Yucatan Box Turtle (Terrapene mexicana yucatana)

jobeanator

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I'd be curious to talk to/see who keeps and/or breeds Yucatan box turtles in captivity. If there is anyone in tortoise forum land, please contact me. I'd also be interested in seeing enclosures inside and outside, diet, anything honestly. Information is very minuscule and lacking with this species. Thanks!
 

Pastel Tortie

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I'd be curious to talk to/see who keeps and/or breeds Yucatan box turtles in captivity. If there is anyone in tortoise forum land, please contact me. I'd also be interested in seeing enclosures inside and outside, diet, anything honestly. Information is very minuscule and lacking with this species. Thanks!
Try asking @HermanniChris - not many keep that species, but I think he's one of the few who does.
 

wccmog10

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We had a few at the zoo where I worked, but I’m not sure exactly which subspecies of mexicana they were (we just had them labeled Terrapene mexicana). The male was wild caught from the early 70s and still kicking. He was the coolest box turtle ever. We kept them just like the eastern box turtles. We didn’t really hibernate them though. The eastern box turtles we would just give big piles of leaves for them to do their own thing outside all year long. We would usually bring the Mexican box turtles inside- but they still sort of shut down and we’re not nearly as active as they were outside during the summer, if I remember correctly.
 

HermanniChris

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We keep them here and have had some breeding success. They’re very similar to eastern box turtles and less aquatic than gulf coast box turtles. In the winter they reside indoors and in spring, summer and fall they are outside. They enjoy the very hot, humid south jersey summers. In winter they are on the drier side to mimic the situation in nature a bit. They are capable of handling temperatures way down into the low 40s for short bursts. A fairly hardy species.
They eat an invertebrates that come their way, Mazuri tortoise diet, Mazuri aquatic turtle pellets, Mazuri crocodilian diet, various fruits and pinky mice (frozen/thawed).
Here are some pics of their indoor unit here: IMG_1661.jpgIMG_1660.jpgIMG_1659.jpgIMG_1658.jpg
 

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