# Turtles vs. Tortoises



## [email protected] (May 29, 2013)

Do you guys like tortoises, box turtles, or aquatic turtles the best. Sorry if this has already been asked. I'm new to turtle keeping and I have two hatchlings, but i plan on keeping turtles and torts my whole life. I'm not talking species specific just in general  What do you enjoy keeping more and fascinates you more?


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## mctlong (May 29, 2013)

Tortoises!!!!!


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## jaizei (May 29, 2013)

Seeing Terry's DBTs almost convinced me to get some aquatic turtles, then I found out they're illegal to posses here.


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## Millerlite (May 29, 2013)

I have all 3 and they are all unique in there own way. Can't say I have a favorite. I actually started with turtles went to tortoises tho...


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## Jacqui (May 29, 2013)

I have some of all three. 

With water turtles I find they are some of the more unique looking animals. Such as the Mata mata with it's specialized body shape and coloring, to how it sounds when it vacuums up fish to the teamwork it will do with another one to herd those fish in. The Diamonds with their neat shells and awesome colored/mark limbs are another major favorite. The downer with water turtles is water.  They just take so much water volume and there is all the work with cleaning it.

Tortoises I like because they combine two of my favorite things, the tortoises themselves and growing plants/creating enclosures.


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## wellington (May 29, 2013)

I have had a boxie in the past and now have a tortoise and RES. I like them all, but my fave is tortoises.


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## brandhllg (May 29, 2013)

I have all 3 as well, and I can't say I have a favorite. Some are easier than others as far as overall care and maintenance. They all are very unique in their own way, that's even within the same species. Some shy, others scared of nothing. My newest member of the pack a Diamond back terrapin, I'm crazy about him and he has an awesome personality. But love my other water turtles, box turtles and tortoises just as much.


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## PapS (May 30, 2013)

Um I will be the weird guy here and say Sea Turtles. I wouldn't recommend you getting one though, unless you have a pool that is a square km and 200m deep.

All ground/freshwater Chelonians seem equally likeable to me, for different reasons. I just have a tortoise though. If I got a water turtle or even a box turtle I wouldn't be able to maintain it. Even most tortoises are out of my league...


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## Spn785 (May 30, 2013)

I had an ornate box turtle growing up that was very personable. I had an RES, that I was originally told was a mildly deformed box turtle, which I also liked. But my Russian that I have now, and the other tortoises I have watched make me say my favorite is tortoises.  My Russian has more personality than my box turtle or RES did, and I think she is cuter.


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## Jlant85 (May 30, 2013)

Tortoises! I too had turtles before but I just love the idea of watching tv or doing something else and I can have them sit on my lap or run around. I also love hand feeding my torts! I felt I had more interactions with tortoise than my turtles. So I flushed them down the toilet! Just kidding...


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## Vitality (May 30, 2013)

Tortoise. They are more jurrasic!


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## erica anne (May 30, 2013)

Tortoises!


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## GeoTerraTestudo (May 30, 2013)

Torties are my favorite, but boxies are a close runner-up. Aquatic turtles are also awesome, but I'm just not as into them as their terrestrial cousins. I'm generally more into terrestrial animals than aquatic ones, although I used to keep lots of fish. Among aquatic systems, I usually like freshwater more than saltwater, so I'm more interested in pond turtles than sea turtles.

Boxies are so colorful and gorgeous, but I feel like their omnivorous diet makes them a bit more expensive to care for than herbivorous tortoises. Also, although it's interesting to watch predators catch their prey, I don't keep animals that need live prey anymore. I always felt like Jabba the Hutt throwing Luke Skywalker to the Rancor monster whenever I fed my boxies and large fish live prey, so I stopped keeping such pets. I still keep cats and dogs, but it's not like I have to give them live chickens and deer, or anything.


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## Millerlite (May 30, 2013)

Dbts will change most people's way of thinking about aquatics, they are smart will jump out if the water to eat out if your hands, loves attention and are very cool looking, they have tons of personality. Idk if they would like watching tv much. Lol


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## IRTehDuckie (May 30, 2013)

i have had probably close to every reptile i am allowed to have without a license, and i have to say tortoises are THE BEST!


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## Anthony P (May 30, 2013)

Historically, turtles, but I think tortoises may be edging them out for me. It's too close for me to vote :-/


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## tortadise (May 30, 2013)

Im going to go with chelonia for my answer  hehe

Sent from my SPH-D710 using TortForum mobile app


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## terryo (May 30, 2013)

For me it's Box Turtles. I've had them all my life, and that's a very, very, long time. They are loaded with personality and so curious about everything. Water turtles are fantastic too. I've had a turtle pond for years, and have raised many different kinds. They all have different, personalities, and are friendly little beggars. I've only had tortoises for 6 years, and only Cherry Heads. They are both wonderful pets, but to me don't have much personality, and are very independent. But I love box turtles the best.


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## Yellow Turtle (May 31, 2013)

I vote for tortoise, although I'd always love to get my hands on those DBT-s and RES morphs.


