Ornate Box turtle again

[Methos75]

Not to ruin this thread but I got to comment on the Ornate shown in the thread and the issues it has, being a long time breeder of Ornates here in the states quite a few issues are immediately noticeable to me. First of his claws are vastly over grown and needs to be trimmed, same with his beak which is starting to over hand for more than it should. Also appears he has been subjected to Mal-Nutrition, his shell is obviously smaller than it should be in accordance with the rest of him and you can see where it is starting to grown out and curve on the margins which isn't normal.

[Methos75]

Originally Posted by suttysue

scuse my ignorance but do folks in the USA call tortoises turltes. Coz I'm confused ? sorry

Do we do have actual Tortoises in the USA, the Box Turtle while mainly Terrestrial does frequent wetlands and some species such as the Coahuilan are almost fully aquatic hence why not considered to be Tortoises.

[Geomyda]

Originally Posted by Methos75

Do we do have actual Tortoises in the USA, the Box Turtle while mainly Terrestrial does frequent wetlands and some species such as the Coahuilan are almost fully aquatic hence why not considered to be Tortoises.

Of course, you have three of the four species of Gopher Tortoise which occur naturally within the USA.
1. Gopherus agassizii
2. Gopherus berlandieri
3. Gopherus polyphmus

[Bindi]

Originally Posted by Methos75

Not to ruin this thread but I got to comment on the Ornate shown in the thread and the issues it has, being a long time breeder of Ornates here in the states quite a few issues are immediately noticeable to me. First of his claws are vastly over grown and needs to be trimmed, same with his beak which is starting to over hand for more than it should. Also appears he has been subjected to Mal-Nutrition, his shell is obviously smaller than it should be in accordance with the rest of him and you can see where it is starting to grown out and curve on the margins which isn't normal.

I'm sure the OP is aware of this Ornate's problems, he didn't raise the animal but I am pretty confident from now on it will get the best possible care.

Would love to see some of yours, they are pretty hard to come by here in the UK, great to have another turtle keeper with us

Originally Posted by Kirkie

Its a good question, they're not very well known in the UK. They are terrestrial, the Ornate box turtle is mainly a grassland species. Theres a good picture of their natural habitat here

http://www.azgfd.gov/w_c/boxturtlemanagement.shtml
They do quite like water and can swim. Mine have a big plant tray bath they use most days.
They're quite happy to poke their heads under the water and have a root around. When I bathe my small ornates they do the same and they have a swimming action similar to more aquatic turtles like spotted turtles.

Wow thanks for that

I think the name box turtle makes me automatically think it should be in water! Hes gorgeous

Originally Posted by yagyujubei

I have Easterns, and they are probably the most aquatic of land turtles. I have several large water pans in their enclosure (about 4" deep), and when it's hot I have seen certain individuals soak for days at a time, even all night in the water.

Get some pictures on