This little guy showed up in my yard

[Amanda81]

So I found this guy in my yard today. I haven't seen one of these around since I was a kid so it makes me wonder if someone dropped him in my yard since people know I have other "turtles". On the other hand he looks as tho he has lead a rough life so perhaps he is wild and after 25 years of not seeing one he just randomly wondered into my yard. According to pics on this site and Google I am guessing he is an eastern box turtle, he has a good size dip on his underneath so I'm guessing male. I have him in a large area in the yard blocked off from my other shelled animals while I find out if he's wild or not. If he is wild I will certainly send him on his way but I wanted to get some opinions because if he isn't I don't want to let him loose and him die or something. Any info, opinions, suggestions would be much appreciated.

 

[johnsonnboswell]

Beautiful old EBT. Does he seem skittish to you or used to being handled? Is there suitable habitat nearby or is it all built up?

 

[Amanda81]

Well sometimes he will like make a hissing noise at me and close up and then sometimes he just hangs out of his shell while being handled. I live out in a pretty rural area, plenty of woods and creeks around. I use to see these type of turtles and snapping turtles all the time when I was a kid and then it's like they disappeared. My mom still lives in the same place and she will get a good size snapper every year but never see a box turtle around. I live in the same area, just 10-15 minutes away, maybe he just wondered in. Is there a way for me to tell if he is wild? Something they eat or a habit? I would hate to let him go and he die but if he is wild I would hate to keep him. (Plus I seriously don't need another one)
Can u tell how old he might be?

 

[mike taylor]

I bet he is wild by looking at the marks on his shell . I would put him back it the part of the yard you found him .

 

[johnsonnboswell]

We used to find the same turtle every summer in our vegetable garden. They have their seasonal routes. Let him go back where you found him. Of you're concerned about him, and the weather is dry, provide water.

 

[domalle]

So I found this guy in my yard today. I haven't seen one of these around since I was a kid so it makes me wonder if someone dropped him in my yard since people know I have other "turtles". On the other hand he looks as tho he has lead a rough life so perhaps he is wild and after 25 years of not seeing one he just randomly wondered into my yard. According to pics on this site and Google I am guessing he is an eastern box turtle, he has a good size dip on his underneath so I'm guessing male. I have him in a large area in the yard blocked off from my other shelled animals while I find out if he's wild or not. If he is wild I will certainly send him on his way but I wanted to get some opinions because if he isn't I don't want to let him loose and him die or something. Any info, opinions, suggestions would be much appreciated.
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Classic example and behavior of a seasoned veteran, battle-scarred, wild male Eastern Box Turtle, Terrapene carolina carolina.
The bright red eyes identify him as male. Females have brown eyes. He's a beauty.

 

[mikeylazer]

Saved one of these bad boys in front of my house today. I guess basking in the street seemed to be a good option for him. I absolutely love EBTs and would love to have a group of captive bred ones at some point.

 

[tortdad]

He's a good looking boxie but I agree, he looks wild.

 

[Eric Zukowski]

Very nice wild EBT.

 

[Amanda81]

Thanks everyone for all the info! I don't really know anything about these guys. He sure was pretty tho. I wanted to let everyone know that I found out his little story.
I have a neighbor and from time to time her son will split through the wooded area that separates our property to visit. So the other day he stopped in and while he was helping me soak the tortoises he asked about the box turtle and then he told me on his way over the other day he found it and thought I would want it so he was bringing it to me but I wasn't home.
I had him show me where he had found it and we put it back in that location. I explained to him if he sees anymore and their not in any danger to leave them alone. Explained the difference in the ones I have and the box turtle, how the box turtle is wild and only lives in the wild and mine have always lived with people caring for them so they will always live w humans. So hopefully he will remember my story if he comes across anymore. So he got returned to his area, he seemed happy I guess. He had his head up high as he marched away.
Again thanks for all the help!!

 

[Angel Carrion]

That is such a beautiful box turtle. You don't see ones that bright and colorful very often. I mean, yeah EBTs are very bright and colorful by nature, but the extra bright and colorful ones like this guy are rare.
I'm glad you and the boy found him instead of someone else. Males like this one are captured often because of their all-over coloration and brightness in hopes of breeding him with their captive females and producing bright and colorful offspring like him to sell. Your area sounds rural enough that such people (if any are in your area) will not find him.
And hey, maybe he'll visit again later this year or next year. If he does, take more pictures!

 

[Amanda81]

That is such a beautiful box turtle. You don't see ones that bright and colorful very often. I mean, yeah EBTs are very bright and colorful by nature, but the extra bright and colorful ones like this guy are rare.
I'm glad you and the boy found him instead of someone else. Males like this one are captured often because of their all-over coloration and brightness in hopes of breeding him with their captive females and producing bright and colorful offspring like him to sell. Your area sounds rural enough that such people (if any are in your area) will not find him.
And hey, maybe he'll visit again later this year or next year. If he does, take more pictures!

I hope he does well. I heard they stay in the same area their whole life so if this is true he should be pretty safe. The area I live in, not to many people have reptiles as pets, those that do own snakes, so their just not educated on turtles and tortoises, they don't know that picking up a wild box turtle and relocating him to their yard as a new pet could be a death sentence. In all fairness, I didn't know this either till I joined this forum. I would have loved to keep him, he was beautiful but I knew I wasn't doing him a favor so I didn't. Hopefully he will find himself a little lady and one day my whole property will have them running around. I have came across another one since I released this guy, looked just the same except his shell wasn't damaged.

 

[Angel Carrion]

Wow then you must have a female or two somewhere nearby if you found two super colorful guys.

