My females’ habitat which is 3-feet by 37-feet

Create an Outdoor Habitat  For Your Box Turtle

I here at the Ornate Bird Garden prefer keeping turtles in a well-built enclosure because I can keep an eye on them and make sure they're eating enough and no one is bullying the others.  However, it makes my turtles more dependent on me than if they were free to hunt in the entire backyard and get water at a dish set below a dripping spigot. See Escape-Proof Your Turtle Yard.

Habitat Considerations for Cold-Blooded Critters: Since your turtle is a reptile, and reptiles are cold-blooded, she will need a habitat offering warm and

My male’s habitat which is 4-feet by 20-feet.

cool spots.  Warm-blooded critters like us mammals and birds keep our own body temperatures constant regardless of our environment through self-regulation:  sweating to cool down, shivering to warm up, and converting food into energy. 

Reptiles can't regulate their own body temperatures. They must take on the warmth or coldness of their surroundings; therefore, their body temperature changes all the time.  That's why it's important to offer them a habitat with sunny spots in which to warm up and shady places in which to cool down.  Cold temperatures make them sluggish. They don't have the energy to hunt, eat, or digest their food.

Look at those claws!

The best habitat for your turtle faces east for exposure to the morning sun. After slumbering through the cool night, your turtle wants to raise her body temperature enough to hunt and eat.  She needs to bask in the sunlight, preferably sitting upon a heat-absorbing rock or paving stone. (Don't, however, put those electric rocks in a temporary terrarium; they can get too hot and burn turtles. Use a clamp-on overhead lamp for heat.)   When she's gets too hot, she retreats to the shade, buries herself in mud, or climb into her water dish to cool off.

Turtles are Escape-Artists! Look at those claws on your turtle's feet. They were made for digging.  Turtles are also excellent climbers:  they will scale chicken wire

Fill a flowerpot with soil/grass-clippings for a humid sleeping area.

, chain-link fences, cyclone fences, and even vines! I've had my little ornate Horus climb out on tomato plants.  Both she and Osiris have escaped using a technique that rock-climbers use for "chimneys": bracing your feet on opposing vertical surfaces and inching your way up.  For example, Osiris managed it because I'd placed a big flowerpot too close to the wall of his enclosure.

Features Your Outdoor Habitat Must Have:

• Sunny spots (especially in the morning) and shady spots
• A lot of space!  De Vosjoli recommends at a minimum 4 feet by 2 feet for two turtles ^[1].
• Flooring to prevent your turtle from digging through
• Smooth-sided walls with corner-braces to keep your turtle from climbing out.
• Many hiding places that all the turtles can use off and on
• Interesting landscaping to make the habitat an adventure-playground!
• The all-important water dish
• A lid in case you have dogs or expect hatchlings.

My ornates love sleeping in a shallow burrow under a paving-stone.

Step 1: Pick out where your turtle habitat will go. An eastern-facing area is best for the morning sun.  If that's not possible, try a south-facing exposure.  You can build it against the side of your house so you'll only have to construct three walls for the enclosure, but build it big enough so that it won't be completely shaded by the eaves; your turtles need sunshine! Provide a rock in the sunny area that will absorb heat; your turtle will want to bask there to warm up faster.

Step 2: Build it big. I think De Vosjoli is too conservative with his minimum space guidelines.  Remember that one little wild turtle typically roams a territory the size of a park or a football field!  I'd say make your turtle enclosure a minimum of 4 feet by 6 feet for one box turtle; bigger for more. 

Potscrubber can’t resist a raised planter of strawberries!

Typically you can buy planks at the hardware store in lengths of 8-feet and 10-feet; these are the sizes you should be thinking about.

My three females live in an enclosure that measures 3-feet by 37-feet. My male enjoys an area of 4-feet by 20-feet. His is built against the side of our house.  The female enclosure is built into an area against the cinderblock fence and bordered by cinderblock edging that used to contain irises.

