Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This afternoon an unusual-looking male three-toed box turtle was found in my backyard, not far away from the enclosure where I have several three-toeds. This visitor was one I had never seen before, a large male (shell length over 6 inches), and the carapace was unusually flat for a box turtle, with scutes that were raised up and knobby, making it look more like a wood turtle. The head is odd, too, with tympanic ears that are recessed more than normal. The markings and feet are identical to three-toeds, however. I'll post a photo soon.

OK, here's the photo of the turtle I found today in my backyard:

Possibly a Gulf coast... would need to see better pics... front, side, oblique, and a plastron shot would be good.

It could be a hybrid.... eastern/3-toed, or gulf/3-toed.

it is rather large for a 3-toed.

>>OK, here's the photo of the turtle I found today in my backyard:
>>
-----
==========
Greg
http://greg978.tripod.com/

It looks to me like a turtle that was once owned and suffered some type of nutritional imbalance. Not a deficiency but possibly given to much vitamins to quickly & to much protean. It just looks a lot like the deformed turtles I used to see that were brought to me by well intentioned customers back when I worked in a pet store. But I also like the hybrid theory.

After examining the turtle, I think the former pet theory is correct, as his shell does not have any damage marks on it whatsoever, yet he is obviously fairly old, at least in his 30s, judging from the smoothness of the plastron and carapace. Also, he acted very tame when I first picked him up, likee was used to humans holding him, whereas most wild turtles clam up.

It's natural for a turtle person to come to this conclusion, as seeing turtles in the wild is rare for most folks. If you live in the range for this species you should not consider this a possibility.

1) the probability of finding a turtle that was a former captive is infinitesmally small. You might as well win the lottery while getting hit by falling airplane parts.

2) it would be irrelevant if it were once a pet if it is inside it's natural range. turtles do well when released (as evidenced by the spread of the RES across continents from pet releases)

3) wild turtles will often not act as you expect. I have hand fed wild turtles from my own fingers and had some of my own captives refuse to come out of their shell for years (some even of my own captive bred). I've only found two turtles in the last two years in the wild that would not extend themselves for me to get a good look within seconds of being picked up.

4) most of the turtles I find have few if any markings that look like injuries.

5) bumpy shells can be caused by wild nutritional factors just as easily as captive ones. It's less common to see partially because the animal is less likely to survive such conditions in the wild or in captivity.

that and if every turtle someone posted about that someone else or the original poster thought was a former pet actually was, then we would be seeing some amazingly huge epidemic of turtle pet escapes. Often it is used as justification for taking a wild animal from nature and making it a pet.

>OK, here's the photo of the turtle I found today in my backyard:
>>

He does not look so odd to me. I have seen many in Texas and all were very variable in both shape and size. Each one is unique
-----
Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

Looks like just a large three-toed to me.

I've found and/or kept several three-toeds, and there's not much too odd about that one you found.

I had a male three-toed even larger than that one when I was in high school.

Chris
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet