Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found a box turtle in my yard a week ago and I was wandering if anyone could help identify it? I live in lower Arizona in the U.S. He has a tan shell and his head is brown also. It has 4 toes on the back feet and 5 on front. He is a box turtle for sure. Could he possibly be a desert box turtle? Thx

"he" sounds like a female 3-toed box turtle.. anyway you can post a pic?

luteolas(desert box) have a dark caramel-black carapace with yellow lines like an ornate, all the males I've seen have a high yellow head and deep red eyes, females tend to be more plain in skin color, but carapace color is the same

3 toeds can have 4 toes, males can have a plain yellow or slightly ivory colored carapace or an olive green carapace with light markings, skin color can vary from red to white with black, and deep red to light orange eyes
females have less coloration, usually a dark brown-dark ivory type colored carapace, with little to no markings on the carapace, some females have a little orange or yellow on their chins with no other markings
(if anyone sees something wrong here correct me.. please)

>>I found a box turtle in my yard a week ago and I was wandering if anyone could help identify it? I live in lower Arizona in the U.S. He has a tan shell and his head is brown also. It has 4 toes on the back feet and 5 on front. He is a box turtle for sure. Could he possibly be a desert box turtle? Thx

In this day and age a turtle wandering in an area can be almost anything. People lose their pets or even drop them off thinking they can make it in the wild.

Your turtle doesn't sound like a desert box turtle but unless we see a picture or you describe more of the characteristics of the turtle, we can't tell. Does it have markings on the top or bottom shell? Are there spots or stripes of color on the head or neck? What color are the eyes? I have many pictures of box turtles on several of the links on this webpage: http://www.boxturtlesite.org/tess2
Check it out.
Link

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Tess
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http://www.boxturtlesite.org/tess2.html
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host