Box turtle identification

[Angel Carrion]

Hello y'all. I'm adopting a box turtle from a woman in Lancaster and can't quite tell what kind of box turtle she(?) is.
The lady said she took care of her to the best of her ability and knowledge, but knows she isn't doing very good, which is why she wanted to find a new owner. From what I can see, the box turtle (they named her Tucker) has an overgrown beak, minor shell damage, and possible minor pyramiding. I'm having a hard time being able to tell from the pictures she sent me. Can anyone tell me which species of box turtle this is and if anyone sees anything further wrong with her?
The lady said she wants to find her a good home because she knows she isn't taking good care of her. She said she got her through the death of an uncle's brother and that she is somewhere between 8-10 years old. Evidently she's had her for two years and when she got her she was in horrible shape because after the owner died the grandmother took her and kept her in a 10 gallon tank without a heat lamp, no proper water bowl, living in filth, and her entire life was spent indoors. When I first contact the woman, she told me she wanted him kept indoors because of that, but I explained the benefit of an outdoor enclosure, so she's willing to let me put her in mine. (Charging me $75 to take her which I'm not happy about, but I'd rather pay it and get the turtle healthy than have her stay in the 10 gal tank with no vitamin or calcium supplements & being fed only worms and an occasional strawberry and possibly no UV light cuz she doesn't know if it is a UV or not). She also said she used VitaShell for the first two months because her shell was so bad, and now her shell looks so much better. I don't think her shell looks that great, but evidently it was a helluva lot worse.

 

[Angel Carrion]

Also, I am aware that VitaShell is bad, which I informed her of and sent her this picture explaining why. She said "she's glad to know that and won't use it again if she happens upon another turtle, but it did help Tucker."

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Looks like a three toed to me. I'm so glad you're rescuing her!

 

[tortdad]

Looks 3 toe to me too

 

[Angel Carrion]

I was thinking three toe as well, even though she said EBT. I just wasn't 100% sure because I thought they were a bit more colorful than this. I knew they weren't very colorful, but I thought a tad more than this

 

[cmacusa3]

100% 3 toed. Looks like a female. She could use a beak trim.

 

[Angel Carrion]

I know she's female and about the beak. Can you see any other issues? I think her shell looks off, but I'm unsure.
Also, the woman said she has to clip her nails every few months because they keep curling up and at one point punctured her foot.

 

[cmacusa3]

Sorry I didn't read everything. The shell looks pretty good, nothing you can do about it anyway. She just needs some outside time and a good diet. I think the 75 is ridiculous but it would be nice to save her from horrible conditions.

 

[Yvonne G]

That is a Terrapene carolina triunguis (three toed box turtle) with an overgrown beak.

And there's nothing wrong with using the shell topical shown in the picture as long as you don't put too much on. Put it on, rub it in, allow it to absorb for a few minutes then polish it off with a clean absorbent cloth.

Nails curl when the turtle isn't getting enough calcium and sunshine. Curly nails and stumpy tail are the first signs of MBD in box turtles.

 

[Angel Carrion]

The lady originally wanted $150 for her and everything she was using to take care or her (10 gal tank, cypress mulch, that awful red bulb, etc) but I told her I didn't need it since I would be keeping her outside. She tried to say she was only willing to sell if everything went with her for the original price because Tucker had lived her entire life inside in a tank so she didn't want her going outside. I explained to her that it is actually better for her to be outside and that I had some experience since I have an eastern box turtle that I keep outside in an enclosure. Then she was willing to sell her by herself for $100. I told her with the issues she has no one would be willing to pay that and that the most she should really expect is $50. She then asked me to meet her in the middle with the $75. At that point I gave in because I was worried she would refuse if I said $50 was the highest I would go.

 

[Angel Carrion]

I didn't know about that with the VitaShell. Thank you, that's good to know.
That's what I'm worried about and had told her it's possible that she has MBD, but she said her shell was fine and there weren't any squishy parts. I let that topic go since there's no point in continuing it. There's nothing she can do to stop it if she has it. She's bringing her over This coming Tuesday. I can't see her tail in the pictures. When she gets here I'll try to take one of her tail and show you all.

 

[CanadianTestudo]

I think her shell looks fine, it might look off because it is really dry? It looks sort of like it has dust on it to me. But she has clear eyes, appears to have no bubbles forming at the nose (which would be a bad sign) and can completely retract her legs (which shows that she is not obese). Nice of you to take her, but honestly she should give it to you for free, poor turtle.

