Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok here's the situation: I want an eastern box turtle preferably captive bred. Well I want to get one soon but I don't know how much talking to family members will help get me anywhere. There's very few CB babies online anywhere it seems now. HOwever, someone did say they would capture a box turtle for me because they seem to frequent around their house. Should I continue to pursue a CB baby which would take forever for me to pair up and breed or let the person catch me a box turtle when spring rolls around. To be honest I much prefer the CB baby just for the sake of saving box turtle populations. I'd like to hear opinions. Thanks

What state? Eastern box turtles come up for adoption from time to time, especially through Turtle Homes, but other groups get them, too. These are displaced pets or non-releasable rehabs. Check with your local animal controls/humane societies, in addition to reptile rescues, to let them know that you are willing to provide a home to an unwanted pet box turtle if they get one in. Try www.petfinder.com and www.anapsid.org to see if there's a rescue or adoptable turtle near you.

Katrina

I agree with everything Katrina said.
Taking them out of the wild isn't necessarily a good idea. In some states it'll illegal to do that so you'd have to find out about that in your state.
Wild box turtles need to stay in the wild as much as they can because they need to be out there breeding, but also not all wild ones will accept being in captivity & they often will not thrive if they don't want to be a pet & continue wanting to be wild.
I'd keep looking for a CB or try to adopt one that can't be released back into the wild if it were me.
I never feel guilty about keeping the injured ones I've found because for them it's either live with me or another human, or die.
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PHRatz

I wouldn't take them out of the wild unless they are to injured to be released or in an area where they could no longer continue to live. Its also illegal in many areas to remove them from the wild (and for a reason).

if you are currently looking for a baby look on kingsnake classifieds under turtles, i think there are some there now.

C'mon this is supposed to be a debate!!!! LOL Where are people who are for catching box turtles? I'm not saying I support it, I just wanna hear some different opinions and make this a real debate! heeheehee

I'm not saying I support it, I just wanna hear some different opinions and make this a real debate! heeheehee

Well, given the number of DOR on some days within a small stretch of road in a particular area, I can't understand why they haven't been extirpated already!

Speaking hypothetically: if I'm driving along and encounter a turtle in the road, one of three things may happen: I inadvertently run over it (didn't see it until too late), I run over it on purpose (I've seen people do it--AS I'M STEPPING OUT OF MY CAR TO PICK IT UP), or I swerve out of the way successfully. Now, repeat this process times 10 or even 100 to account for every car passing the turtle as it makes its way across the road. The odds are definitely not in favor of the turtle's survival.

Why do I bring this up? Regardless of whether the turtle is picked up and brought home or run over, it is equally "dead" to the locality's breeding population from a genetic standpoint. Therefore, though I have qualms about wild-caught, I have less qualms about road-caught.

That is to say, a chance encounter with a turtle on a road resulting in potentially saving the individual turtle's life (though not helping the local population) is more acceptable to me than collecting a couple dozen turtles with the aid of a trained "sniffer" dog. Make sense?

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Chris McMartin
www.mcmartinville.com
I'm Not a Herpetologist, but I Play One on the Internet

Ok I am guilty of taking a road turtle. I did it this past summer. Cars whizzing by on a highway at 70MPH, we almost hit her ourselves. Six more cars swerved to miss her before we were able to get stopped & get her out of the road.
Got her home after it was dark & she was asleep so what now? Then the next morning we had to leave town for a funeral & were gone for 4 days. She could have left our yard & gone on her merry way, she did not leave. She was here when we got home.
Then I realized she's not wild, she was someone's pet.. she is too tame, too fearless, too clean, readily accepts food from me too quickly.. so she's still here.

Even worse I am really guilty because I took in a turtle I knew to be completely wild the very day we got back from that trip to the funeral. Our property is part of his territory, he's been living around here for years, he's been visiting us for years. I'd named him Hobo because he has come here for years looking for a hand out & he'd get it too.

Our neighborhood has changed, after 12 years of having very few neighbors, houses are suddenly being built all around us. People are moving in all around us with lots of dogs so the day Hobo was taken out of the mouth of a dog before he was badly injured as Shell E & Chip were injured by dogs.....
we decided that since our lawn is part of his territory anyway, he already recognizes us, if we set him free this time as we've done many times before, we will never see him again.
He's here, he's hibernating in my lawn right now.
I've wrestled with the guilt for months but after taking in Chip just 3 weeks ago, realizing that what happend to him is what was going to happen to Hobo had he not been removed from that dog's mouth, I don't feel so bad.
I just could not allow Hobo to be killed by a dog or kid or car in his own territory. He still lives the life of a wild turtle, we never brought him inside the house, never tried to "tame" him, we did test him for parasites but he was negative. We leave him alone accept for feeding him when he wants to be fed as we did when he visited us in the past.
He staked out the place he wanted outside & that's where he is, the only difference for him is that he can't get outside of our fence now.
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PHRatz

That's what got me into liking box turtles again actually- a road turtle. I was with some relatives on our way to a golf course over the summer. As many bored people do, I was leaning to the side gazing out the window. Suddenly, something caught my eye-a box turtle! I begged and begged my relative to pull over so I could pick him up(i assumed it was a male because he was a very very bright orange) and take him in. Because of our stupid tee time, the relative refused. Wow, just typing this story is making me angry that the relative didn't pull over! Anyway when we were driving home, I scanned the road and did not notice any crushed turtles or signs of blood which is a good sign.

>> I scanned the road and did not notice any crushed turtles or signs of blood which is a good sign.

That is good news! No dead turtles.
Maybe one day fate will step in for you.
Road turtles cause difficult decisions for us. On lonely roads not traveled much, I'll just move them out of the road when I see them.
When we picked Janie up off that highway I could've placed her on the other side of it, I've actually done that in the past on this same highway, I've picked up several turtles & put them on the side of the road in the directions they were headed.
After doing that, then over the next several years I lost count of the number of smashed box turtles I've seen on that particular stretch of road. I just could not do it again when we found her, I couldn't put her on the side of the road then drive away. I knew she'd end up back on the highway if I only moved her.
In 2004 my neighbor brought a turtle to me after he'd seen it clipped by the tire of a car & sent flying through the air spinning like a top, he'd been hit on that same stretch of highway. My vet kept him.

Jane came so close to being smashed that's the reason why we named her Jane, she almost met with calamity. Then I came to realize she had to have been a pet, I've seen too many wild ones & none of them have ever behaved like she did when she got here.
Must have been fate that we found her....
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PHRatz