Adopeted a three toed box today

Twiggz

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Hello everyone, this is my first post here asking a question. Quick intro, I’m in N. CA, and have had a box turtle since I was a kid. She lived with me over 25 years, passing away 5 years ago. Earlier this year I got the turtle bug again. I ended up with two young redfoot/cherry head mixed torts that I picked up from Terry K.

Fast forward to today, a friend of a friend wanted to get rid of her three toed box turtle since she had too many reptiles and not enough room. Since I had good luck with my last one, I accepted without hesitation. They dropped “him” off today with a 40gal tank, hide and heat lamp. Not sure of the sex, the eyes are brown and the bottom of the shell is flat, but he has spots of red around his head. So first question is to see what the experts think on its sex. At first glance I thought male because of the red. He is over 5" in length, so I expected the bottom of the shell to be concave for a male. Its flat as my old female was.

Second, I’m mostly concerned about this spot on the back of the shell. Is this shell rot or just a scar? I’ve never seen this on any of the turtles or torts I’ve owned.

3ToeBoxrot_zps8c6ea29d.jpeg



And third, his beak. It looks longer than normal to me. Is this ok? Or should I be concerned? I assume it will wear down with a varied diet.

3ToeBox1jpeg_zps02fcf472.jpg


I don’t plan on keeping this one in the 40gal for long. I have a section of my patio fenced off for the turtle outside. I introduced it to him today, but he was a little stressed after the move, so after an hour or so I moved him back to his 40gal. Eventually I’d like to have him live outside permanently. Not sure if I’ll let him stay outside this winter. My old three toe, would just dig a hole when it got cold and hibernate through the rain season. Whenever I was doing something in my patio, she would show up next to me to see what I was doing. I still miss that turtle, she had a great personality.
 

wellington

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Congrats on getting this one. He/she needs a little more loving care the. She was getting. The beak is too long and needs to be filed. You can try feeding her on a ruff flat stone or tile and see if that will file it down enough. The mark on the shell, I would say too me looks like a not bad wound, but also looks like there could be some fungus going not too. See what the boxie experts say.
 

CapturedSerpant

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The spot on his/her shell looks like shell rot. For the beak, feed the turtle on a rough piece of slate. The spot is your main concern though.
 

TigsMom

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Beautiful 3 toed you have there. I suspect it's a girl. My oldest female (over 20) is brightly colored as well. I would wait a week or two until she's settled in before any treatment for the spot of shell rot or filing of the beak. No need to add more stress to her move.

Some warm soaks might help, if it's a boy he might flash his organ.

Here's a pic of my female that is similar to yours:

 

Twiggz

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Thanks for the replies everyone. Hopefully its a girl, because my son (4yo) decided her name will be Penny... regardless of the sex haha.
I already have a rough flat stone to feed him/her on. Ill try that route first, I'm not really comfortable with the idea of taking a file to her beak. I might need to find a turtle friendly vet in my area if the stone doesn't do it.

Thanks Tigsmom, I didn't even think of the stress part for the shell treatment. Ill wait till she seems a little more comfortable before starting with the treatment.

That's a very nice looking female you have. Here is a blurry pic of my old one coming out of her hole when the weather warmed up. She had no spots of color at all.
IMAGE_00015.jpg
 

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