 

[Angel Carrion]

I think her shell looks fine, it might look off because it is really dry? It looks sort of like it has dust on it to me. But she has clear eyes, appears to have no bubbles forming at the nose (which would be a bad sign) and can completely retract her legs (which shows that she is not obese). Nice of you to take her, but honestly she should give it to you for free, poor turtle.

God I'd love if she would give her to me for free, but she isn't willing to go below $75 so that's all I can do. I'm not going to fight her on the price if I can help the turtle have a better life. If she was taking good care of Tucker, I'd just 'walk away', but keeping her in a small aquarium with an infrared bulb with no UV and feeding her too much protein with no added supplements isn't a good way to keep her. So I'm trying what I can

 

[Angel Carrion]

Okay so the woman and her family just left. I forgot I had used the $5 bill I had to buy a thermometer for the quarantine tub I set up, so the woman was willing to walk away with only $70 instead. Plus she gave me the nightcrawler worms they had bought the other day along with Tucker's half log hideaway. So I guess I came out on top? I'll post pictures in a second, but it definitely looks like she might have MBD, her beak looks worse than the original picture, and all four of her feet have severely overgrown nails. But her shell looks pretty good.

 

[Angel Carrion]

Does that look like impaction? They did say that the 90 year old woman they got her from kept her on rocks/pebbles. My EBT's butt doesn't look like that....

I put her in a carrot juice soak just cuz I wanted to

 

[domalle]

You are to be complimented on your willingness to take on the care of this challenged little turtle. I hope you will follow the recommendation
to take her to a knowledgeable veterinarian immediately. She has a long list of medical issues to deal with.
Of special concern is her pale skin tone and inflamed and infected cloacal opening.
A daily application of neo- or polysporin to a clean and dry cloacal opening would be advisable even before the vet trip.
Gradual introduction to a protected and supervised shaded area outside in the fresh air can work wonders.
I would make sure that her exposure to direct sunlight with ready availability to a secluded hide area is done gradually and carefully.
Improvements in her care, culture and diet will hopefully save her. But the chronic neglect and poor care she has received have left her very vulnerable.
The reparative powers of turtles can be remarkable. I am sure you are up to the task and wish you and your little turtle all the best.

 

[Angel Carrion]

I actually have an appointment for my EBT set up for tomorrow (I guess technically today since it is now 1:43 AM where I am) so I'm going to bring her along with me (yes I'm keeping them separated and will have them separated during the trip and the visit) so they can look at her, too. This is a new vet for me, but all of the reviews I have read online say the office is fantastic and the three different reptile vets are all fantastic and at least one of them has tortoises and turtles of their own that they've had for at least 8 years. So that makes me feel better.
She is surprisingly very highly active. I put her in an enclosure and she zoomed off and busied herself exploring every single nook and cranny, rock and hill, plant and valley in it. She is also the most shy turtle I've ever come across. As soon as she even gets a hint that I'm walking towards her enclosure, she snaps closed so fast. Very alert.

 

[tpope]

You have a very kind heart.. How did the vet visit go?

 

[Angel Carrion]

You have a very kind heart.. How did the vet visit go?

Well, she is definitely not people oriented. Vet tried to pry her open, poke her open, nada. She wouldn't come out of her very tightly closed shell. So luckily I took a bunch of good pictures of her nails, beak, shell, and bum for him to be able to see how she was. Eventually he was able to get her to loosen up enough that he could see into her shell and tell me her bum looks like that because she's "conditioned" (when I looked confused, he elaborated that as "she's fat"), and the plumpness of her bum specifically could be eggs (which the lady I got her from told me she had been kept alone all her life so either it's pure fat or the lady was misinformed or lied). Her nails and beak are major issues because her back feet nails are actually digging into her skin and catching when she tucks her legs in and are making tiny cuts and scratches. She has a burn mark/scab on the top of her carapace from being too close to the light bulb, and her scutes on her plastron where they connect to create the foldable parts and where it connects to her carapace are slowly coming apart or something, which he became very concerned about when he saw so he gave me a healing ointment for that. I have an appointment tomorrow morning early to bring her back in so they can sedate her to file her beak and nails down (she's so people shy she won't let him touch her head or feet so the only safe way to do it is sedation)

 

[Angel Carrion]

Also said looks like possible MBD but diet change and light and correct supplements etc etc will help that before it gets worse