![]() ![]() Even box turtle experts don't completely agree on how best to care for these animals or how to best meet their needs. You Might Also Like:ĭisclaimer: The information on this site is not veterinary advice, and we are not veterinarians. Learn more about what you can and shouldn’t feed a box turtle in What Box Turtles Eat (you can go a little higher than the recommended 50% meat for these guys) and Foods to Never Feed Your Box Turtle. Like ornates, if you have a desert box turtle as a pet, you can feed them plenty of gut-loaded live foods plus a salad of vegetables and fruits. They’ll also eat cacti pads, berries, fruits and other plant material. They’re good at catching things like grasshoppers and like to dig into dung piles for beetles and grubs. Like the ornate box turtle, the desert box turtle likes insects as its main food source. In general female desert box turtles mature after about 10 years and males at about 8 years. The microclimate (or microhabitat) is more humid in these places. When the weather is drier they spend most of daytime hours burrowed underground or hidden under dense foliage. These turtles are most active when humidity is higher, including summer monsoon months. Since they do still need water, there’s likely to be a watering hole or other water source near their homes. In fact, you’ll usually find them on the edges of the desert (thus their name). It prefers drier areas than any other box turtle. They also live in the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua. You’ll find these guys in some parts of Arizona, New Mexico and western Texas. The desert box turtle has a smaller range than the ornates. It may have some striping, but nothing obvious. It’s brownish or yellowish, sometimes greenish. The other desert box turtle morph is unpatterned and much less common. The plastron may also have a pattern similar to the ornate turtle, but the overall color is also lighter, often yellowish.ĭespite the lighter color of the patterned desert box turtle, it’s not always easy to tell it apart from an ornate unless you are comparing them directly. ![]()
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