Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I adopted another three-toed BT just tonight. A lady and her daughter called me and said they rescued this turtle from a garage sale that had him in a five-gallon bucket of water baking in the sun, but had no where to keep him.

He (we'll discuss in a minute) is gorgeous. I know these pics are terrible, but trust me, he has orange on the chin and yellow spots on his front legs. I do need a little help on the sexing. I'm thinking he's an older juvenile male, from the coloring and smoothness of the shell and slight indentation of the plastron. He doesn't have those real red male eyes, more ruby, but I know if he's not at sexual maturity yet, that's why. I couldn't get a good shot of its tail, but although shorter than my other new three-toed, it looked like there were two holes? What do you all think?

I'm keeping him separated from the other three-toed tonight, which I think we've named Olive, at least until the morning so I can keep an eye on them together, especially if he is a male.

This is a mature female. She is not real old but not young. You can tell because the shell is smooth and there is a groove between the scutes. Some three toeds are just brighter colored than others. I have some females that people always think are males when they see them.
As for keeping males together, it usualy doesn't hurt with three toeds as they are not usualy aggressive like some of the gulf coast males. Eric

Interesting. I thought that was the case with males in three-toeds, but kind of wanted someone to say it.

I could be talked into it being a female b/c of its super short tail and its size... What does everyone else think?

I would agree it looks female, the plastron is not caved in and the claws are not hooked and if you say the tail is short I bet the cloaca is right on the edge of shell not thick and past the edge of the shell. I also don't think that she looks young. The orange markings on the face can fool you, I have seen many gorgeous orange faced 3-toeds in person that you could easily be fooled into thinking male. Now you need to get a male and you will have a nice trio.
below are tail shots I just took 5 min ago
female is first ,male second, big difference

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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

Thanks, Jeff. You are strong with the boxie force, you are.

Now I AM anxious to get a male!

That is so facinating that two females can look totally different, not only in color, but in their shell as well. So tell me more about this smooth shell/rigid shell. Does the shell on boxies get smoother as they get older? How old are we talking about for this new one? Cause just looking at my two next to each other, I would gravitate towards thinking my first is older, but my boxie metachlorian count is low, but hopefully growing.

Thanks everyone for being patient as I learn the nuances of box turtles.

What I see is more a difference in your first one is it is almost certainly captive raised from hatchling and the second was wild caught even if it was a long term captive, but still your second turtle is probably older, the reason I that is; it is "almost" impossible to raise a hatchling up in captivity without some slight pyrimiding occuring. Also all 3-toes weather in the wild or in captivity start off brown and the mellow to lighter olive with age, and some add yellow spots or small rays. Those are my observations, others may vary.
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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

Let me get what you're saying straight in my head.

The turtle in the second picture is older, in your opinion? And the turtle in the first is younger and probably wild-caught at some point? Is that correct?

That would make the most sense to me. Well they both ate like captive-breds this morning. They both gorged on June bugs and grasshoppers I caught, as well as a big stone (plate) full of veggies and fruits.

I wish there was some way of knowing how old each are, but with adopting from individuals who themselves saved/adopted them it's kinda impossible.

No, the first turtle that you adopted (turtle A) was likely raised in captivity and the second turtle you adopted (turlte B) was likely caught as an adult from the wild even though it may have been in captivity for some time now. The reasoning behind that is; turlte A has some slight raised ridging of the scutes which is termed "pyriminding". This is almost always present to some degree in captive raised boxies, either caused by diet too high in protein or to dry conditions, there is still some debate to the cause. I have a theory that a lack of minerals, oils, and any abrasives in the sterile substrate that most hatchlings are raised in could contribute as well, so the next hatchlings I raise will be raised in rich black sandy dirt. Turtle B has a very smooth olive or "yellow" shell with grooves between scutes,which to me says that it was a wild caught adult, that may or may not have been in captivity for a long time and that it is fairly old, at least mature 8-10 plus. If I had to guess at turtle A's age I would guess 4-8. These are just my oppinions and I certainly could be wrong.
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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

1st pic is male concave plastron in 3toe, 2nd pic is bright orange headed female and yes the bottom picture is definately a female

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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

Male three toeds don't have as concave plastron as other box turtle species. Looking at the first pic, I'd swear he's a female. Some female box turtles have extraordinary color. When I first got my female Eastern, I broght her to a friend of mine who got his easterns from North Carolina 12 years ago to see if she was male or female. At first he said male, because she has red and orange skin and bright red eyes. But then he flipped her over, and said, female.