Land turtles love warm, humid environments. To keep those kept in captivity healthy, it's important to recreate their ideal ecosystem and provide them with plenty of light, warmth, and a place to dig. A healthy land turtle can live up to 75 years.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Prepare the Fence
Step 1. Decide whether to keep turtles indoors or out
Land turtles can be kept in both situations, as long as the climate permits. These animals need to stay warm (basking in the sun or resting under a heat lamp). To decide whether to keep your turtles inside or outside the home, consider the positive and negative aspects of a certain type of choice: outside the home it is easier to find a place for the enclosure, but taking care of the animals inside the house is less. tiresome. Know that turtles need specific temperatures to survive, so if you live in a cold place, it can be problematic to keep them outdoors.
Step 2. Create suitable habitat inside the house
To start, get a plywood box or plastic container. Build a fence at least 1.5m long on each side. The enclosure must be at least 8 times the length of the animal (an adult land turtle is 15-20cm long). Keep in mind that these are the minimum measures; if possible, build a larger enclosure.
- If you are building a wooden fence, do not use cedar or pine: the acid substances present in these woods can harm the health of the turtles.
- Prepare the base of the fence. To give the turtle a chance to dig, cover the bottom of the enclosure with sand and earth. When keeping a turtle indoors, it is important to create an environment for it similar to what it would encounter outside.
- Make sure you build a floor in the enclosure. Line the floor with sand and earth to give the turtles a place to dig. If you use an indoor habitat, it should mimic an outdoor environment as closely as possible.
Step 3. Build a turtle table
The enclosure can be built in a variety of ways, but a turtle table is a simple and inexpensive solution. Start with a bookcase (or a wardrobe without doors) resting on the ground, with the opening facing upwards; put inside a basin full of water (the basin must be large enough to allow the turtle to stay in it, but it must not exceed 10 cm in depth, to prevent the animal from drowning); spread a substrate of soil and sand (5 cm thick) inside the enclosure.
Step 4. Build a fence outside your home
Choose a warm, dry and sunny area. The enclosure will need to be at least 1.5 square meters wide, so that the turtles have enough space to move around inside. Fence the area to prevent turtles from escaping (predators may attack them if they stray too far).
- Take into account the climate of your area; the outside temperature should be around 18-26 ° C. If you don't live in a tropical or subtropical region, build a fence inside your home.
- Land turtles love to dig, so plant fences deep. If possible, build the fence over something solid (concrete, brick, or wood), so they can't dig too deep burrows. An excellent, effective and economical solution is to place a chicken net under the pen.
- To determine if your garden is getting enough sun, consider the direction in which it is facing. If it faces north, your turtles will most likely hibernate around September; if, on the other hand, the climate is warm and dry enough, they will hibernate around October.
- If you can't build an outdoor enclosure, take your turtle outdoors a few days a week during the warmer months so it can receive UVB rays from the sun.
Step 5. Prepare the substrate
Place a layer of sand and earth on the bottom of the enclosure, at least 6 inches thick. It is important that the turtles have some land to dig in. Use very fine, dry soil: a humid environment can cause respiratory problems and infections in the animal's carapace.
- Do not use a material that mold easily grows on, such as bark.
- Newspaper, pellets, and sand do not hold enough moisture and are not materials that the turtle can dig into easily.
- Avoid clayey soil as it retains too much moisture compared to classic loam.
Part 2 of 3: Adjusting Light and Heat
Step 1. Make sure the turtles get enough heat
Their habitat temperature should be around 21-32 ° C during the day and 15-18 ° C at night. If you keep them indoors, give them a place to stay warm and be exposed to lots of light (in the sun or under a lamp).
- You can put a thermostat inside the enclosure to monitor the internal temperature and keep it constant (this aspect is very important, especially during the period of acclimatization of the turtles).
- If the weather is dry at night, turtles shouldn't have any problems, even if it's cool (just make sure they get enough heat during the day).
Step 2. Set up an area where they can warm up
Turtles need to stay warm to digest food. You don't have to build anything in particular, just make sure that an area of the enclosure is warm enough for the turtles to digest the meal they ate. A heating lamp can raise the temperature of a small area up to 35-37 ° C.
- Get a ceramic heating bulb, which doesn't shed any light, so you can turn it on even at night.
