Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone. I havent posted on this forum but once but I just wanted to share this. This morning I woke up to my girlfriend and the box turtle she had just saved crossing the street. We looked at him for a few minutes and then released him in our backyard. It was good to see a box turtle as I havent seen hardly any over the past few years in NC. Anyway it reminded me of my pet turtle Charlie from twenty years ago in Oklahoma. The following is VERY TRUE regardless of what you want to believe. Usually no one believes me. When I was about 6-7 years old my family was coming home from church and we passed a turtle in the middle of traffic. I begged my dad to turn around and finally after really annoying him he did. We picked up the turtle and took him home. After a couple of days my parents said it was time to let him go. Reluctantly we let him loose in the backyard. It was fenced in but there were plenty of spaces to crawl underneath the fence. Well, much to my surprise, Charlie did not want to leave. He just stayed in our backyard all summer. I swear to you he would be strolling along the grass and you could call his name and he would turn, look at you, and then start heading in your direction. It was like he was a dog or something. When the colder months came around Charlie disappeared under a shed we had. He wasnt seen for quite some time. Then one day the following spring there goes Charlie across the lawn. He had decided to stay with us. You give him a shout and here he comes. Unfortunately we moved later on in the summer to NC. I cant remember when the last time I saw him was but from that day on every turtle I see has been given the honarary name of Charlie. One day when I have my own place i would like to get another turtle to have running free in the yard but till then my snakes and lizards will have to do. Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed. EP

Where in NC do you live that you don't see box turtles? I see more dead box turtles on the roads than any other type of animal, and I live in central NC. I also move a ton of them every year, literally dozens can be found over a whole year. My area is pretty rural, though, and there are no real developments or large clearing areas, so that may make a difference.

As per your story, some turtles will stick around if they are fed, and some turtles will quickly learn that people mean food, and come to them. I have a female three-toed that hounds me when I'm working in her pen. She follows me around in case I might come up with a juicey worm for her. One of our young eastern box turtles appears to know a name. My wife will call it one particular name, and it will react, but it won't react and look at her for any other words she says, it's very odd. Most of our young boxies will follow our hands around their pen when we are weeding or working in there. They are so used to getting treats and tidbits from our fingers that they come rushing over when they see them. Just last week I was weeding their pen and I had three of them trying to push each other out of the way to stay closest to my hand. The snapped up every bug I unearthed.

Hey, I live in Greensboro. I just moved here 2 months ago though so it may be different. I used to live in Greenville, NC for 9 years and I think I saw only 2 in that time. I was never specifically looking for them but I would go out and hunt for snakes a lot. Where do you live that you see them all the time. Actually when I got home from work yesterday I saw the turtle under my girlfriends car. He had made his way around our house and was on the edge of our yard coming back in. I think ive heard that box turtles will live in a 100 square yard area if conditions are right. Is this true? So how many turtles do you have and what kind of setup? Thanks, EP

I've got some photos a bit down this forum, see my "progress on pen expansion" post (linked). You could go to www.aileo.com and select "photo albums" from the "nathan" menu item at the top. I've got lots and lots of pictures up there in several albums.

I live west of chapel hill a ways, out in the countryside, Graham and burlington are up north of me about 15 miles or so.

The country roads around here, like Greensboro-ChapelHill Hwy and route 87 are lined with turtles all the time. This time of year, if you go out driving on the country roads around 8 a.m.-9a.m. the morning after a night of rain you will have a hard time NOT finding a turtle, and most likely box turtles.

My photo albums show my pens. They are wooden frames inside a privacy fenced yard patrolled by my german shepherds, and they house now around 33 turtles or so. Lots of work, but lots of fun

Boxies will stick around if the conditions are right, but what makes the right conditions seems only known to them. I think our easterns in our area like forests and good cover, need a source of water, and generally stick to the shady forests except for cool mornings and evenings.
progress on pen expansions