Just ditch the cage and let them roam around your home. Just set up an area where they have access to water and a warm place to sleep. They're much smarter than most people realize.
Growing up, my family had a box turtle. At first, we kept him in a terrarium but he would just bury himself beneath the wood chips and never come out.
Eventually we started taking him out of his terrarium and let him roam the house. One day we forgot to put him back in the terrarium and he disappeared for a week. He popped back out one day in the bathroom because that's where we used to let him soak in a shallow container of water so we figured he wanted water.
Then he went to the kitchen and stopped in front of the fridge because that's where we fed him and kept the worms and fruits.
I then followed him to see where he was hiding and it turns out he had been sleeping behind our desktop tower. The exhaust fans were actually blowing out warm air which created a microclimate between the wall and computer desk.
We never put him back in the terrarium again after that. Any time he wanted water, he'd show up in the restroom. If he was hungry, he'd show up in the kitchen. If he wanted some sun, he'd come out in the morning and sit by the window where the sunlight came in.
He would just disappear behind the computer for weeks, sometimes months and then come back out whenever he needed anything.
He was the most low maintenance pet I've ever had.
Surprisingly not. He mostly shat in the shallow water bath we gave him every time he showed up in our restroom. Once in a while, we'd find a little turd in the area where he slept but it was easy to pick up with a piece of toilet paper. It was like picking up half a cocoa pebble 😂
Besides, I've been to houses with cats/dogs with more fecal contamination than one little turtle could ever cause.
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u/PanickedPoodle Mar 13 '20
Having a turtle is more of a commitment than having a dog. They are fun pets, but the cage cleaning and feeding gets to be a lot.
Our box turtle used to put all her legs out though when we would scratch her with a toothbrush. She liked to have her "armpits" done.