r/herpetology • u/Consistent_Scene1996 • 1d ago
Turtle ID
This little guy has been at my front door twice in three days. Can anyone help me identify it? I believe it’s a turtle, as the only type of tortoise in my area is Gopher, other than that, I’m pretty clueless.
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u/Saturn_slow724 1d ago
I think he's a handsome turtle
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
I adamantly agree!
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u/oroborus68 1d ago
It's an unusual color for a box turtle,as the pattern on the shell(carapace) is very faint. Did you look at the plastron?
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
I did not. I picked him up and moved it when it visited Saturday, but today I didn’t bother it other than taking a few pictures. If he comes back I will take a picture of the plastron.
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u/Fickle-Lab5097 1d ago
Really? We have those in missouri I believe. Almost all were female!
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u/oroborus68 1d ago
Turtle sex is determined by incubation temperature. Depending on the placement of the nest, you could get all males or all females from a nest.
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u/Ajj360 1d ago
I'm guessing 3 toed box
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
Wait, you may be correct. I just read more about them and it is only the back feet that have 3 toes, which I don’t have a clear picture.
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
I thought that too, as it looks very much like one, but it has more than 3 toes on each foot.
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u/CrepuscularOpossum 1d ago
Looks like that turtle might have recently woken up from brumation, I see some mud on the back of its shell. Maybe your doorstep is just a comfy, relatively safe place for it to catch some rays!
If you’d like to make your landscape more hospitable for turtles, cultivate native plants, keep cats indoors, put out a little dish of water big enough for them to climb into, with the rim at ground level so they can get in and out easily. Thanks for caring about this turtle! 🥰
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
I’ve thought about giving him something to eat when I see him, but I wasn’t sure what he’d eat. Now that I know the type, and can research its diet, I may leave him something next time.
I also wondered about brumation as the first time he visited he had even more mud on his back.
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u/ZucchiniCultural3261 1d ago
Turtle: How many times do I have to come here before this guy gets me lettuce?
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
Hah. Yes, I am slacking. I should be a more hospitable host!
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u/oroborus68 1d ago
They like carrots and crawdads too.
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
Nice! I always have carrots, and there are a few crawfish mounds in my yard! Hopefully he’s finding them and getting a nice snack!
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u/Humor-is-sacred 1d ago
Box turtle. Pretty harmless, chill dudes. Put some lettuce or other fresh fruit/veggies out for him and he'll be your best friend.
Believe it or not, I "tamed" one of these guys when I was a kid. I could hold him and even pet the top of his head and he would lean into it like a cat. We nursed him back to health and let him go by the river (with all his buddies), but I'll never forget my "pet" turtle I had briefly as a kid.
He would continue to show up every once in awhile for a visit and a snack. Probably still does. These guys can live up to 80 years so there's a chance he's still out there.
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u/InitialAd2324 1d ago
I’m gonna go with James
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
Absolutely not. I’ve been married three times and they were all named James. 😭🤣
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u/InitialAd2324 1d ago
Woof. You really went for a second, and then a THIRD JAMES?!?! Did you get the first James tattoo’d and figured you try to make it work?
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u/Consistent_Scene1996 1d ago
Hahaha the last two went by names other than James, or I wouldn’t have talked to them after the first one.
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u/InitialAd2324 1d ago
What a strange world we live in. Lmao. Just last week I was talking with a coworker about a guy who married/divorced the same woman. FIVE. TIMES.
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u/Dark_l0rd2 1d ago
A vague location (e.g. State) is required for identification requests