Breeding Ornate with Eastern

[SlothBoss]

Will a male ornate box turtle breed with a female eastern box turtle, and will the babies be healthy?

 

[Yvonne G]

There are many areas in the wild where interbreeding occurs, but being a purist, I don't like to see it happen in captivity. I have several different sub species of box turtle and each species is in its own habitat.

 

[wellington]

I agree with Yvonne. Us humans should not mix species. If it happens in the wild, then so be it. We should not ever do it!

 

[PJay]

They typically prefer to mate with their own sub species, but if none are available they will interbreed. I personally wouldn't do it as the animals I want to produce are the ideal representative form of each sub species. I've recently seen some Ornate x Eastern and some Florida x Eastern hybrids and they exhibited traits of both sub species, but they were "watered down" and weren't as beautiful as turtles bred with their own sub species.