Wild populations of box turtles are threatened by a number of factors, including collection for the pet trade. Many turtle species are particularly harmed when numbers of adults are taken out of the population, and this applies to box turtles. (It does more harm to take a box turtle out of the wild than it does to take a rat snake, for example.)
After discussion in the Conservation Committee and in the board of directors, the DFW Herpetological Society has begun advocating that Texas should prohibit the commercial collection of box turtles from the wild. We will put an article about this on our website, but in the meantime you can see a brief article about it at the "Terrapene" site (see link below).
Captive-breeding of box turtles might help ease the demand for wild-caught box turtles, except that their rate of reproduction is low and babies are hard to keep. The demand for cheap adult box turtles, often bought on impulse with a "throwaway" mentality, is a market in which I don't think captive-breeders can compete.
We hope other herp societies, turtle & tortoise groups, nature organizations, and individuals will join us in a Box Turtle Partnership of Texas, to advocate for the prohibition of commercial collecting of wild box turtles.
Michael Smith
Chair, Conservation Committee
Editor / Secretary, DFWHS
Terrapene
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Michael Smith
Editor / Secretary
DFW Herpetological Society
www.dfwherp.org
