That is a really nice shell design! On a bad drought year or really bad winter many of the turtles die. Some years we have box turtles everywhere. Would never sell one!
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My 13 year old son already fell in love with it, and he hopes it returns for more food after feeding it 
.
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yeah, theyre pretty fun for kids to interact with. for a creature with not much more than a enlarged cerebellum, they have a lot of personality!
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tortoises, especially the larger ones(desert torts/sulcatas/aldabras), are more voracious eaters, since they are virtual vegetarians.
i agree with others confirming what you have is an american box turtle, which, like the asian box turtle, is an omnivore. It would much prefer eating sowbugs than it would vegetation. Being much smaller than most turtles(carapace length of not much more than 4 inches â at a hundred years of age), it poses hardly a threat other than possibly nipping at seedlings, melons/strawberries as others have mentioned, or young/ herbaceous saplings. It wonât be interested in lignified stuff.
american box turtles are absolute cuties. A client here in vegas, who can no longer take care of pets, offered to give me her decadesâ old family heirloom â supposedly a mojave desert tortoise that she says is afflicted with dwarfism. When found it in her yard it was no tortoise, but a desert box turtle aka âornataâ box turtle.
will post photos asap 
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Should caution be used in handling a turtle?
I heard they can carry salmonella, something that can make you quite sick. I think it is a similar hazard to handling poultry as well as raw chicken.
I am also told you donât wonât to get bitten by a snapping turtle. A snapping turtle is not going to run you down, but it is probably a good idea not to handle turtles or tortoises of unknown species.
No reason to chase them away, just donât pick them up.
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We do all those things but have all my life. That may mean i have certain tolerances others may not. Turtles always try to piss on you as defense which is why i pick them up how i do. Snapping turtles have a nasty disposition when bothered and they are tough. Growing up where i do there are times when catching things is just what we need to do. Would not recommend you do anything else until hands are washed. I have done much much worse jobs. Iâm the designated dog scrubber for life and i have scrubbed skunk sprayed dogs that were not even mine with tomato juice etc. I wear gloves now on skunky dogs because my ex told me the spray can have enough in it to give us rabies. Skunks frequently carry rabies. Would not go out of my way to pick up anything wild unless it needs it. Catching chickens is just common farm life.
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I can tell you that if a turtle should bite you on the palm of your hand you will need to hold it upside down under a stream of water while inserting a screwdriver in its jaws to encourage it to open its mouth. At least thatâs what worked for ten-year-old me.
Once I drilled a hole (with a hand drill) in the flare part of the shell to leash it. Only worked for a day, I think.
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i took a young snapping turtle out of the road about 4 years ago. it was also the 1st one ive seen around here. shell was about 16in. grabbed her by the tail. she wasnt very happy. hissing and snapping as i drug her into the ditch. i used to have pet boas and pythons so handling reptiles doesnât bother me. yes you should always wash your hands after handling one. i used to put my snakes in a warm shower every 4 days or so. they loved it!
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In the water we have leather back turtles , alligator snappers, normal snappers, and pond slider turtles. Hate to show anyone these values because it would be easy to make thousands a day. These turtles should never be in captivity. Wild creatures should be allowed to be wild.
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seen alligator snappers in A.L. nasty looking things.
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They are really tough as well. They chew holes in my steel mesh fishing baskets sometimes to steal my fish. Usually i catch them at it but the big ones work fast.
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Not a chance
Worms some fruit n vegetables
Please check your Stateâs DNR website before buying any form of Native wildlife as pets. You may avoid big fines and seizure of your pet and habitat. In Eastern States any species from East of the Mississippi River Basin is pretty much illegal as a rule of thumb.
That or become a certified wildlife rehabber. I know a rehabber in South Carolina who specializes in returning Eastern Box turtles to the wild. Which is very hard btw, They are very territory linked and do poorly removed from it. But it is quite comical as he copes with dozens of very smart and persistant turtles.
And if you want to see real love from a turtle:
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Agreed, as they get larger, they certainly eat more. But I have never seen one (Mojave desert) tear at a tree base, they are more interested in herbaceous materials. My tortoises do love fruit,- apricot and grape seem to be favorites. But those are treats. They dine primarily on grated carrot and trumpet vine flowers. They will literally run for kale leaves and prostate spurge seems to be quite a favorite as well. I usually farm some as a food source for them.
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ours literally get weeds for the most part: dandelion, crabgrass/bermuda, tumbleweed, spotted spurge, and male mulberry leaves, which we performed transgender surgery on by grafting female mulbsâany growth neath the graft gets ripped and fed to our voracious and vicious weedkillers 
egyptian spinach(jews mallow) is a kitchen vegie that is supposedly safe for tortoises to eat, which we give to them as dessert
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We used to have a grand old female Gopher Tortoise burrowed in a neighboring lot. She would amble through and shop the greenery. Sadly the Garbage Truck backed over her. {an accident. The lady was very apoplectic}
For the last few years we just see the males wander for a mate. They never stay.