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## GeoTerraTestudo (May 31, 2013)

terryo said:


> For me it's Box Turtles. I've had them all my life, and that's a very, very, long time. They are loaded with personality and so curious about everything. Water turtles are fantastic too. I've had a turtle pond for years, and have raised many different kinds. They all have different, personalities, and are friendly little beggars. I've only had tortoises for 6 years, and only Cherry Heads. They are both wonderful pets, but to me don't have much personality, and are very independent. But I love box turtles the best.



Box turtles really are interesting to watch. When they go into predatory mode, their eyes get big, and they stalk their prey, and it's so cool. And their colors are amazing! But I also love watching tortoises browse and graze, too, and overall I just like watching them forage and patrol their territory a little more.


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## Millerlite (May 31, 2013)

I found box turtles to have the most personality as in range. A lot of people might not know this because they may only have one or a few box turtles. They range from shy to goofy. When I had my 15-20 box turtles at one point this was maybe 8-9 years ago I had just about every personality a box turtles can have, they really are funny little guys. I had them in a big 15x25 foot area maybe a little bigger and when I would do work in the "enclosure" they would all come out and say hi to me, climb right up into my hand. Loved being scratched on the head. Till this day box turtles are one of my favorites.


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## Anthony P (May 31, 2013)

tortadise said:


> Im going to go with chelonia for my answer  hehe
> 
> Sent from my SPH-D710 using TortForum mobile app



Great answer...


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## Madkins007 (Jun 2, 2013)

Don't you think that asking this on a TORTOISE-LOVER'S FORUM might bias the results? If we loved turtles or boxies, we'd probably be on a different forum.


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## tupacliveson16 (Jun 2, 2013)

I've owned turtles ALL my life. I always had them around. They are a complete amazing pet to have because they are so graceful when they swim. I had one box turtle and he was so cool because he was always active. I had two sulcata tortoises and i loved them. I cant really choose a favorite, i love them all equally, but tortoises are prob the coolest of the three to have. Unless you have a big tank for your turtles, then it is entertaining.


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## terryo (Jun 3, 2013)

Madkins007 said:


> Don't you think that asking this on a TORTOISE-LOVER'S FORUM might bias the results? If we loved turtles or boxies, we'd probably be on a different forum.



A lot of people on this forum have both....don't they?


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## Dozers_Mommy (Jun 14, 2013)

I have 3 yellow-bellied sliders (aquatic turtles) and 1 sulcata tortoise...and I love them all! Dozer, my sulcata, seems a little "wiser" I'd say, he seems to look right into my soul when he's looking at me! But my ybs are fuuuull of energy and nonsense. They are like little guard turtles, banging on the aquarium when anyone they don't know comes in!


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## EricIvins (Jun 14, 2013)

terryo said:


> Madkins007 said:
> 
> 
> > Don't you think that asking this on a TORTOISE-LOVER'S FORUM might bias the results? If we loved turtles or boxies, we'd probably be on a different forum.
> ...



Ummm yeah.....I have alot of both. As long as it has 4 legs and a shell I'm into it either way....


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## Anthony P (Jun 18, 2013)

EricIvins said:


> terryo said:
> 
> 
> > Madkins007 said:
> ...



Hahahaha


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## Jenley (Jun 18, 2013)

Ok...I feel so dumb for asking this...What is a box turtle?


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## Vickie (Jun 18, 2013)

Boy not even having my tortoise yet its way to early for me to say. However, having water turtles off and on my whole life I got to say I love the little buggers but they seem WAY different then tortoises to me and they can be beyond messy. So far preparing for our tortoise I can say putting together its homes has been way more fun. Plus whenever I am around a tortoise they seem to be so much more personable. Besides its been my dream to own one ever since I was a little girl riding huge ones at the local zoo.

So all that said which one I just cannot answer that and unsure if I ever will be able to. They are all very unique and I can bet money they all have their own personalities that play into this all as well.




Jenley said:


> Ok...I feel so dumb for asking this...What is a box turtle?



Not a dumb question at all. First thing is aquatic turtles or semi aquatics need water to be able to eat and digest their food. Also, semi aquatic or aquatic ones have webs between their feet as well as their bodies are more flat to cut through the water better. Box turtles are the way they sound. Their bodies are more boxy and they are typically more built to live on land over their aquatic counterparts.


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## GeoTerraTestudo (Jun 18, 2013)

Jenley said:


> Ok...I feel so dumb for asking this...What is a box turtle?



Box turtles look like tortoises, but they're terrestrial members of the pond turtle family. And they're more omnivorous than tortoises, which are basically herbivores. They're also beautiful!


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## hunterk997 (Jun 20, 2013)

Tortoises


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## Arizona Sulcata (Jun 20, 2013)

Let's be real... this is the TORTOISE Forum after all.


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## Cutva (Jul 10, 2013)

Tortoise!!

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## Grandpa Turtle 144 (Jul 10, 2013)

I've been collecting for 14yrs because my very forgiving wife don't like snakes not even pictures of snakes so I started with a pond and a res. sense I spent the day cleaning the pond that has 6 res and 4painted turtles 2 cooters 1 s pt 1false map turtle I also have 3 ornate 3x3toes 5 Herman's 5 Russians 5 ADt 2 marginals 2 pancakes4 Greeks and I don't think I'd want to loose any of my children or grand kids


P.S. I forgot 12 leopards 5yrs ago I had red foot torts and soft shell turtles but I gave away the last 2


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