How to Set Up a Vivarium for Baby Box Turtles

If you have baby American box turtles, you already know what appealing little creatures they are. But they have specific requirements concerning heat, light, and environment. To help your baby box turtles grow into healthy adults, you will need to provide them with a proper vivarium--a habitat that replicates natural conditions as closely as possible. For optimal health, your baby box turtles will eventually need to be moved to an outdoor enclosure in order to be able to take advantage of natural sunlight and to hibernate; for the first year, however, you can keep your baby turtles inside.

Things You'll Need

  • 10-gallon aquarium or rubber storage bin
  • Terrarium moss
  • Shallow dish or pan
  • Incandescent light, with clamp or fixture for attachment to vivarium
  • Heating pad for reptiles, for under-tank use
  • Thermometer
  • Full-spectrum fluorescent light, with clamp or fixture
  • Alfalfa hay, pieces of bark, or small cardboard boxes
  • Silk flowers or vines
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Instructions

    • 1

      Put 2 to 3 inches of clean, rinsed terrarium moss in the bottom of a 10-gallon aquarium. Don't use sand, gravel or rocks--these can scratch the hatchlings' shells, opening the way to bacterial infections--and don't use ordinary garden dirt. You will need to mist the moss daily to keep it moist.

    • 2

      Place a shallow dish, pan or small rubber food storage container in the moss, burying it enough so the hatchlings can climb in and out easily. Fill it with water to a depth of 1/4 to 1/3 of the baby box turtles' shell height, being careful not to exceed that level. Although box turtles eat, sleep and spend most of their time of dry land, both adults and hatchlings need ready access to shallow, fresh water for drinking and for voiding. You should place the baby box turtles in the water dish once a day to make sure they drink. Because they also use the water for elimination, you'll have to change it frequently to make sure it stays clean.

    • 3

      Attach an overhead lamp with a 60 watt bulb at the top of the aquarium. Baby box turtles need 12 hours of incandescent light a day.

    • 4

      Set up a heating pad under half the aquarium in order to provide a warm spot for basking alongside the cooler spot in the unheated half of the tank. Monitor the temperatures with a reliable thermometer to make sure the aquarium stays between 85 and 88 degrees in the warm spot and 75 to 78 degrees in the cool spot.

    • 5

      Attach a fluorescent UVB/ UVA light to the top of the tank, making sure it's within 8 to 12 inches of the basking spot. Your baby box turtles need this light in order to produce vitamin D-3, which helps them metabolize the calcium needed to maintain their shells.

    • 6

      Provide hiding areas for your baby box turtles in order to give them a sense of security and privacy. You can use handfuls of clean alfalfa for burrowing, pieces of bark for crawling under, even small cardboard boxes with entry holes cut in. Put the hiding places in the vivarium's cool spot.

    • 7

      Landscape your baby box turtles' vivarium with silk flowers and vines to offer further hiding places and to make it more attractive.

    • 8

      Clean the vivarium once a month, twice a month if you have more than one baby turtle. Move the babies into a safe enclosed space while you are cleaning, as otherwise they may wander off and hide. Rinse the bedding and replace it if it̵7;s been defecated on.