Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does any body know what the difference between the two are except of cause the toes for instance (personality wise).

Sorry, I don't quite understand the question. Are you asking how to tell them apart, or how their personalities are different?

If the first, three-toes tend to have a drably-colored olive or tan shell with a subdued or even indistinct pattern, and the males often have solid red heads; easterns tend to be overall darker, with a more prominent pattern, and spotted skin. These are all just tendencies, of course; there are exceptions.

If the second, I haven't kept three-toes, so I couldn't tell you how or if they behave differently from easterns.

what i mean is what are the differences in their personalitys like for instance people say the 3 toed box turtles are shy and hide all the time and dont like to be handled and on the other hand the easterns box turtles are the oposite of that they tend to like to be handled. like me i have easterns and mine are so cool they are more interactive with humans. i guess im looking for genaral info on the two from somebody who owns both species.

I haven't kept either, but I would think it would depend on how well socialized they are - captive bred/hand raised, in captivity for many years, what you have in your hand (live insect ), or just the turtle's personality itself. Having a pen that makes them feel secure probably help, too.

I've read that ornates (especially babies) are supposed to be more shy... yet every time I step into their pen or even walk by it they come running out, and like to do stuff like this

They seem to lack all sense so walking gets a little difficult when I have 7 or 8 of them around me. My adult male "stalks" me and, before she was stolen, the female would too.

I've also seen wild juvies around here and plenty adults that just sit in the open and stare at me - with heads and legs out.

I keep both. I would have to agree with strange wings that how they are raised and how socialized, or how much time is spent with them, and how comfortable they are in there surroundings probably has big influence on behavior and "personality". Keeping both, I don't see any big difference in "personality" between species, however I do see a 'humungus' personality differences between individuals, some individuals are more curious and "outgoing" and some are more shy and defensive. Also I see a general differnce between male and female personality, the males seem more defensive and sometimes more loner like, not hanging with the rest of the group as much, much like a lot of other animal behavior. Those are my observations, maybe other have similar or different experiences.
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Jeff Benfer
You'll get your regius's to the wall, man!
1.0 pastel Python regius
0.1 mojave Python regius
0.1 normal Python regius
0.2 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.1 Ambystoma tigrinum
2.2 het albino and anerythristicThamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.1 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
1.1 heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus

I agree with boxienuts. I used to have a pair of three toeds and they were complete opposites. The male was pretty shy and hid in his shell a lot, but the female was the most outgoing turtle I've ever seen. Not once did I see her hiding in her shell. So personality is really more of an individual thing, not a species thing.