Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi All,

I have never ventured onto the turtle forum before (usually I stick to the tortoise, tegu, uromastyx, iguana and boa forums!!)BUT.....the little boy next door found an eastern box turtle today (any wandering reptile usually ends up being brought to me), which usually I would take in, and release into the woods behind my home, only this guy is not more than about 2" in diameter, and still has what looks like his egg tooth!!

Fall is setting in quickly here in the mountains of KY and it gets down into the low 50's at night, so I am thinking about hanging onto this little guy for fear that he won't be able to handle winter. My question is.....What do I absolutely need to know about raising a hatchling eastern box?

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Thanks,

Leyla x

The animal would likely be better off if quickly released in the morning. Keeping a newly-hatched box turtle alive indoors, especially without a reasonable amount of prior experience doing so, can very easily result in failure. You have little to lose other than a box turtle, but he/she has a lot more on the line.

Eastern box babies can be readily purchased from multiple sources on the classifieds of this site. While the young box turtle your neighbor found was "unlucky" enough to be sighted, it was lucky enough to end up in the clutches of a creature that can chose to have the moral conviction to let it go. These guys are hurting in the wild. Keeping one in captivity for fear of winter death won't help them as a whole, and it won't necessarily even help the one individual. You show good moral content by sharing your delimma, now you might carry it the rest of the way by letting the animal maintain its natural liberties.