Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Box Turtle


True Wild Life | Box Turtle | The box turtle or box tortoise is a genus of turtle native to North America. Box turtles are land dwelling creatures with high, domed shells, hence the "box" moniker.  Box turtles are found all over the world, and are generally found living in mossy areas of the forest, or other damp habitats.  They are very territorial, and sometimes spend their entire lives near their place of birth.


North American box turtles are omnivores with a very varied diet as box turtles "basically eat anything it can catch". Invertebrates (amongst others insects, earth worms, millipedes) form the principal component, but the diet also consists for a large part (reports range from 30-90%) of vegetation. The diet is amended with fruits (amongst others from cacti, apples and several species of berry), gastropods. While reports exist that during their first five to six years, box turtles are primarily carnivorous, while adults are mostly herbivorous, there is no scientific basis for such a difference. They are strong, sturdy animals, and usually grow to be about 6 inches long.  Box turtles are usually dark in coloring with some yellowish markings, and the male of the species have bright red eyes, longer tails, and their plastrons are indented.


Box turtles are endemic to North America. The widest distributed species is the common box turtle which is found in the United States (subspecies carolina, major, bauri, triunguis; South-Central, Eastern and South Eastern parts) and Mexico (subspecies yukatana and mexicana; Yucatán peninsula and North Eastern parts). The Ornate box turtle is endemic to the south-central and South Western parts of the U.S.  while the spotted box turtle is endemic to North-Western Mexico only. The coahuilan box turtle is only found in Cuatro Ciénegas Basin.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

i own a male eastern box turtle i found him in my back yard and now keep him in a cage and provide food and water for him. he has a cage mate of a hermit crab and they seem to get along pretty well. i wish i could breed my box turtle but i can not find a female. will be putting him outside this summer in a pen tht i am making in an couple of days and hopefully he will atract a female to his pen i will hope to have hatchlings. contact me at turtlelove400@ yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

I found a yellow box turtle with white eyes.I think its sick can you help me

Anonymous said...

To whom it may concern:
I found this beautiful baby turtle in my front yard this past Friday; and I don't live near any water or pond unless you go down hill and road to a creek or lake. This little one has an almost flat, light green, yellow border shell, and a little red/orange dot on each side of the head. I don't have an aquarium; so I built up a little enclosure with some water, rocks, dirt and leafs for it to be in; I leave it in the sun during the day and inside lamp at night!!! I have a picture that I will like to send you; so if you can please tell me what type it is and if its ok to release it to the nearest creek, lake I can find; and if it will survive on its own being so little?

Jennifer J said...

My daughter brought home a box turtle today....yes for mothers day..shes six....Im not to big on little critters but it's cute..do they bite?

Anonymous said...

Removing box turtles from the wild is illegal in some states.
Keeping a box turtle as a pet is a LIFE LONG commitment as they are capable of living for DECADES (40-80 years). It is not appropriate to "dump" your pet turtles in the nearest woods.
Turtles have specific nutritional requirements in order to maintain a healthy shell. They require UV lights in order to process vitamin D.
Unless you have researched this topic, I suggest do not keep a box turtle as a pet.
I work in a preserve and on behalf of my colleagues across the US; We do not want to worry about the pets you have grown tired of.

Auto Insurance said...

The shape of this box turtle is not too boxed..

Unknown said...

Anonymous... thank you for your warning post about keeping box turtles as a pet. My son brought one home today and despite my efforts to explain that it is cruel to cage a wild animal and virtually kidnapping to take them from their environment he insists that we can give it a good life. If you have any other daunting info that will help me and others persuade their children from wanting to keep these beautiful creatures I would appreciate your further comments

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