Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son rescued a Box Turtle from kids that were playing football with her. One front leg has no claw it looks as though about an 1/2 inch had been severed off. She has completly healed and is doing well. I have her in a fenced in outdoor garden approxmately 12 foot round (which has many flowers growing so she can hide) covered with suspended evergreen branchs for protection that are changed weekly.I feed her worms and fruits and always keep a supply of fresh water that she drink and get into to soak. I contacted a local pet store for advice as I wanted to free her back into the woods after her healing. I was told that it would be a death sentence for her as now she is dependant on humans to feed her and would only search out people for food and would possibly die. I have no experience with the care of turtles and am concerned that with her missing front claw she will not be able to dig into the ground to hibernate. I live in the Bucks County area of Pa. and our winters can get very cold with much snow. I've grown very attached to her and would not want to see anything bad happen to her. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

How long have you had her? I wouldn't lend any credence to the 'dependant on humans now' issue at all, because its not true.
If you can ascertain where exactly the turtle was found originally (and I mean where the football-playing kids found her), and you've only had her for a short time (a month or less), then I would seriously consider putting her back in her home territory. She would probably be best off, presuming she wasn't found on a construction site...
I have a young three-legged turtle who was able to dig deep and hibernate just fine last winter... I wouldn't be too concerned about that, either.
If you can't find out that information and release her where she came from, then releasing her in a strange place(to her) could be fatal, in which case you should keep her.
I would urge you to do everything you can to return her to her home turf.
And rest assured that these wild creatures may seem to adapt well to human care, but they certainly don't "forget" how to fend for themselves.
If you have other questions, come back here to ask them, since the petstore people don't seem to be very well informed.
Where in Bucks Co. do you live? I lived in Solebury when I was a kid... Beautiful part of the country.
Regards
Stephanie

Im am no expert but its my opion that the turtle will do just fine if let got back into the wild. My advice would be to let her go were u found her if there is till enough land left for her to live in. Box turtles from the day they hatch know how to find food no one teaches it to them. Its best to let her go as soon as posibible so she can get ready for the hibernation. I would also feed her any and all worms u my have before she is set free. Worms are very high in protien and she needs to be be well feed for the long hibernation. If u decide not to let her go email me and i will tell u how i hibernate my box turles. I dont live to far from u so the winters will be about the same. This spring my turles came out of hibernation after the coldes winter in 10 years in fine shape. (I hibernate them outside ) One of my turtles has no left rear leg at all and she still gets around Just Fine She digs a nest to lay her eggs with the one leg, she does not know how to cover the nest back up with just the one leg, so i have here eggs inside the house waiting to hatch.
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Jack