Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We bought a WC adult male Ornate Box Turtle about a month ago and are now interested in buying a CB female as a friend/partner for it. Our questions are: 1) If we buy a baby and house it with the adult male will that effect their liklihood of mating later on? 2) Does it need to be an "Ornate" if we want them to breed later or can she be another type of box turtle? 3) How old does a female need to be to be safely bred? and 4) Does anyone know where to find an adult CB Ornate Box Turtle as all the CB's seem to be babys. Any input welcome.
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Amor et Lux,
Ron

"The gods tolerate the human race for no other reason than our talent for bullsh1t. It's the only thing about us that doesn't bore them to tears" Tom Robbins "Villa Incognito"

1) If we buy a baby and house it with the adult male will that effect their liklihood of mating later on?

you cannot house adult with hatchlings, the younger one will either be eatten or smothered by the adult.

2) Does it need to be an "Ornate" if we want them to breed later or can she be another type of box turtle?

cross breeding is not recomended, and is highly frowned upon in the chelonian world.

3) How old does a female need to be to be safely bred?

box turtles usually reach sexual maturity between 4 and 10 years of age.

4) Does anyone know where to find an adult CB Ornate Box Turtle as all the CB's seem to be babys

you're not likely to find adult CBB box turtles, and if you do it'll probly be someone scamming you since there is really no way to tell if the animal is WC or CBB.
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Be aware that unless you have a large pen with lots of visual breaks and hiding spaces, a lone female with a male may be harrassed constantly, to the point where she is uninterested in eating or her immune systme is comprimised by the stress. It's usually best to keep males seperate from females unless your ratio is 1:2 at least, or until you can determine if your male is not a hazard to the female(s).

Any adult for sale would most likely be wild-caught, but check prices. Anything under $100 for an adult box turtle is suspect. You can try adoption, if you'd like an adult without contributing to the wild-caught pet trade.

You can try a local rescue/herp society to see if any are available for adoption. Try http://www.anapsid.org to see if one is near you. Also try http://www.petfinder.com to search locally, nationally, or regionally.

Turtle Homes is another option for adoption.

These would be adults that have been pets but need relocating for one reason or another (owner moving, owner health, child going to college, ect.).

Have you been to Tess Cook's website, http://www.boxturtlesite.org or Bill's Box Turtle website, http://www.billsboxturtles.com ?

Katrina