Box Turtle, The Best Pet Turtle?

[Music] well hi there these are box turtles box turtles have come up many times on this channel one of the big reasons being that being a dome dome-shelled terrestrial turtle they generally fit the common definitions for tortoises but as it turns out these are not tortoises at all we have a whole video that explains the difference between tortoises and the other turtles but as i said these are not tortoises in fact they are in the family imitate and they are in the genus terrapin even though this is probably not what most people think of when they think of a terrapin the reality is that many of the turtles commonly considered terrapins are not terrapins and this is we have a whole video on the phylogeny of turtles and now might be a good time to check this out if you're struggling with the idea of a terrapin that looks more like what you would consider to be a tortoise if that doesn't bother you well let's carry on talking about these wonderful little turtles there are actually seven different species of box turtles this one being terrapin triungus the three-toed box turtle and they come to us from animal arc in orem utah a truly awesome pet shop that has really been making some fun changes and additions as of late to really open up the feel of the store and focus more on bioactive enclosures supplies and plants anyway box turtles are native to north america as a child i spent two weeks every summer in southeast kansas missouri and oklahoma seeing box turtles was one of my favorite parts of the trip these are really cool turtles and they make not wholly unreasonable pets in fact they made our list of five of the best pet turtles you could possibly get and only a little over four years later we are finally going to have to give them a score based on our five categories which are handle ability care hardiness availability and upfront costs when it comes to handle ability we give the box turtle a score of five out of five this is probably about the most handleable of all turtles there's just no reason to take away a point here but i don't want to give you the idea that handling them is particularly fun turtles are not great to handle mostly because at best they can be picked up against their wills and carried around the question is just really a matter of how much do they hate being carried around how hard are they to carry and how much trouble can they cause while being carried in general how much they hate being carried seems to vary more by the individual than the species anything big like a giant tortoise alligator snapping turtle or sea turtle are really difficult to carry not to mention turtles like soft-shelled turtles that are difficult to hold on to because their shells are well soft as well as being wet which definitely makes handling harder and less pleasant and there's the difficulty of being squirmy kicking with claws having a long neck like common snapping turtles and soft shells and a nasty bite and then there is the turtle favorite peeing on you all of this just so you can carry them around against their wills now these are just the right size to handle they're not big enough to be difficult but not so small that they can be easily injured or slip out of your fingers they may try to bite but they have relatively short necks and big dome shells that make bites unlikely if you're being bitten by box turtles you're definitely doing it wrong they can pee on you i think that ability is a defining characteristic for all turtles and toads but often they will not they are dry and often they will just hunker down in their shells which have a really cool hinged plastron allowing it to really seal up so are they difficult to handle no is it fun um also no not for anyone involved and if you're looking for a way to keep your box turtles a little bit calmer this summer we've got hats in our merch store and they go right over the top of box turtles so perfectly and then the buckster will seem happy as clams so if you're looking for a way to give a little bit of shade nice little hide so your box turtles can relax a little bit even when the bright studio lights are on them you should check out our merch store maybe get him a hat when it comes to care we give the box turtle a score of four out of five one of the biggest issues is simply that there are seven different species and information on the exact species that you have can be difficult to find but in general care is not super complicated feed them a diversity of things including insects fruits and vegetables the bigger the diversity the better the best housing where possible is probably outdoors in a covered pen they do need a lot of space and that cover should allow sunlight to enter but not raccoons and such also make sure they have a refuge from the sun you know or else death also important to escape death is continual access to water with a bowl large enough for them to soak but from which they can easily escape if you can't keep them outdoors which will be the case in many in many climates then keeping them in a large pen indoors with uvb and basking lamps can be a good alternative provide adequate substrate to allow digging and still the refuges and water bowls mentioned before when it comes to hardiness most turtles are hearty that's why so many are kept for years in terribly inadequate conditions but the reality is that box turtles are hardy and they get a five out of five for hardiness the biggest issue with box turtles is that the majority you see are wild caught hopefully because most of the species that you see in the pet trade are from the united states they're being well regulated and because they are hardy and generally not being transported overseas they're likely to be in much better condition than most imports but they are coming from the wild and they're likely to have parasites and stress even if at a lower level than most species when it comes to availability we give the box turtle a score of three out of five wild caught box turtles are often available at pet shops expos and online they may even be in your yard though that may be illegal or at least an ill-advised place to get one but the better source will be from a breeder and there are breeders working with them and let me tell you baby box turtles are so cute you will almost never see babies in the wild they aren't the ones crossing roads but they are so adorable and a much more sustainable source when it comes to upfront costs we give the box turtle a score of four out of five probably due to regulations to protect the wild populations even wild caught box turtles tend to be a bit spendy and this is great because it means that it is worthwhile for breeders to work with them and these turtles are expensive compared to many water turtles but not totally insane the other costs are really not too bad you can build a good enclosure even if you're not generally great at building things and you can purchase an enclosure if you have more money than time or you really doubt your ability to measure cut and screw things together to form a square the lights will be one of your biggest expenses after that but only if you're building an indoor enclosure water bowls substrate and hides won't be too much at all and that's about all you'll need at least to get you started and that is why we give the box turtle an overall score of 4.2 out of 5. now i won't tell you that box turtles are the most fun pets that you can get like tortoises they're fun you know but not buckets of fun and they live a very long time so you're in for decades of mediocre but if you just love land turtles and you don't want a tortoise then the box turtle just might be the perfect pet turtle for you and if you want something more entertaining well we have a whole top five list just for you and it has a turtle on it as always like and subscribe and we hope to see you real soon [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Clint's Reptiles

Views: 89,247

Keywords: Red eared slider, red eared slider turtle, red eared terrapin, pet turtle, terrapin, painted turtle, Clint's Reptiles, five of the best pet turtles, red eared slider care, aquatic turtle, water turtle, cooter, Snake Discovery, turtle care, turtle enclosure, turtle feeding, best pet, pet reptile, reptiles for kids, Kamp Kenan, best pet turtle for you, reptile care, tortoise, shell, box turtle, box turtle care, snapping turtle, Terrapene, box tortoise, reptile, snakes, turtles

Id: 8yOyq4lrPXQ

Length: 8min 51sec (531 seconds)

Published: Sat Jul 09 2022