, and eventually it will expose bone. There are several treatment options, but you will need to make a change as well to treat this. This will usually take several months to years to heal. It is very similar in nature to tooth decay, except the turtle can heal over some small infections in the bone itself, unlike our teeth. Metabolic bone disease (MBD) is a big one for captive reptiles. This comes from poor calcium synthesization. The turtle's body needs the calcium to survive, and as result it starts stripping it from the existing bone. This leads to some arthritis like symptoms that can escalate into rubbery bones in severe cases. MBD can be lethal, and while you can do things to help with this, it is irreversible. Often times, when we see this disease in captive reptiles, we can quickly say the issue is a lighting issue, as this seems to be the number one cause of this issue.
I use terracotta pot basins (like you would set under a flower pot to catch access water), as they are shallow and wide and the material helps to wear their ever growing beaks down. The normal shape of the top mandible, acts to file and sharpen the bottom. If the top mandible is misshapen, then the lower likely will be as well. Beak issues can lead to difficulty eating as well, meaning the animal is not taking in nutrients as it should, and cause other issues higher up on the list. Beak rot is another issue. This is when the beak erodes and is not being replaced with keratin, usually due to a lack of nutrients. Mouth rot is horrible, and this is the deterioration of the soft, mouth tissues. This could be caused by lack of Vitamin A, gingivitis, or even Rhinovirus. Foot problems can arise for several reasons as well. You or your vet may need to trim your turtle's nails if they are not being worn down enough. I have never had to trim nails on my box turtle, but if they are kept on a softer substrate that they cannot dig through or a flat bottom enclosure, this happens. Joint issues and foot wear can happen when the turtle is kept on too hard of a substrate, such as concrete, or too soft of a substrate, like pure sand. This is not to say gravel or sandy areas in the enclosure are bad for your turtles, but these shouldn't be the majority of the enclosure. Wow... Remember I said this was a long section, well we aren't done yet. While they aren't fast, box turtles need exercise. I said earlier that box turtles spend a good portion of their day roaming. If your box turtle is in a square enclosure, it my walk into a corner and try to keep going and seem "stuck". They are so stubborn... If you pull the turtle out, it will walk right back into the corner. This leads to less exercise than one would get in a round or "race track" shaped enclosure. In homemade, wooden enclosure I have used in the past, I have put a six inch board in the corners to flatten out the corner as much as possible, to much success. Either way, you will want to let your turtle out for walks. You can do this indoors or outdoors as long as you take proper safety precautions. Electrical cords, dogs, temperatures, escapes, and other dangers should all be considered prior to letting your turtle roam. Keep an eye on your turtle to help prevent escapes or attacks from animals like hawks. Brumation is another part of keeping box turtles. You can do this outside, in the enclosure if your within their native range and have enough substrate and leaflitter, or you can bring them inside for the winter. You can brumate them in a cool, dark room with little moisture (I offer a water bowl though), or opt to just keep them in an indoor enclosure. Their bodies like the rest though, so I recommend you brumate. I ramp up feeding (to tack on some needed body fat) towards the end of September and continue until day time temperatures start dropping below the 70's. Then, I will lessing the feedings to slow his metabolism for a couple weeks, and then stop feeding (usually late October in my area) and let him enjoy the last few warm days. This fasting is important to make sure the animal has no food in its digestive tract when it goes into brumation, as this food would not digest but only rot in his stomach. Then, I bring him inside and put him in a bin in our basement. Come March, I take him out and put him in a 4" x 2" enclosure in the reptile room, and after a week up there in the dark, I cut the heat on. After a few days, I will offer him food. I watch him indoors until mid April, as this is the most likely time for infections to occur. Then when the day time temps stay above 70F, I put him in the large outdoor enclosure. I don't worry too much unless I see we are having a night time drop into the 30's, at which point I bring him indoors for the night. CleaningI will try to keep this brief. If your inclosure is outside, planted with live plants, and plenty spacious, you will not have to clean much if any. I hose out the water bowl when it starts growing algae, and that is most of the maintenance. Indoors however, yes, you will have to spot clean a box turtle enclosure often. There will be food scraps, feces, and utter destruction to clean up nearly daily. Wrapping it Up...Eastern Box Turtles seem very easy until you dive into to feeding and health. Meal prepping for a box turtle is one of the most time consuming retile care practices I perform on a weekly basis. My box turtle struggles with MBD as well due to his care in the two years prior to me taking him in, and some injuries such as missing toes from a dog attack (also prior to me taking him in). That said, he is thriving in my care and looks better and better each year. His hind legs are still sprawled out awkwardly from the disease, but he seems more and more mobile each year. Good food, calcium, proper lighting, and space are the most important things to consider for all turtles. Turtles are very tough, and therefore often abused animals. If you are wondering if you should get a box turtle for your facility, consider these thoughts and my care routines and talk to rehabbers.
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Ty (the SnakeMan) SmithTy is a Master Naturalist (with over 1,000 hours of volunteer service), former State Park Naturalist, and Virginia Herpetological Society (VHS) member with an expertise in East Coast Herp identification and southeastern species habitat/distribution. Archives
June 2024
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