Eastern box turtle
- Thread starter 19meyek
- Start date
Lisa Shinn
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2015
- Messages
- 16
Same thing happened to me....found a box tortoise wondering down the center of a black top street in the city. Had it for almost 8 months...did great! Thought I should take it to the wildlfe rehab ctr so he could be released in the woods out of harms way. To my surprise it is against the law to have them in the state of PA and I was told they could not release him as he has natural instinct to find home and would likely die if they released him in unfamiliar territory. Explained to them that he was doing great in his outside enclosure in my yard and transitioned nicely to the house in winter. They told me it is very difficult to get permits to keep them in PA , they only had 2 permits and 5 turtles and would have to find him a home as an education animal. Really upset me. Did not want him spending the rest of his life in a cage or aquarium. They would not let me take him with me. So just a warning, check your states laws on having certain species and be careful when trying to do the RIGHT thing for the tort.
I'm not sure she meant that she kept him......
Here in our state it is the same, you need a permit for an eastern boxie. That's why I don't keep the easterns.
I live in Elida, Ohio suburb of Lima....I can tell you right now this most likely is someones that either got away or released. Easterns are very uncommon where we live. Following 75 you can find them North of Bowling Green and South of Dayton but not much in between. FYI! I know the ODNR agent for our area so if you plan on releasing it please contact me so we can take it to Back to the Wild rehab center. If you plan to keep it you will need a permit FYI and under the circumstance I doubt the state will let you keep it.
Lisa Shinn
New Member
- Joined
- Jul 5, 2015
- Messages
- 16
No, I was not allowed to take him with me once I went to rehab ctr with him. Upset me to think of him locked in a cage/aquarium being taken out to do some education show then back in lock up. They said he COULD not be released back to the wild as he would die trying to get back to his own original turf. Is that true? does anyone know? I am sure some idiot took him from the wild for a pet then he got out and almost got run over as he was in the middle of a street when I saw him and stopped to get him out of harms way. Ended up taking him home when I saw what it was.
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2012
- Messages
- 2,238
It's not 100% certain that they don't survive when released in their home range, but it's highly probable. It's difficult to weigh the benefits of keeping protected animals out of the breeding population.
He was the product of a wild box turtle mating with my neighbor's female, my neighbor only had the one turtle so he was surprised to find her laying eggs. This particular guy weighed in at 372 grams.
