![]() Also, with a glass aquarium the turtle will often try to break through the glass to reach areas that it can see. Your turtle can be kept in a small glass aquarium but it’s not a very stimulating area and doesn’t give your pet much room for movement. You should also provide a place where the turtle can rest in the shade If you use an outside enclosure it’s good to have a small area where the turtle can swim and to keep the area humid. A rock that the turtle can climb on is also good. Peat moss, sand, and pea gravel makes a good base for the turtle’s habitat. For this reason you might want to consider a large Rubbermaid tub for housing as opposed to a small aquarium. It’s important that your desert box turtle has some stimulation in its environment. Two UVB bulbs are usually sufficient.Ī desert turtle will enjoy an outside enclosure or a large inside space. For this reason you’ll need to provide some sort of heat for your turtle. This means they cannot heat their body by their metabolism. When housing a Desert Box Turtle it’s important to remember that they are cold-blooded or ectothermic. You should consider taking new pets to the vet for a check-up if possible. This is the only way to be sure it doesn’t’ have some type of bacterial infection that can be spread to other turtle. If you purchase a new turtle you should always keep it quarantined from your current pet turtles for several months. Online forums are another way to share information and ask questions regarding the best way to care for your turtle. These clubs can also make a good resource for learning about how to take care of your new pet. Joining turtle clubs is another good way to find out where to obtain turtles that have been breed in captivity and therefore will make good pets. ![]() Not all pet owners keep their commitments to their pets and give them up for adoption. One of the best ways to obtain a desert box turtle is to call your local humane society and see if they have any for adoption. They were often caught in the wild and will have the same problems we just discussed. ![]() Wild turtles do no always adapt well to life in captivity.Īlso, if you find adult turtles for sale in a pet store ask where they were obtained. Wild turtle populations are shrinking and it’s best to leave it to reproduce and add to the natural population. It is never a good idea to take a turtle from the wild and make it a pet. Be sure you are committed to learning about and caring for your new pet. However, as like most turtles, if they are properly cared for they can live many more years than a cat or dog. Many wild turtles stop growing new rings after the age of twenty.ĭesert box turtles make interesting pets and many people enjoy watching them and learning their habits. They may have three or four rings when they’re younger and growing quickly. The rings show the rate of growth so they don’t form based on the passage of time. It is not possible to tell a turtle’s age by counting the growth rings on its shell. Some can live as long as fifty years or more with proper care. How old can a Desert Box Turtle get?Ī desert box turtle is not an adult until it is ten years old. It will search under cow dung to find insects such as beetles. But it will also eat plants, berries, and animal tissue. ![]() The desert box turtle eats a diet mostly of insects. The male desert box turtle has red eyes and the female has brown eyes.Īlso, the male turtles usually have one back toe that turns inward and thicker tails. The body and legs are dark colored with yellow markings. This type is less common and has no striping. The unpatterned type is straw colored or greenish. The patterned turtle has a brown to pale carapace and thin yellow lines. ![]() One is patterned and the other is unpatterned. The desert box turtle has a hinged shell similar to other box turtles that allows it to completely close its shell to protect itself.ĭesert box turtles have two different types of colorations. The desert box turtle is only active in the summer months when the humidity is very high. You can often find the desert box turtle in prairie dog towns. It needs soil that is easy to dig for nesting and hibernating. The desert box turtle is found in regions that are arid, semi-arid, grasslands, and prairies. They can also be found in northern Mexico as far south as Sonora and Chihuahua. including west Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona. Desert box turtles are endemic to the southwestern U.S. ![]()
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