Step 3: Flooring to prevent your turtle from digging.  Never line the bottom of your turtle enclosure with chicken wire:  wires can break and cut up your turtle. I wouldn't even recommend staking down rope-netting for your flooring; your turtle

Provide your turtles with objects to clamber over for a fitness work-out!

will probably get under that even if your plantings grow through it and give it extra anchoring. I use paving stones or bricks to line the perimeter of my turtle enclosures and I have never had a break-out. (Climbing out is another story …)

All you have to do is dig a little trench (about 4-inches wide by 2-inches deep) on the inside of your turtle enclosure and along the perimeter of your enclosure's walls. Place bricks in the trench, lining them up tightly in a row.  Smooth the dirt back in place. Your turtles will learn that they can't dig through that.  You can achieve the same effect with larger paving-stones or even a bag or two of ready-mix cement dust that you mix with water in a plastic tub and smooth into a trench on the inside of your enclosure, lining the perimeter of its walls.  You'll just have to keep the little scaly guys from walking through the cement while it dries!  

A corner-brace prevents climbing out

Step 4:  Smooth-sided walls. I use planks that are 14-inches or 16-inches in width. You'll want walls that will stand higher than your turtle can reach with his front legs while standing up on his hind legs. Turtles can actually hoist themselves over anything they can reach with their front feet! 

De Vosjoli goes a step further than I have, and recommends extending the walls of your habitat 8- to 12-inches below ground-level to keep your turtle from digging out. ^[2] I myself have found that the flooring around the perimeter takes care of this just fine, but it doesn’t hurt to take extra precautions.

Turtles like to hide in split half-logs.

At the top of each corner, attach a corner brace (a triangular piece of wood that connects to each side). This will provide extra stability to your walls, and provide a "lip" over which a turtle can't climb. They always try to climb out at the corners!

Step 5:  Turtles want many hiding places. They like to use one for awhile and then abandon it for another (especially if you peek in at them too often!) Stuff large flowerpots with a mixture of potting soil and grass-clippings and bury them halfway into the ground in your turtle enclosure.  You can then spray the flowerpot every day with the hose to give them a humid hiding place. You can also get split and hollowed-out "half-logs" at the pet store or make your own.  My ornates have

Potscrubber enjoying a soak.

always loved hollowing out a den under a flat paving stone, and especially climbing into raised planters and burrowing into the soil. Remember not to put any half-logs or flowerpots close enough to the enclosure walls for them to climb out.

Step 6:  Interesting landscaping. Include rocks and chunks of wood for your turtle to clamber over.  Provide him with a big hill of dirt to dig in and a corresponding hole to explore. Your turtles will want areas planted with mint or tall grass to hide in. Remember not to place any of these features close enough to the enclosure walls for your turtles to climb out.

Flat stones help her clamber in and out.

Step 7:  The all-important water dish.  You'll need to dump this and refill it with fresh water once or twice a day. Turtles typically like to have a soak and make a dropping in their water dish first thing in the morning. They climb into their water dish many times in the day to cool down. Put a flat rock outside the dish to help them climb in, and inside the dish to help them get their footing and climb back out. Make sure that the water is not so shallow that it will evaporate (which can happen just about in a single day here in the desert – I usually lean a plank over the water dish to shade it, provide shelter for shy turtles, and slow evaporation), nor so deep that your turtle will drown.

A plank provides shade and shelter for shy turtles!

Step 8:  A lid. You may need a lid either to secure your turtle enclosure against dogs and toddlers, or to protect hatchlings from predators such as cats and birds. This can get very tricky because you don't want to block off sunlight from your turtles. In the case of dogs and toddlers, I'd recommend building your turtle enclosure in your side-yard, and placing it off-limits with a gate. 

In the case of hatchlings, you might want to make one end of your enclosure the hatching grounds.  Fill it with soft dirt and hiding places to make it attractive to females who will want to lay their eggs there. Make it small enough and you could set an upside milk-crate (plastic ones are available at office supplies stores as file-holders of all things!) over it.  You could also wall it off from the rest of the enclosure with a plank-wall and roof it with a screen-top or a piece of fiberglass greenhouse-roofing. Make sure it won't get too hot!

Things You Don't Want Your Turtle Enclosure to Have:

• Too much sun or too much shade
• Ant hills
• Scrap metal, broken glass, and other hazardous materials
• Pesticide-treated plants or plant-pests (like snails) that they feed upon
• Dogs
• Fish-ponds or access to swimming pools (they'll fall in and drown)
• Heavy traffic (such as cars that you roll into your side-yard) that could be fatal to them.

References:

[1] The Box Turtle Manual by Philippe de Vosjoli, The Herpetocultural Library Series 300, published by Advanced Vivarium Systems Inc., 1995, p.18 

[2] ibid, p.19.  The Box Turtle Manual is available on Amazon through this link:

The Box Turtle Manual (Advanced Vivarium Systems)