Pros and Cons of Turtle Ownership

My friend Stephen posted a comment under the posting of Little George O'Mally's picture. Stephen said: Okay so give me the pro's and con's of having a turtle. We are thinking of letting the kids get one but I have heard they are fairly dirty and hard to own. Truth to that?

So here's all I know/have experienced about Box Turtle care.

• I read online that Box Turtles are hard to keep, but it hasn't been too hard for me. I'll tell you what I do to take care of them below.
• As far as dirty. I also read that they can carry salmonella, so we always was our hands thoroughly after handling them.
• From what I read, it is much easier keeping them outside. If you keep them inside, you need a LARGE container and an aquarium will not do. If inside, you also have to purchase a special kind of light because they need sunlight (and you have to provide something artificial inside). Also, you would need to cover the bottom of your pen with dirt, leaves, etc because artificial surfaces can cause their legs to be deformed, their 'beaks' to get too long and their toenails to get too long.
• So I keep my turtles outside. We have two turtles now and they are in pen that is 15 foot by 9 foot.
• A chain link fence will not work for a turtle pen because they will drive themselves crazy trying to get through it. What I read said you needed 16-18 inches of wall to keep them from climbing out, but cinder blocks would work for our turtles. But then again, I don't know how big they will get 5 years from now (they can easily live to be 50 years old).
• Box Turtle care: I did not know this, but Box Turtles need humidity/moisture. If they do not get it, they develop eye and ear problems. You can soak your turtle (throwing them in the pool for a 'swim' would not work due to the chemicals) or you can do what I do and water the pen area 1-2 times a day making sure to soak the turtle as well.
• Food: with a big enough pen area, turtles can find quite a few bugs to supplement their diet. Little George always comes out after I water the pen because it seems easier for him to find bugs. I usually feed them every-other day rotating Romain lettuce and superworms from the pet store (about $6 for 50 worms). They supposedly eat other apples, strawberries and an occasional banana, but I've not had much luck with that. The lettuce has to be the dark green stuff like leaf lettuce, Romain or some kind of greens. Spinach is not good for them (don't know why) and Iceberg lettuce is not either because it has no nutrients. I usually feed the little turtle 3-4 worms and the bigger one 4-5. Pet stores sell turtle food in pellet form. My turtles don't seem to like it, but the dog does!
  
• Water source: As you can see from the pictures below, I dug a hole in the turtle pen and placed a plastic trash can lid upside down to provide water. I guess they drink out of this, but they also drink out of temporary puddles on the ground when I water their pen. They can also swim in this, but ours rarely do this. Water should be dumped and refilled daily to reduce likelihood of salmonella. I have heard that they make tablets you can put in the water to kill the salmonella, but I don't do that.
  
• Winter time: In the winter, you have one of 2 choices 1) Let the turtle go in the wild so it can hibernate, but since you are getting it for the kidos, you will be 'evil' if you choose this option. 2) Figure out how to hibernate them yourself. I have read online about how some people almost 'pack up their turtles for the winter' and go through all of this elaborate packing them in with bags of leaves,etc. What I found that makes the most sense to me is till up the ground in their pen and let them dig themselves in for the winter. It seems they only need to go a few inches down to make it through Texas winters. I am going to till up a section of their pen real well and with the dirt that loose and moist, they will be able to dig down several inches (turtles are good diggers so I'm only tilling the middle of their pen so they can't dig under the pen wall and fence).
• I guess that looks like a lot, but I enjoy the turtles and don't think of it as a pain. There was the initial time investment of building the pen (gave give you instructions on how to build a SIMPLE pen like this if interested). Feeding them every other day is not too time consuming and I usually do it with Amanda to spend time with her. Watering the pen doesn't take much time and I have the hose readily available, so it's no big deal. I don't know about the hibernating thing yet. I just know you are supposed to make sure they have plenty to eat before they go into hibernation so they can make it through the winter. The superworms are kinda nasty, but it's not bad.

So I guess I did not label any of that 'pro' or 'con'. You can apply your own labels. I read Box Turtles are hard to care for, but our seems to be doing ok and I don't think they are too much trouble. They seem to be doing ok. I think having the outside helps. That's all I know. Here are some pictures.

Grumpy O'Mally (left) is a Three-Toe box turtle
Little George O'Mally is a Texas Ornate box turtle
(Little George is small because he is younger)

Outside of the turtle pen. 16 inch walls along the side to keep them in. The cinder blocks are a little for support, but mostly to cover up low spots where they might get out.

Inside turtle pen. Upside down platic trash can lid for water, round stone for sunning and putting dinner on, log pile for Grumpy (his favorite spot to hang out) and cinder blocks to cover low spots and a place where Little George likes to hang out to get out of the sun.

- Rob