Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just thought I'd show a picture of her since I now know how to upload photos.

She is about 6 years old.

Very nice..

Looks like a eastern box turtle though, maybe hybrid....

Nice looking turtle.

I know i dont come on here much, but i have a few box turtles my self. 7 3 toeds, 2 easterns, 7 ornates, possibly 3 flordias...

great pic! Thanks for sharing it.
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PHRatz

Interestingly my other 3-toe has some new bands this year like that one, does your turtle have only 3-toes on both back feet? That is a very,very nice looking turtle either way. I actually think is would be neat to cross eastern with 3-toe anyway and see what you get, I'm sure oppinions vary on that subject.

Yeah, she has 3 Toes on her hind feet but she may be a hybrid, because when I first got my turtles, ( when I was about 6 ) I had only one male 3 Toed and this ones ( in the picture ) mom wandered into our yard like 5 years later ( we live in Southern California so it had to be an escapee from someones yard because Easterns and Three Toeds dont live around here right??? ) and my parents decided to keep her and eventually, without us really planning anything they mated and we got babies one day after a rain, But anyway I'll try to post better pictures of her and her mom so you guys can tell me if they are three Toeds or Easterns but the reason that on all of my posts about them I say Three Toeds is because they all have three toes on their hind feet which, I know, is not an exact indicator but they both kind of have markings on their shell like easterns do.

- Hopefully you guys can tell me if I'm wrong or not because I'm only 17 and you guys probubly have more experience that me.

-Thanks, Tony C

11yrs experience and captive reproduction, I would say you are an experienced box turtle keeper Tony. They are the same species either way, the subspecies distinction mainly describes geographic charateristic differences. It's safe to say, that was not a wild caught turtle that wandered into your yard.

Thanks, A Lot.

-Tony C

the 3 toes on the back dont mean its a 3 toed for sure.. it is a big sign though. There are 3 toed box turtle with 4 toes, and eastern with 3.

No box turtle is native to so. cali.(i too live in so. cali). 3 toed range from texas up to Kansas. They cross paths with easterns in IL, Parts of Kentucky. Also 3 toeds cross paths with ornates naturally.

Hybrids between 3 toed are not bad, just not desired. In the wild there are eastern/3toed hybrids and that is natural... Also 3 toed ornates(a little more rare since orantes stay more in fields then wooded areas).

I would say your's possibly may well be a hybrid. It hard to tell, but i'm almost 100% sure it has eastern in its blood, lol. The pattern says it...

Eastern/3toed hybrid really does not make something really unique looking. They either look really eastern, or really 3 toed, lol. I have had a few i adopted. I have 3 toeds have had eggs few years runnings, easterns(never had eggs) and ornates had few eggs.

By far favorite are 3 toed and eastern, The ornates are like a pack of wolves, eat anything in the way ,lol.

Sorry for the long post... Your box turtle none the least is unique and i would put money on hybrid eastern x 3 toed.