Found baby tortoise in Texas

[Ryan Day]

Hello, sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I found a baby tortoise in my yard today. I'm wondering what type of tortoise it is and I'm looking for advice on how to take care of it. I live in a small town in the desert in West Texas where foxes, coyotes and of course stray cats are pretty common. Would it be wisest to let it go, keep it in my fenced in yard, or maybe keep it in a smaller enclosure until it gets a bit bigger? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[cmacusa3]

Wild ornate box turtle, you need to check Texas laws before keeping it. It's survived a few years on its own already

 

[Ryan Day]

Thanks for the response. So it's already a few years old? It's so much smaller than others I've seen around that I just assumed it was a baby. It's about 2-2.5 inches long.

 

[cmacusa3]

They didn't get very big even as adults. I have 2 about that size that just came up from hibernation that are almost 3. That's a really cute one with the extra scute pattern.

 

[Yvonne G]

No - it's just a hatchling, probably hatched out last September.

 

[cmacusa3]

No - it's just a hatchling, probably hatched out last September.

That's 2 times today

 

[Yvonne G]

That's 2 times today

What - twice that I disagreed with you? I just didn't see any growth, so assumed it was a hatchling. To be honest, though, I answered before I finished reading the thread, so I didn't see that you had already given a guess as to the age. So I'll change my answer, "I think this is a very young turtle, probably from less than a year to maybe 2 years."

 

[Gillian M]

Hello, sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I found a baby tortoise in my yard today. I'm wondering what type of tortoise it is and I'm looking for advice on how to take care of it. I live in a small town in the desert in West Texas where foxes, coyotes and of course stray cats are pretty common. Would it be wisest to let it go, keep it in my fenced in yard, or maybe keep it in a smaller enclosure until it gets a bit bigger? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. View attachment 203476

A gorgeous little tort.