Ornate Box Turtle

Description

Ornate box turtle for sale

Box turtles are some of the most popular species of turtles for sale in the world.  Box turtles are mostly found in North America and include the 3 toed, Eastern Western or Ornate box turtle for sale, as well as the Eastern box turtle for sale and a few other species.  Also, asian sub species exist including both Asian box turtles and Chinese box turtle for sale.  Baby box turtles for sale can be found throughout the year, but easier during the warm summer months.

Ornate box turtles for sale are some of the most colorful of all the box turtle families.  Baby box turtles all do look similar, however they quickly start to look like their older counterparts as they mature.  Certain states do not permit owning native box turtle species, so sometimes you will need to buy a box turtle for sale that is not native to your area.  When considering any turtle or tortoise for sale, doing your homework and researching care ahead of time is key to successfully keeping them.

Ornate Box turtle care

General box turtle care includes habitat construction, maintaining proper UVB lighting, humidity, temperature, feeding and proper substrate.  Below we will discuss a few options for properly caring for your new captive bred box turtle.  When considering multiple box turtles for sale, we recommend purchasing females as they can live together peacefully.  Keeping more than one male box turtle together is not a good idea as they may fight once mature.

Ornate Box turtle for sale – habitat

Ornate Box turtle habitats can be anything from a box turtle aquarium setup to a dry box turtle table or box kit.  The key to setting it up correctly depends on the age of your box turtle and the climate within the room or outside area you choose to place the setup.  3 Toed box turtles for sale, as well as Ornate box turtles, Florida box turtles and Eastern box turtles use similar setups.  Both Ornate and Florida box turtles will prefer more sun, whereas the other species prefer more shade and cover like the Eastern and 3 toed box turtle for sale.

A simple aquarium may be used, something in the range of 40-55 gallons and will work for up to 4-5 years of age.  Once larger the box turtle really should have something closer to 2×4′ and a box or table can be built.  Alternatively a 75 gallon or 100 gallon aquarium can be used to house up to 4 adult box turtles.  Provide ample UVB lighting, a hot spot that is around 90 degrees and a cool zone that is around 75 degrees.  A humid or damp hide is recommended as is a shallow water bowl that the animal can safely enter and exit.  Water should be changed daily.  For a food dish, often a piece of slate, or a reptile rock is used for feeding.  Providing shade and coverage by using synthetic plants is always a good idea as well.

Ornate Box turtle diet

Box turtle diets consist of both insects and fruits and veggies.  As babies, most box turtle hatchlings will go for red worms, wax worms, small insects.  As they get older they will also slowly adapt to eating a more omnivorous diet that consists of fruits and veggies as well as greens.  All box turtles eat basically the same diet.

Our staples for our young adults, and juveniles here at the turtle farm is red worms, meal worms in moderation, super worms, wax worms as a treat, dubia roaches for insects.  For greens and veggies we feed apples, strawberry, blueberry, romaine, mazuri tortoise chow, squash, carrots and zucchini.  Adding a supplement like vionate and calcium with vitamin D3 is also important, two to three times per week. Dusting insects with the same supplement powder mixture is also recommended.

Ornate Box turtles for sale – water

Always provide your new baby box turtle and adult box turtle for sale with access to clean, fresh water.  If you have well water you should be able to use it from the tap.  If you are using city water, we recommend letting it sit for around 48 hours to let the chlorine dissipate.  Water additives can be used however we avoid them as we do not believe they should be used in drinking water.

Box turtle humidity

Humidity should be kept in the range of 55-75% for box turtles.  Babies prefer more humid air so they do not dry out or dehydrate.  Access to water and daily shallow soaks is also super important for proper shell growth.  By keeping your baby box turtle too dry, his or her shell will start to turn up or curve at the edges.  This is a sign of a dry environment and is not good for the turtle.

Ornate Box turtle UVB Lighting

UVB lighting is always a good idea when raising a turtle let alone a box turtle.  Depending on the species of box turtle you purchase, you may or may not need a ton of UVB light.  Ornate box turtles for sale, also known as desert box turtles will need more UVB than both the 3 toed and Eastern species.  We recommend a Reptisun 10.0 lamp and use the T5 high output tube style over the spiral lamps.  Using spiral or screw in lamps should be avoided as they do not provide a good spectrum of UVB and can be dangerous.

Ornate Box turtle hibernation

Unless you want them to, your box turtles will not need to hibernate.  Hibernation occurs naturally in MOST but not all box turtle species.  It is thought that Hibernation is important for breeding groups as well to help with male fertility. Hibernation usually occurs late in November and ends in mid March to early April.