Reptile & Amphibian Forums

if someone can please help me id this turtle i would be very appreciative. my wife received it from someone at work and it is in poor health. i need to know what type it is before i can proceed further. thank you

pretty rough photo, and not knowing where it came from its hard to tell, but it looks like an eastern box turtle to me.
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the girl got it in a pet store in orlando. i'll try to get a better picture

I agree, it is an Eastern Boxie.
Chris
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Hey mine name is Chris and I currently have 1.0 Midland Painted, 1.0 YBS, 1.1 Leopard geckos, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

Eastern box is my guess but the photo is blurry. It looks like the little guy is rough shape (MBD from the shape of the shell). Probably had poor diet no calcium UVB etc.

http://www.boxturtlesite.org/
You might want to try this website to learn more. The little guy does have some shell deformit going on. Has he eaten for you? If not, try earthworms.

Katrina

Please elaborate on how it is in "poor condition". Juvenile boxies are often picky eaters and will take only live food, such as small red or leaf worms (from your local bait shop - cut them in half if they are too large) or sometime mealworms. They often refuse to eat non-living food at first, although you can adapt them to enriched prepared diets, such as Reptomin, over time. However, if the animal has badly swollen eyes, it may be suffering either from vitamin A deficiency (dietary) or from a repiratory disease that has swollen eyes as a secondary symptom. Place the animal close to your ear and then try to get it to retract its head rapidly. If the expelled breath sound is "wet" or "crackling" it may have respiratory disease. If the hiss is "clean", your problems may be dietary. You rarely see eastern box turtles this small in the pet trade.

PS: I believe you have a large active herp club in your area. Look up "organizations" in the heading of this forum and call the contact person. Herpers are always glad to give advice and many clubs have specialty referral persons for each type of herp and a list of herp-friendly vets.

XXXXX

Guys I think you have the wrong species. From what I can see of the little guy I think he is a gulf caost box. they are sumi-aqaudic and need to have a good place to soak.

I have never seen a juvenile Gulf Coast this small. I have seen many Easterns and Three-toeds and this looks most like an Eastern. Like the other two species mentioned, Gulfs can be variable as adults. I have seen all tan or nearly all black individuals but the most common pattern is short, narrow radiating speckling that is light yellow in color, as opposed to the deeper orange shown in the photo. I have had an adult female with this coloration for about 20 years now. Wild adults can be diagnosed by the shape of the upper carapace, but this is a juvenile with somewhat abnormal shell development. Nonetheless.... the turtle will definitely benefit from having a shallow aquatic area where it can partially submerge itself. This aids in drinking and defecation and it can be the area where commercial foods (Reptomin or Wardley's) are first introduced, as they will be softened by the water (an absolute MUST for acceptance), more at eye level and perhaps moving a bit with the current.