Determining the Gender of My Two Box Turtles

cyberdaniel82

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Hi everyone! My name is Daniel and I'm a long-time box turtle enthusiast in Louisville, Ky. I took advantage of the pandemic to construct a 16' x 8' enclosure in our backyard, which I've been meaning to do for years. My wife and I now have two happy turtles living in the habitat - both found a few weeks ago during a fishing trip. I figured I'd post photos of our two turtles in an effort to double-check my conclusions about their respective genders. One turtle, in particular, I'm unsure about, even though I'm familiar with most of the features that tend to correlate with male or female. I'm hoping a more experience eye than my own can confidently put the mystery to rest. I won't offer my opinions because I don't want to bias anyone. :) Thanks in advance for any guidance you can provide. (and yes, turtle #1 is missing its back foot - probably stemming from an animal encounter many years back, if I had to guess).

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jeff kushner

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My guess by the pictures taken...is that you believe that #1 is female and that you believe #2 to be male...........................in spite of both exhibiting some of the other genders identifying traits.


Isn't that the "game"?

All in fun................

jeff
 

ColleenT

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i agree. the vent is close to the body in the first one, and farther away in the second, which makes me think Jeff is right.
 

Toddrickfl1

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First is female imo. Need a better picture of number 2 tail.
 

Maggie3fan

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I sure wish you hadn't taken those turtles out of the wild, to be kept in a smaller habitat. There are less and less wild turtles. Taking 2 out of the wild is upsetting. That is just wrong. We always say not to take a turtle out of the wild. I personally have 5 box turtles ready for adoption. I didn't see any post from you looking for box turtles. When you took those two turtles out of the wild, you also took their prospective offspring. In effect you took maybe 2 or 3 hundred turtles out of the wild. In my personal experience that was not a good thing you did.
 

Yvonne G

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Even though it is legal in Kentucky to take box up to five box turtles from the wild, I feel like Maggie does: I wish you hadn't done it.

They both look male to me. . . slightly indented plastron, large back feet.
 

cyberdaniel82

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1. Thank you all for the gender input. My guess is that turtle #1 is a female and that turtle #2 is a male. Turtle #1 though, has mystified me; I feel like there are markers for both genders and I could see that turtle being male or female. Turtle #2 I feel pretty confident about.

2. I did not realize that it was frowned upon to remove box turtles from the wild. I just assumed that most box-turtle owners find their own turtles on the roadside. Pet stores in my area don't generally carry box turtles, and - if they did - who knows if those turtles were also plucked from the wild? (in which case, I wouldn't want to support the practice indirectly). Am I to understand that many of you "adopt" turtles who are bred and raised in captivity? If so, I'll definitely amend my method for acquiring turtles from now on. I didn't even know that was an option, let alone the preferred one.

3. Could I return these two into the wild? I've only had them for about a month. I don't know "exactly" where I found them, but I'm confident I can recall enough to get them within a half-mile or so. Is this feasible, or have I disrupted them in a manner that makes returning them ill-advised somehow? Thanks!
 

Yvonne G

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No, once they've been in captivity you run the risk of sending germs or sickness back with them.
 

ColleenT

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The reason turtle number one may be confusing is that it MAY still be a bit on the younger side, and therefore not sexually mature. If that were the case, it might be a male. Hard to know now.
 

jeff kushner

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Interesting tangent.......I suppose there are pro's and con's much like every other subject.

We all know that saving a turtle is for many of us, our prime-objective when it comes to them.

When I grew up on the then-rural peninsula here near the Chesapeake bay, the box turtles were basically in a restricted area with only one path of migrating to larger areas. It was because of this we used to catch and recatch the same turtles year after year. We got "to know" them in a sense because we could identify many of them. There was 3toe....w/ the damaged L front foot, One eye, Split-shell and a few others. At the peak, there were 21 box turtles in my enclosure as a kid in the 60's. They were freed in late summer each year, full & fat. My parents were VERY accommodating...giving up their rear yard so easily.

