please help identify this guy

[ColleenT]

Well, not sure WHAT he is, pretty sure he is male, and has 4 toes. i am just happy i got him a good home.

 

[lisa127]

Well, not sure WHAT he is, pretty sure he is male, and has 4 toes. i am just happy i got him a good home.

Me too! And we do know he's handsome!

 

[Yvonne G]

That's a gulf coast box turtle (Terrapene carolina major). He's been through either a fire or a dog attack where all the scutes were injured. New keratin grew under the injured parts and then the old dead parts flaked off. What you see is the new scute material. Not quite a pretty as the old material, but every bit as strong and healthy.

 

[ColleenT]

That's a gulf coast box turtle (Terrapene carolina major). He's been through either a fire or a dog attack where all the scutes were injured. New keratin grew under the injured parts and then the old dead parts flaked off. What you see is the new scute material. Not quite a pretty as the old material, but every bit as strong and healthy.

the three toed box female i got had a hole and what look like dog teeth marks, so i imagine someone's dog used these guys as chew toys. Ugh.

 

[Berkeley]

Yes, the box turtle in question was definitely a Gulf Coast box turtle.

the three toed box female i got had a hole and what look like dog teeth marks, so i imagine someone's dog used these guys as chew toys. Ugh.

Three toeds often have holes or pits in the carapace. It is not always from predator damage. It may very well have been chewed by a dog, but that makes chipping marks rather than the clean-edged hole that is seen. Do you have a picture you could post of the holes?

--Berkeley

 

[ColleenT]

you can see the hole from this pic, but not sure the other pic will be able to show the scratches.

 

[Berkeley]

Sorry for the late reply, Colleen! I was away from the computer over the weekend.

Thanks for the pics. It was pretty much what I had envisioned. Neither of those shells looks recently damaged though- trauma for sure, and pretty good trauma for the one on the right! But it is old and healed-over. Fresh wounds would be bright, and oozing.

You can see one of those clean-edged holes on the turtle on the left and in the single pic. What's interesting is, to my knowledge, no one really knows what causes them. They are found in both sexes, but predominantly in three-toed boxes. I've never seen the holes in any of the other subspecies.

--Berkeley

 

[ColleenT]

thanks. very strange. my Female is the one with the huge hole. I'll just keep an eye on it and hope it is supposed to be there.