What kind of tortoise is he?

kwilh0

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Joined
Apr 3, 2020
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1
Location (City and/or State)
Florida
Hello guys,

I’ve been reading about tortoises for days now trying to figure out which kind we have. This is Lou, we found him (her maybe?) in late September 2017 in our screened pool (still a mystery to us) he was the size of a quarter if any. He’s always been on water and seems comfortable there, during day time we put him where he can receive sun light and he chills on top of his house for a good part of the day there.
We love him so much and he recognizes our voices and or when we enter a room he comes out to “greet us”, he even kinda plays with us some times and he ate from my hand a few times (hesitant but he did).
So far we believe he’s a Terrapene Carolina Carolina or Florida Box Turtle but we are not entirely sure. We want to make sure which kind he is so we can get him proper housing, temperatures and light so he can growth healthy and happy.
Any pointers on which kind he is and any advice/link that could be helpful for his particular specie?
Thanks in advance for your help.

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Joined
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Texas
Hello! This is definitely a turtle, the kind of turtle I am not too sure, but I believe it is a Striped-Mud Turtle. A full grown Striped-Mud Turtle is 4-5 inches! These type of turtles like to dwell on the bottom of the tank/aquarium/tub but a basking spot should always be provided! Please let me know what size tank you guys have! Check me out on youtube/instagram: PressureReptiles & twitter: PressureReptile
 

gedong

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Jun 19, 2018
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Jakarta
Hi its definitely not a tortoise, but I am not sure what type of turtle you've got
 

Chubbs the tegu

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May 9, 2019
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Ma
Hello! This is definitely a turtle, the kind of turtle I am not too sure, but I believe it is a Striped-Mud Turtle. A full grown Striped-Mud Turtle is 4-5 inches! These type of turtles like to dwell on the bottom of the tank/aquarium/tub but a basking spot should always be provided! Please let me know what size tank you guys have! Check me out on youtube/instagram: PressureReptiles & twitter: PressureReptile
Agree
 

MichaelL

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Nov 18, 2018
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Ocala, Fl
I think it's a striped mud turtle too, and by the looks of it, a male
 

AmandaTX

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Joined
Dec 17, 2019
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17
Location (City and/or State)
Houston, TX
You have a mud turtle, although we'd need more location details to tell specific species. Mud and musk turtles are easily confused. Mud turtle species have a distinctive triangular shaped pectoral scute on their plastron. Musk turtles have a squarish pectoral scute. Musk often have grayish skin showing between scutes on the plastron and overall look like they're squeezed into a shell too small for them when viewed from underneath ;)

Where in Florida are you located? That can help narrow down the exact type of mud turtle you have although care for the different species should be very similar. Several of the mud turtles ranges overlap in the state.
 

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AmandaTX

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Dec 17, 2019
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Houston, TX
After flipping through my big turtle ID book, the species in most of Florida should be the striped mud or the Florida mud turtle. Judging from the coloration, I'd agree with previous posters that said striped. Sorry- I'm more familiar with Texas species!
 
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