Opinions on co-habitating box turtle species?

[MoneyTurtles]

Hi everyone, I had been planning on getting an Eastern Box turtle with the idea that I would eventually have a group of them and house them outdoors in the summer. However while I was planning out the indoor enclosure for an EBT, I've been made aware of a Chinese box turtle on that needs a home. The turtle is being housed really poorly and I'd love to give it a good home. However, I'd still like to get a group of EBTs sometime in the future.

From the research I've done Chinese box turtles seem to be the more terrestrial of the semi-aquatic Asian species. As long as I provide a larger area of shallow water for the CBT, the EBT would be okay, right? Its not like they won't make use of the watering area, right?

Of course I could keep them in separate enclosures, but I'd rather be able to give them all plenty of room rather than dividing the space up. Any insights you guys have would be much appreciated.

 

[Yvonne G]

In my opinion it's not a good idea to mix species that would never come into contact with each other in the wild. You just don't know what pathogens each species has that might be harmful to the other species.

 

[MoneyTurtles]

In my opinion it's not a good idea to mix species that would never come into contact with each other in the wild. You just don't know what pathogens each species has that might be harmful to the other species.

Thats a good point I suppose. Would it still be a problem if all of the animals are captive bred/ go through quarantine before they get put together? From what I know about microbes that animals carry, they come almost completely from the environment. Although I don't have a good understanding of how that works out in the real world

 

[Pastel Tortie]

I would err on the side of caution and keep the species from separate parts of the world separate. It isn't just a matter of what they harbor now, it's also a matter of anything they could be exposed to later.

If the Chinese box turtle you're referring to is a C. flavomarginata, it may like a wetter environment... I've heard their care being similar to that of Gulf Coast box turtles (T.c. major), and GCBTs are more comfortable in (and fond of) water than other T.carolina subspecies. In places where they hibernate, some GCBTs hibernate in the water with the pond turtles.