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One of my neighbors found an Ornate Box Turtle in the street in our neighborhood in Austin, TX. Knowing that I like animals and keep lizards, my neighbor asked me if I wanted it. I took it from her thinking that it may possibly be someone's escaped pet, and it might be fun for my 5 year old son even if we had it only for a few days. It's a female, and it appears to be in very good shape. The length of her plastron is 5 inches and she weighs 17oz. I'm trying to find out if Ornate Box Turtles are native to the Austin area, and if so how common they are. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to keep it long term or relaese it into the park near my house, close to where she was found but farther from the road.

Yes they are native to the Austin area.

>>One of my neighbors found an Ornate Box Turtle in the street in our neighborhood in Austin, TX. Knowing that I like animals and keep lizards, my neighbor asked me if I wanted it. I took it from her thinking that it may possibly be someone's escaped pet, and it might be fun for my 5 year old son even if we had it only for a few days. It's a female, and it appears to be in very good shape. The length of her plastron is 5 inches and she weighs 17oz. I'm trying to find out if Ornate Box Turtles are native to the Austin area, and if so how common they are. I'm trying to decide if I'm going to keep it long term or relaese it into the park near my house, close to where she was found but farther from the road.
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Greg
http://greg978.tripod.com/

Yep, they are native. Box turtles are quite good at surviving even in the suburbs. We have easterns where I live and when I lived in the burbs we found as many in our area on roads (dead or alive) and in yards as we did out in the countryside.

If you know where it was from, the best bet is to release it as near to there as possible in a safe location for her to get her bearings. Females can wander long distances in egg laying time (which is now). Putting her in a small bin or tub now will likely stress her out (my females stressed last year when we moved and I used tubs for homes during laying time while working on their new pens, they held eggs long, some got a tad ill, but the eggs were mostly infertile as well).

The best course of action for her is to find that spot for release as soon as possible and get her on her way. If you feel you need to keep her a few days, pen off an area of your yard and add a hide box and a shallow plant tray for some water. You won't need to feed it if keeping it only a few days and a gravid female will eat little or nothing anyway.

Thanks for the info. I have been considering the possibility that she may be gravid. She was found out in the open in the middle of the afternoon, and she seems rather active almost to the point of being agitated. She is not shy at all. Unlike most of the wild caught turtles that I have kept, she hardly goes into her shell at all when I pick her up. She also tried to bite me, which is a rather agressive move based on my experience. She is eating very well. In the week that I have had her I have seen her eat romaine lettuce, strawberries, mango, and worms. Is there a way to tell for sure if she is gravid? I'll probably release her this weekend anyway, but I definatly don't want to keep a gravid local native. I have lived in this area for almost ten years and this is the first boxie I've seen and I spend a lot of time outside.

There is one way, and it should be easy enough if she is not hiding in her shell and clamming up.

Hold her in front of you, facing forward (so she is facing away from you). Grip her rear leg between your thumb and middle/ring fingers. Use your pointer to GENTLY feel in front of the leg joint, in the soft tissue, and probe carefully to see if you feel any eggs. Eggs with developped shells will be pretty noticeable if they are there. With practice I do this with both hands at once and can often count the eggs by using two finger to judge spacing, one in either side.

Not retreating into shell and biting are not uncommon things for a boxie, especially a gravid gal if she's overloaded with eggs and can't close (I've seen that once in my own girls). Boxies behavior towards people can be so random, I fed some wild animals in the woods right from my fingers, others of my own animals that have been captive all their life will hide from me and not unclam while I'm holding them.

A few of my larger gals will eat while heavily gravid and in the final stage of looking for nesting sites. If they lay, their appetite goes of the charts for a few days, and they get pinkies and other tasty things to rebuild.

thats actually a Western Box Turtle...i just went on a collectig trip last night and found three of them...they are great boxes, and the female you have looks really good!
good luck
jon

Wester box is one local common name for the Ornate box turtle (Terrapenne Ornata Ornata)