Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently inherited an ornate, female, box turtle. I currently have two, male, eastern box turtles. My question is can they all live together and is there a chance they could breed? I did not receive the ornate box for any particular purpose except she didn’t have very nice living conditions, and our set up is plenty big , clean and well maintained. Will post photos in a few days.
Thanks you for the responses.

Alan g aka norristhenut

They can interbreed and very likely will. The offspring are considered hybrids, so it's not usually encouraged.

Do you think I should keep them separated? Like what could be the worst case scenario? The reason I ask is they have a large outdoor living area, about 15 x 20. they run all around in different directions and end up sleeping together.

Thanks alan

If you have two males they might harass the heck out of your female. She might get stressed. Usually people try to keep two or three females to one male, so the girls get a break.

If it were me I would divide the enclosure.

>>If you have two males they might harass the heck out of your female. She might get stressed. Usually people try to keep two or three females to one male, so the girls get a break.
>>
>>If it were me I would divide the enclosure.

Plus another thing to think about.. if you have 2 males that get along with one another they may not get along anymore when they see a female.
Introducing a female can cause them to go into fight mode then you'll really have a big headache on your hands.
I'd keep the separated if it were me.
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PHRatz

Since you recently got the female ornate it wouldn't be a good idea to put her in with any other turtles at all.

I would divide the enclosure. You're males will likely start fighting each other as well as harassing the female, and what would you do with any offspring that resulted? Easier just to keep them separate, IMO.

Thank you for the responses, a couple things come to mind for me like I don't for see any offspring with this turtle as I obtained her to better address the health and safety issues rather than breeding. Worse case, if ( big IF) they did breed is it sometime that bad ? has it never been done? It has only been a day or so and all three live eat and sleep together with not real problems yet. We watch these turtles 24/7s, so the odds are pretty slim for any serious problems. At present the female has some diarrhea, I think it might be she loves fruit, lots of fruit.
Thank you for the information and please respond to anything here.

Alan norristhenut

>>I You're males will likely start fighting each other as well as harassing the female, and what would you do with any offspring that resulted?

I should've read ahead!

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PHRatz