Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I found a very small turtle in my backyard today. It's about one inch and I think it's a female. The shell is a light-brown to greenish color and the underside is light yellow. I'm pretty sure it's not a swimming turtle, but every time I pick it up, it does a swimming motion. I live in Keller, TX and I don't have any lakes or rivers nearby, but i do have a small pond a block away. It's arms and legs have tiny claws and are greenish in color.If you have an idea of what kind of turtle this is, please answer because I don't know what to feed it. I've already tried lettuce, shrimp, fruits and even bread, but it still won't eat a thing. Thank you

I think we'll really need to see a picture. The greenish color is throwing me off. Just in case, here's a picture of my baby ornate box turtle, which are common in Texas.

Keep in mind they all do a swimming motion when you pick them up especially if you don't put a hand under them. They don't feel secure when you pick them up so they all kick those legs around.. even a 60 pount land tortoise will do that when you lift it up off the ground.

It may be a baby box turtle but it could also be a baby mud or musk turtle. Do a web search for mud and musk turtle, you'll find a lot of photos of them.
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PHRatz

when they're tiny like that, it's impossible to know the sex. Have you tried feeding it in water? all water turtles, including muds and musks, will prefer to eat in water, and manyh baby box turtles like to stay in shallow water too. Many types of baby turtles seen to want live crawly foods at first. try little tiny snails or slugs. Live bloodworms are realy good for getting babies eating. in order to tell you how to take care of this turtle, we're really going to need to know what it is. post pix if you can. take a shot of the top shell, bottom shell, and head.