Housing:
 Care
in captivity should mimic its natural habitat as much as possible.
Ideally they should be kept in large outdoor pens. The pen
should be located where it can receive some direct sunlight early in the
day and dappled light the rest of the day The substrate should be leaf
litter. In my pen, 1/3 is covered with at least 6" of composted hay. This
provides an abundance of grubs, worms, slugs, millipedes and other food.
The rest of the pen is covered with about an inch of leaf litter. Outdoor
pens can be planted with shade loving plants such as ferns and Hostas.
Also, they need a water source for soaking and drinking. I use large
glazed ceramic flower pot bottoms partially sunk into the substrate.
Indoor pens also should be as
large as space will allow. Adult box turtles. For the most part aquariums
are unsuitable. A minimum sized pen can be made from a 50 gallon
Rubbermaid storage container.
Although very functional, a storage container isn't
very
attractive. With a little imagination (and some carpentry skills), very
attractive pens can be made. To the right is an excellent example by Ellen
Friedman.
When kept indoors, it is crucial that a UVB-emitting
reptile bulb be used. I prefer the
UVHeat type bulb. Eastern Box Turtles like to soak often and
should have an adequately large water dish that they can easily get in and
out of. When kept indoors I usually soak them once a week in a large
dishpan with a couple inches of lukewarm water. They tend to defecate in
the water dish so these need to be cleaned daily. Humidity is a major
issue. Most box turtles are kept far to dry. This leads to eye problems
which are often mistaken for eye infections and/or respiratory infections.
To keep the humidity high I use sphagnum moss/Bed-a-Beast/sand mix. This
is kept moist with daily misting. They should have hiding spots and an
area for burrowing available. Eastern Box Turtles should have a basking area that is
maintained at 87-90°F., and a cooler, shaded area.
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