- If you live in a warm region and build your enclosure outdoors, you won't have to worry about setting up an area where the animals can warm up - the turtles will simply bask in the sun.
Step 3. Light up the enclosure during the day
If you keep turtles indoors, out of sunlight, light the enclosure with a UVB lamp of at least 5 watts. Place the light source in the center of the fence to illuminate the entire area. Leave the lamp on for 12-14 hours a day.
- Regularly check the UVB production and the condition of the bulbs with a UV meter to make sure they are working properly.
- Turtles love to stay warm, but they can't stand temperatures above 26 ° C. If the temperature inside the enclosure becomes excessive, hang the heating bulb higher.
- You can purchase a combo light, such as a mercury vapor bulb, which you can use for your turtle's heat and UVB needs.
Step 4. Keep the humidity level around 50-60%
If possible, use a humidifier to regulate the humidity level. Put the humidifier inside the enclosure or humidify the room where the turtles are; this becomes particularly important if you live in a cold region and are forced to heat the house (heating tends to make the air drier).
Part 3 of 3: Setup and Maintenance
Step 1. Prepare a hiding place
Land turtles love to burrow and hide, so it's important to provide them with a place where they can feel safe. Build a small house where they can take refuge or put at their disposal a small box with a hole in which they can enter and exit at will. Turtles tend to rest in their hiding places.
- Providing a hiding place for turtles is especially important if you live in a hot climate area. Make sure your pets have a place to burrow when it's too hot.
- If the enclosure is outdoors, make sure the turtles are safe from predators (birds in particular): turtles are tough animals, but they cannot fend for themselves.
Step 2. Provide enough water and food
Land turtles do not eat meat, fruit or grains. They feed on vegetables (endive, radicchio, cucumber), grass and some types of flowers. Give your turtles fresh (and thoroughly washed) food every day; put a supply of clean water (poured into a shallow container) at their disposal every day.
- Turtles need calcium: let them gnaw on the crushed stone in your garden; they also love clover.
- If they leave any leftovers, it means that the food is not to their liking. Determining what they prefer to eat is pretty easy, just look at their behavior.
- During downpours, turtles kept outside may try to get out of their enclosure to drink from puddles.
- Avoid giving your turtles commercial packaged food, it is usually unhealthy. Never feed a turtle with dog or cat food, which usually contains meat, grains and other ingredients that are difficult for the turtles to digest.
Step 3. Keep the enclosure clean
Fill the containers with food and water every day and make sure the food does not dry out inside the containers. Replace the substrate once a month (or whenever it feels particularly grubby). If you can't change the entire substrate, spread a clean layer of material over the dirty one.
Step 4. Be especially careful if you want to keep multiple turtles in the same enclosure
This can cause problems, especially if the enclosure is small. Two males put together could fight each other for control of the territory. Other disputes could arise if the male / female ratio is skewed in favor of the former; often the male is intrusive and never leaves the female alone, who becomes stressed. If you notice your turtles bothering each other, separate them in different enclosures.
Step 5. Always be kind to your turtles and leave them alone
Land turtles don't like to be grabbed. When moving a turtle from one enclosure to another, proceed gently. Hold it with both hands (after cleaning them) and absolutely do not let it fall, even from a few centimeters in height. After purchasing a turtle and placing it in its new enclosure, do not touch it for a few days; these animals need time to settle into their new home.
Warnings
- When setting up a hiding place, make sure the turtle cannot climb on it and accidentally fall over. Turtles can die if they stay upside down for a long time.
- When the turtles are upside down on their backs (ie on the carapace), the stomach compresses the lungs causing breathing problems; moreover, if they are exposed to a heat source, they risk overheating if they cannot take refuge in a cooler area.
- If you keep your turtles outside, make sure they have a shaded space to stay cool (they just need somewhere to hide).
- It is important that the water container is not deep and that the water it contains cannot submerge the carapace of the turtles (land turtles can drown easily).
- If the fence is outside, cover it; you can do this with a metal or plastic mesh. This will prevent any predators (birds, dogs, cats and so on) from bothering your turtles.
- Make sure there are areas in the enclosure that are free of grass. Moisture trapped between blades of grass can cause respiratory problems and turtle shell infections. If you plant grass (or any other plant) inside the enclosure, do not treat it with pesticides or chemical fertilizers: the turtles eat grass and any chemicals it contains can kill them.
