Elemental Exotic's newest additions. Box turtles.

Charis · 09-22-14, 09:58 AM

I've been looking into getting either a Box turtle or one of the small tortoise species for a couple years. One of the local rescues posted these two last week and I finally decided to bite the bullet and chose one, or in this case, two, turtles.

Just got them last night. They are super friendly!
The male has really neat markings on his face. He also had some pretty ugly damage to a section of his shell, that I'd been told about, but it looks really well healed. They were an owner surrender to an animal shelter who then sent them on to the rescue I got them from, so there isn't much background info on them. Not sure how old they are but they are on the smaller side and don't look totally full grown.

This is the female, peeking out to watch everything going on as I got them ready for a brief soak this morning.

The male after his soak.

The old injury to the male's shell.

The female after her soak.

Charis · 09-22-14, 10:02 AM

The male outside in natural light.

Charis · 09-22-14, 10:09 AM

Another one of the damaged area of the male's shell.

The female in natural light. She did't want to hold still at all.

**millertime89** · 09-23-14, 10:54 AM

Wow, that male has some amazing markings on his face.

Jim Smith · 09-23-14, 11:50 AM

Beautiful animals! My wife and I have a passion around saving these guys whenever we see them on the road. Until this year, we've seen them much less often which is concerning. This year however, we've found/rescued quite a few and relocated them to areas with very few roads and lots of land to roam and make new little box turtles. It seems that the Eastern Box turtle has a bit more markings on their shells and more yellow than red on their faces. Here's a couple that we relocated this summer.

Charis · 09-23-14, 11:51 AM

Those are great looking!

themeyers · 09-23-14, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

Beautiful animals! My wife and I have a passion around saving these guys whenever we see them on the road. Until this year, we've seen them much less often which is concerning. This year however, we've found/rescued quite a few and relocated them to areas with very few roads and lots of land to roam and make new little box turtles. It seems that the Eastern Box turtle has a bit more markings on their shells and more yellow than red on their faces. Here's a couple that we relocated this summer.

check your laws. I think it may be illegal to do what you are doing. I could be wrong here but I did have a friend arrested for the same exact thing. I for one support what you are doing and think its of great importance but the law is the law. be careful to not get caught and keep up the good work.

TempestK · 09-23-14, 12:21 PM

Very cool indeed! And I agree, that male has some interesting and distinctive head markings.

Jim Smith · 09-23-14, 12:35 PM

themyers,

Thanks for the heads-up. I will check the local/state laws . As silly as it sounds, there may be a law that it is illegal to capture/possess one of these box turtles. I do know that it is not legal to keep them as pets since they are native to the area. I'll post the answer to my inquirly.

Charis · 09-23-14, 12:50 PM

I do know there are sometimes laws that you aren't allowed to pick up, harass or move certain turtles or tortoises, I'm thinking mostly of the ones for federally protected desert torts. You are allowed to move a desert tort off the road in the direction it was headed, if it's in imminent danger of being killed but picking them up at all is very discouraged. However, that's because they tend to pee when they are picked up and that can cause them to exhaust their water reserves and if they can't find a drink or you can't get the one you moved to take a drink from you, it's possible that it will die of dehydration in a few days.

Charis · 09-23-14, 05:41 PM

They both got a couple of hours out in the yard and sun today. The male trekked all over and was interested in exploring, the female pretty much stayed in one spot and was more wary, though she did look around a good bit.

Female, with my phone by her for size comparison.

Charis · 09-23-14, 05:44 PM

The male next to my phone.

**millertime89** · 09-23-14, 06:29 PM

Phones kinda suck for scale since there are so many. Use a banana or business card or something else with uniform (or nearly) size. Based on your original pictures I thought they would be bigger but they're still very small.

Charis · 09-23-14, 06:33 PM

Yeah, I mainly just used that because it was nearby and because my Mom had been asking about their size. She's handled my phone before, so I figured that would work well enough for her to tell how big they are. My phone is roughly 6 inches long.

**millertime89** · 09-23-14, 06:44 PM

Just a future tip. GS3 right?