Hi everyone. I'm a very new tortoise owner. My husband found a cherry head tortoise a few weeks ago in a very busy intersection in Garland,Texas.
My question is: Are these types of tortoise's wild in this area? Or was this someone's pet? I have lived in the Garland area since 1968 and have never seen one like this. She is beautiful. I struggled with the idea of taking her back to where he found her because the area is heavy with streets and traffic. So she is living in an enclosed area in my backyard now. I have her set up with a plastic paint pan so she can get wet if she wants and I also got a small line of a mist hose to keep her cooled off during the hot days. She didn't really eat for a while but now is eating some veggies and alittle bit of fruit (she prefers strawberries). I got her some tortoise food but she doesn't seem to care for it.
Any suggestions would be appreciated in caring for her since I really don't have any experince with them at all. Also do they hibernate for the winter? I read somewhere that said that they do not. If not, can I keep her outside during the winter?
Thanks for your help,
Caroline

maybe a silly question, but have you tried google? it looks like theres a decent .pdf file up there from petco...
also this might be of help - http://www.chelonia.org/articles/redfootcare.htm - its a redfoot care sheet with some cherry head info

This post was last modified: 08-21-2007 09:43 AM by josh.

Hi Squeakermama, can you post a pic. Cherry heads are not native to the US. You could have a boxie though. Or a pet got loose

Hi. Here are some pics that my husband took for me this afternoon.
Let me know what you think ok?
Squeakermama

I'm pretty sure He/She is a Three-toed Box turtle. They do eat fruits,Leafy greens, and worms. If you get some meal worms from the pet store the turtle will probably eat it. Or if you can't go to the pet store find a worm in the backyard. They do like moist places. Heres a care sheet. Please ask if you have anymore questions.

http://www.repticzone.com/caresheets/1022.html

This post was last modified: 08-21-2007 08:48 PM by LeopardLover.

Yes he/she is a boxie. They like humidity Caresheets on 3toed or Eastern box turtles will work fine.
Nice coloring on the face leads me to think male but without a butt shot I can't tell lol.

Heres something I found while looking up the status of the box turtle in Texas
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?...icleid=943

This post was last modified: 08-22-2007 06:49 AM by Iluvemturts.

Yes he/she is a boxie. They like humidity Caresheets on 3toed or Eastern box turtles will work fine.
Nice coloring on the face leads me to think male but without a butt shot I can't tell lol.

Heres something I found while looking up the status of the box turtle in Texas
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?...icleid=943

Ok well thanks for the info. Poor thing my son named her/him (?) Cherry.
Hope we did right by giving it a female name but so far we messed up with using the name "Cherry" huh? Oh well.
I am attaching the only pic of the backside that we have now. You can see she/he has a small little tail. Male or Female?
Squeakermama

Id say girl. Boy tails are thicker

Its a beautiful girl, if she is wild your best bet is let her free again.
You cant keep wild animals, and she looks a fair few years old, and shes a thre toed boxie by the looks of her colorations, and shell.

Nice looking girl, Is there forests around the intersection where you found her?? Well she looks like a cross between an ornate and a three toed which I see a lot of here in the pet stores. But of course there are wild ornates in Texas as well. Cherry is not a bad name, good choice. A great website for the care of box turtles is http://www.boxturtlesite.info they have everything you could think of on there.