Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is the keeled box turtle I mentioned a while back. They are very endangered in their native homeland of Southeast Asia and are fairly rare in the US, from what I understand. He was given to me by a friend of mine who found him living in his backyard when he moved to a new house. The neighbors told him the turtle had been living back there for at least 3 years or so without anyone feeding him giving him water. I don't know how a tropical turtle lived through the summer without water here in Southern California, or the coldness of the winter with no heat, but I would guess that they are from high elevations in their native land and are therefore cold resistent. He must have found juicy insects and slugs to eat for hydration. Adaptable little bugger.

Note the jagged edge on the shell in the back and the keels on the carapace.

This turtle has a deformed carapace...do you know what kind of diet he was on before you acquired him?

P. mouhotii make great captives once they are acclimated. You should try to get this one a mate someday!

Take care,
Mike N.

I thought his carapace might have been deformed when I first saw him, but since I had never seen one in real life, and I know they have weird shells anyway, I wasn't sure. What part of the shell look deformed to you? I knew nothing about these guys until I looked them up on the internet after acquiring him. I didn't even know the kind of turtle he was; I just typed in "turtle" and "jagged shell" and his species popped up with a few others.

I really don't know what he was eating, but like I said, he was apparently never given any food during the years he was in the backyard of this house. The guy who gave him to me said he didn't feed it, and the previous house owners told him they never fed it either. He must have eaten snails and slugs and insects. My friend did say there was an orange tree hanging over the fence and he thought it was eating the oranges that fell into the yard. I guess that is possible, but it is hardly a nutritious diet if that was the bulk of what he ate. The turtle hid most of the time and was rarely seen.

I've had him about 3 months now and he is really friendly. I like the personality of this turtle. He eats potato bugs (Jerusalem crickets) right out of my hand. I will definitely get him a mate if I can find one, and I know that may not be easy.

Hey Tortoisehead,
The carapace really isn't THAT bad but if you look at the rear of the carapace it is sunk in. The rear marginals are upturned too. I can see lots of new growth so he definately found something to eat outside! I don't think the carapace being sunk slightly will affect him at all. They are great turtles and some are actually pretty colorful even though they are described by many as a drab species. Their personality makes up for the lack of color in some individuals. I can send you pics of some "normal" carapaces. I've also got some pics of them from the food markets. I saw some for sale on Fred's Pets website. Not sure if he still had them but you can link to his site from kingsnake. They were a lot cheaper than others that I've seen for sale lately. 69.95 or something like that. Do you know the sex of yours?
Take care,
Mike

I appreciate the info. I did wonder about the upturned marginals. I guess considering his background, it is amazing he is even alive. You should have seen him eat after I got him. He ate two potato bugs and almost a half an apple. Surprisingly, he didn't drink when I soaked him in my kitchen sink and tried to get out right away. Now, he soaks in the birdbath in the aviary I have him in all the time, almost like an aquatic turtle. I have him in a large (10'X 20')aviary that has a semi-jungle setting and is fairly moist and humid. He really seems to love it in in there, hiding amongst the plants and digging down into the moist soil.

I would appreciate that if you could send me some pics of a normal looking specimen. I've seen a few pics on the internet, but most of them left something to be desired. I will check out the website you mentioned. I really would like to get a female. Or at least I think I need a female, I'm relatively sure mine is a male. He has a pretty long tail and low ventral opening. I will post a picture tomorrow of mine again with a close-up of his rear end and maybe you can help me make a positive gender ID as I've never sexed these guys before. Thanks again.

Mike--finchfarm@yahoo.com