That's kinda how I spent my childhood when I wasn't on the water...while I knew little back then(& not much more today)but they seemed pretty happy and fed.....although the glaring issue I see now was the unintentional "prevention" of natural mating, egg-laying and the hatching of future generations simply by housing them together. Eggs were laid but got trampled or eaten. To me, this was the only "real" issue with taking from the wild for any length of time back then but a lot better in many cases then leaving of the guys 20' from a divided highway, in my opinion but everyone will have their own opinion too, making mine no worse and certainly no better than anyone else's I imagine.

I no longer keep them, save little Matilda but if someone taking a turtle from the wild and keeping and caring for it, instills the type of respect and admiration at a young age of that person for a lifetime of the same caring about our little friends, that we have all gained......well, you decide.......


jeff
 

PJay

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1. Thank you all for the gender input. My guess is that turtle #1 is a female and that turtle #2 is a male. Turtle #1 though, has mystified me; I feel like there are markers for both genders and I could see that turtle being male or female. Turtle #2 I feel pretty confident about.

2. I did not realize that it was frowned upon to remove box turtles from the wild. I just assumed that most box-turtle owners find their own turtles on the roadside. Pet stores in my area don't generally carry box turtles, and - if they did - who knows if those turtles were also plucked from the wild? (in which case, I wouldn't want to support the practice indirectly). Am I to understand that many of you "adopt" turtles who are bred and raised in captivity? If so, I'll definitely amend my method for acquiring turtles from now on. I didn't even know that was an option, let alone the preferred one.

3. Could I return these two into the wild? I've only had them for about a month. I don't know "exactly" where I found them, but I'm confident I can recall enough to get them within a half-mile or so. Is this feasible, or have I disrupted them in a manner that makes returning them ill-advised somehow? Thanks!
In Virginia, turtles taken from the wild may be returned within 30 days as long as they as they do not come into contact with other reptiles while in captivity, are not showing any signs of illness and are returned to same location they were taken from. Kentucky law may be different. I fumbled around their website for a while and couldn't find anything regarding the return of wild animals.
If you were to return them and were interested in replacing with rescued animals you could try Petfinder.com, they frequently have eastern, three toed and gulf coast box turtles that cant be returned to the wild and are up for adoption.
 

Maggie3fan

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Interesting tangent.......I suppose there are pro's and con's much like every other subject.

We all know that saving a turtle is for many of us, our prime-objective when it comes to them.

When I grew up on the then-rural peninsula here near the Chesapeake bay, the box turtles were basically in a restricted area with only one path of migrating to larger areas. It was because of this we used to catch and recatch the same turtles year after year. We got "to know" them in a sense because we could identify many of them. There was 3toe....w/ the damaged L front foot, One eye, Split-shell and a few others. At the peak, there were 21 box turtles in my enclosure as a kid in the 60's. They were freed in late summer each year, full & fat. My parents were VERY accommodating...giving up their rear yard so easily.

That's kinda how I spent my childhood when I wasn't on the water...while I knew little back then(& not much more today)but they seemed pretty happy and fed.....although the glaring issue I see now was the unintentional "prevention" of natural mating, egg-laying and the hatching of future generations simply by housing them together. Eggs were laid but got trampled or eaten. To me, this was the only "real" issue with taking from the wild for any length of time back then but a lot better in many cases then leaving of the guys 20' from a divided highway, in my opinion but everyone will have their own opinion too, making mine no worse and certainly no better than anyone else's I imagine.

I no longer keep them, save little Matilda but if someone taking a turtle from the wild and keeping and caring for it, instills the type of respect and admiration at a young age of that person for a lifetime of the same caring about our little friends, that we have all gained......well, you decide.......


jeff
I firmly believe that a kid that learns to care for and respect animals, makes a better adult.
 

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