Habitat - Indoor :: Box turtle enclosure

[Starchick]

Does anyone know whether a glass enclosure is appropriate for a 4 inch eastern boxie? Apollo's been in a 55 gallon rubbermaid for a few years, and I have a spare 45 gallon tank that I think will look nicer, be easier to fit in my new apartment, and will protect him from drafts on the floor. I assume I'll have to paper over at least the bottom few inches of the tank to keep him from seeing through the glass and panicking, but I wonder if anyone knows of any other issues with glass tanks? I've been using a 100W Megaray MVB, which I guess I'll have to set up and see how hot it gets. But if anyone can think of any other suggestions I'd like to hear them.

[untsmurf]

the only issues I've heard of people having with glass tanks is humidity/temperature fluctuations because of the open top and insecurity on behalf of the turtle due to the exposure. So if you do a test run on the temps and they work out, just make sure and put some kind of border up or something so the turt can't see out.

[RR38]

Glass tanks work pretty well. I have a custom built wooden setup for my eastern. There is a box turtle section on the forum, you will get much better advice over there.

[Starchick]

Thanks for the info! I just figured I'd get a quicker answer in this section, as it's not showing any new posts in the box turtle area since January. I did a test run and got the basking area up to 86, and the cool side around 74. I could always add more dirt to raise the bottom of the tank closer to the lamp as well. Do you think the smaller space is a big issue? The space at the base of the rubbermaid is roughly 16 X 32, while the 45 gallon is 12 X 36.

[RR38]

Thanks for the info! I just figured I'd get a quicker answer in this section, as it's not showing any new posts in the box turtle area since January. I did a test run and got the basking area up to 86, and the cool side around 74. I could always add more dirt to raise the bottom of the tank closer to the lamp as well. Do you think the smaller space is a big issue? The space at the base of the rubbermaid is roughly 16 X 32, while the 45 gallon is 12 X 36.

The size shouldnt be to much of a problem. How much dirt do you have in there now? In my setup I have about 8 inches of a mix of zoomed ecoearth, reptibark and some potting soil without perlite. here is a older picture of my setup for my eastern boxie. Sorry if the picture is huge.

[Starchick]

That is amazing! Maybe I can get my dad to build me one of those for Christmas this year

To answer your question, in the rubbermaid a 40 lb bag of topsoil and a cube of spagnum moss winds up being about 4 inches deep. I imagine in the tank it'd be closer to 6 inches, and I can always add in other materials.