My 3 Toes Box Turtles

[MKD]

Hello all,

here are couple pics of my turtles. they are from NC to TX along the coast.

[Maria Ashton]

LOVE them! I used to have two Redfoot tortoises a few years back, I would love a turtle but do not have sufficient space for a decent size set up for one.

[MKD]

these guys won't get bigger that is the max. They 're in my backyard.

[Maria Ashton]

frequently drops to minus 9 degrees c here in Winter so keeping one in our backgarden wouldn't work. I had my redfoots in the UK but indoors and they were mere babies.

[Second Hand Pat]

Tony, use to find box turtles all the time as a kid here in Fla. They seem very hard to find now. I did have a natural population of gopher tortoises on the property. I still love the box turtles. Are yours confined in a pen?

[MKD]

frequently drops to minus 9 degrees c here in Winter so keeping one in our backgarden wouldn't work. I had my redfoots in the UK but indoors and they were mere babies.

i see. that's too cold for them.


Tony, use to find box turtles all the time as a kid here in Fla. They seem very hard to find now. I did have a natural population of gopher tortoises on the property. I still love the box turtles. Are yours confined in a pen?

I heard story, box turtles cross street and run over by cars. I think, they're not allow to bring in CA anymore.

[jimg]

I did a 92 lot subdivision a few years back and the turtles would be on the road. They couldn't get over the curbs we put in.
Some of the subs on the job would run them over. I would get there early in the am and pick them up and put them in the woods. then the engineering dept. made us put mountable curbs anywhere near a wetland area so they could climb over.

[brewmaster15]

I use to have a colony of the 3 toed Boxes here...I bought them to breed ...that was many years back... I also use to keep our eastern Box turtles.. when I was a kid, they were everywhere... now CT is too developed that they have declined to the point of state listing...not allowed to keep them here...They were my favorite turtles.

Jim our box turtles have a real problem with construction projects like that... each box turtle has a home range about the size of a football field...move a box turtle and it will attempt to return, even if its miles away....and that spells death for them..construction projects displace them permanently....add to it the loss of egg laying habitat...its a real shame.

I currently keep 2 red ear sliders, and I have a group of 6 Red footed Torts...Since I could not have Box turtles I went with Red foots...Got mine as Captive bred hatchlings 3 years ago.. Redfoots, yellow foots and cherry heads are all excellent choices for pets if anyone is interested.. they do not need to cool down and hibernate as they are from South America. Avoid the turkish, siberian and other torts commonly sold in petshops...they lead short lives without cool down periods. Also avoid Sulcatas and the other exotic torts....too big for most to care for. Even the red foots can get a good 16-18 plus inches long...Mine love the fishroom in the winter and stay outside in the summer here in CT.

-al

[jimg]

I remember having the red ear sliders as a kid. They used to sell them with a plastic dish with an island in the middle with a palm tree. they used to sell dried ants and most never lived long, that's because they were starving to death.
I got a red ear slider about 15 years ago for my son, talk about nasty! he would attack and hiss as you tried to fed him and do wc's. got big too!
I'm gonna check out the red foots, turtles were always one of my favorites

[Maria Ashton]

Redfoots are really nice, as are yellowfoots. I loved mine to bits but had to part with them owing to a change in circumstances.

[DLock3d]

One of my faviorate parts of our family road trips from Texas to Louisianna was stopping on the road and picking up those suckers. I think the most we got on one trip was 10.