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teachingmyown
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| Posted: June 20 2006 at 6:43pm | IP Logged
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The kids found a box turtle in the driveway and want to hang on to it for a while.
Is this okay? What do we need to do for it? I am worried because I have two big dogs that I am afraid would hurt it.
We had pet turtles growing up, but I don't remember much. Is Samonella a concern like it is with lizards? We have a new baby in the house and I don't want to take any chances.
Thanks. Feeling a little ignorant here. 
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Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Kelly
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| Posted: June 20 2006 at 11:41pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
While I'm no authority, I *believe* salmonella is associated more with water turtles. We had hundreds of box turtles growing up-and more with my own children (until my great dane decided she liked to eat turtles...so do watch those dogs!)-and never had a problem. Still, I'd make it a hard and fast rule to wash hands after playing with the turtle.
Before out dog acquired her taste for turtles, in our Box Turtle Hay Days, we fed the box turtles Romaine Lettuce, canned dog food, and their favorite: living, wiggling earthworms. They are interesting creatures! (The turtles, that is, not the earthworms.)
Kelly in FL
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Servant2theKing
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| Posted: June 21 2006 at 7:13am | IP Logged
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These might be helpful:
http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5249a3.htm
http://www.pawsnycapitalregion.org/guidelines/guidelines06.h tm">
http://www.pawsnycapitalregion.org/guidelines/guidelines06.h tm
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Servant2theKing
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| Posted: June 21 2006 at 7:15am | IP Logged
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Apparently I'm not doing the hyperlinks right....If you do a google search for Turtles and Salmonella, you'll find several sites that are helpful.
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: June 21 2006 at 6:17pm | IP Logged
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Hi Molly,
We have a box turtle that was found by my dad years ago in the street - they have a habit of "escaping" - our little guy was left out in the yard and, thankfully, ended up in a neighbor's yard who returned him!
We keep our turtle in a cage in the yard. It is simply made from wood and chicken wire. There is also a top so birds (large birds that may want to eat him???) can't get in. Dh also stuck it into the ground a bit because they can dig and get out. We use the bottom part of a plastic pot for his water. We feed him snails, change the water a few times a week and that's it! He's doing great! He hibernates during the winter - oh, that reminds me of one more thing - dh put a plastic pot on it's side buried a little for a home of sorts. The turtle will sleep in there and usually hibernates in there mostly buried himself.
I always have the kids wash their hands. I just assumed samonella was an issue.
Hope that helps!
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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teachingmyown
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| Posted: June 22 2006 at 3:00pm | IP Logged
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Erica,
Do you have to worry about the temperature, too hot or too cold? How often do you feed him?
Right now we have him in a box with lots of leaves and moss and a shallow dish of water. The box is in a dog crate so the dogs can't get at him. They gave him some lettuce and strawberries (read that somewhere?) but he hasn't touched anything.
I don't do this animal thing well because I am so afraid of it dying. We tried to rescue a bird once and it died and I felt terrible. I don't know why I have a problem with this, as a kid my mom was always rescuing animals. 
Thanks for the help.
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In Christ,
Molly
wife to Court & mom to ds '91, dd '96, ds '97, dds '99, '01, '03, '06, and dss '07 and 01/20/11
Remembering Today
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Erica Sanchez
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| Posted: June 22 2006 at 4:43pm | IP Logged
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Molly,
I don't know how often we feed him!!! I'm terrible at taking care of pets probably because we never had them growing up, so I let dh and the kids take care of him. But, I do think they will eat if they are hungry. If our box turtle has had a lot of snails recently, he'll let a snail crawl (?) right out of the cage. I think the lettuce and strawberries sounds good. Maybe the kids can get a few a snails and see if he goes for them. It gets fairly hot here, sometimes up into the 90's and he does fine, although we do have his cage in a shady part of the yard. When it gets really cold in the winter (which is not really all that cold here!), he hibernates. Maybe your kids could let him out to walk around a bit each day. I know our turtle loves that. But keep a close eye - ours has been "forgotten about" and then "lost"....but found again!
I'll ask the kids how often they give him snails and get back to you.
Never having pets myself, a box turtle seems veeeerrrryyyyy easy. I doubt you'll kill it, Molly! 
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Have a beautiful and fun day!
Erica in San Diego
(dh)Cash, Emily, Grace, Nicholas, Isabella, Annie, Luke, Max, Peter, 2 little souls ++, and sweet Rose who is legally ours!
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4Real Forums : Exploring God's Creation in Nature and Science
Topic: Box turtle