 

[Amanda81]

Ok guys, now I'm in a pickle. Yesterday I was over at my grandmothers doing my weekly yard work for her. I weedeat around her 82 thousand plants/flowers because the guy she pays to weedeat the rest of her property just chops them down if he does it. So this year she decided to try a new way of gardening and created a small garden area and planted all her veggie plants in bales of straw, well I have to weedeat around all the straw bales. Yesterday I had picked up a tomato plant that had fell over out the straw bale and weedeated under it. As I went back to get a closer cut (I cut everything down to dirt) I noticed a little color of orange so I stopped. It was a little turtle. I'm assuming another EBT since I've already came across a couple this year. So now I'm in a panic cause I fear I have weed whacked him. I run in my gramas house, wash him off w some warm water and start inspecting. It looks like I've hit his top beak, there's a piece missing and I see a little red around his mouth. I get a tissue and wipe him off, dry him, I get back outside where I can see him in the sun light and I notice he doesn't have any cuts or lacerations. Perhaps I haven't weed whacked him after all. So as I'm inspecting I notice he is either attempting to hiss or gasping for air, then he closes his mouth and a lot of blood tinted fluid comes out around his closed mouth and out is nostril. So that got me looking, is his nostril plugged up? Nope, only one nostril hole. So I look closer at his beak again and it doesn't seem like a fresh break or anything, his bottom beak actually fits perfect into his top, it's grown that way I believe. So he has a little birth defect perhaps. Now I know they eat worms and such and my Grama said they been eating her tomatoes too. So am I seeing blood from an injury or his dinner?? My Grama then informs me she has relocating a couple adult ones this summer cause they are eating her veggies to take him with me. So I finish my yard duties and bring the little guy home with me. I set him up a place for the night cause I'm still not sure if I have injuries him. It seriously doesn't look like he has any injures on the outside from the weedeater, thank god. But the whole blood thing is still concerning. Perhaps I stepped on him, injuring his lungs or something, but Wouldn't that have broke his little shell? I come out this morning, give him a little warm soak and he seems fine. Very active. He has cruised around the enclosure, he is hissing at me, well he makes the mouth movements but there's no sound, he slams shut in his shell, he runs away fine. Now there was a little bit of dried blood on the right side of his mouth this morning but nothing noticed since. Here's my pickle. What to do. I know he's wild so I don't want to keep him as a pet but 1 he's little 2 possibly injuried 3 been moved from his location (I didn't want to do this but my grandmother is set in her ways and if she had came back across him she would have relocated him herself and it might not have been in the best manner for him) 4 the weather is starting to get cooler here. What should I do now? Could I put him out on the back of my property where the others have been found this year? Do I need to provide him some shelter or food for awhile?
Will he be ok with his birth defect?

I will post some pics of him to make sure he is a EBT since I'm not good with IDing these just yet and so you can see his beak and nostril, let me know if ya think he will be ok to put back out on his own.

You can see how the right side of his beak is gone and his bottom beak has grown perfectly in the spot.

His one nostril hole is visible here. No signs of another one at all.


The only place I see on his shell is the first of the three ribs (not sure what else to call em) on the top, it's missing the top layer, I might have done that w weedeater, not sure.

I blew this one up to see the pattern and spot better.

This is him exploring after his soak this morning.

 

[MPRC]

What a goofy looking face. It's quite adorable. I honestly don't know what I would do in your position, but I will comment in hopes of bumping this up so someone else will see.

 

[RedFootedLove]

So I found this guy in my yard today. I haven't seen one of these around since I was a kid so it makes me wonder if someone dropped him in my yard since people know I have other "turtles". On the other hand he looks as tho he has lead a rough life so perhaps he is wild and after 25 years of not seeing one he just randomly wondered into my yard. According to pics on this site and Google I am guessing he is an eastern box turtle, he has a good size dip on his underneath so I'm guessing male. I have him in a large area in the yard blocked off from my other shelled animals while I find out if he's wild or not. If he is wild I will certainly send him on his way but I wanted to get some opinions because if he isn't I don't want to let him loose and him die or something. Any info, opinions, suggestions would be much appreciated.
View attachment 130332 he looks WC to me but some people may think differently those yellows are beautiful tho
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[johnsonnboswell]

What would you like to do? What's your gut feeling on this?

This should be a separate thread.

 

[wellington]

Chances are, seeing it's not that deformed, the mouth that is, he would be fine. Does he seem to have problems eating? If not, I would put him back where you found him. Maybe he will just hang around there to live. However, be careful then of using a weed whacked or lawn mower.

 

[Yvonne G]

I think he was born (hatched) with a cleft palate. This has affected his nose, inside his mouth, and his beak. It's not too bad of a deformity, and shouldn't affect his being able to eat, and obviously hasn't because he's a couple years old. It's not from the weed wacker at all. And yes, it is a little eastern box turtle. His territory is your gramma's property.

 

[Amanda81]

I think he was born (hatched) with a cleft palate. This has affected his nose, inside his mouth, and his beak. It's not too bad of a deformity, and shouldn't affect his being able to eat, and obviously hasn't because he's a couple years old. It's not from the weed wacker at all. And yes, it is a little eastern box turtle. His territory is your gramma's property.

Ok so I am way off. I thought he was a baby. I figured he was maybe a couple months old. So their only this big at a couple years old?!?! I'm shocked. And now that you've used the word cleft, yes that's exactly what it looks like, I didn't even think about that. I made him a little hide out of a butter dish and some warm damp sphagnum moss, he went right in and disappeared. These guys are way skiddish. I wish I could take him back to my gramas but if he gets caught eating her tomatoes she will "relocate" him. Do you think if I put him back out (he outside now but in one my enclosures) on my property he would be ok or should I take him back to gramas and hope he don't get caught in the garden again. I will do what's best for him. Maybe I could take food of some sort over and leave for him, perhaps encourage him to stay out of garden.