Terrapene carolina triunguis-  3 toed box turtle        Origin: South-eastern United States

One advantage to living in Western Tennessee is having two native subspecies of box turtles in the area (the Eastern and the three toed).   Unfortunately, due to largely illegal collecting pressures of breeding age animals as well as the ever encroaching human populations, this species is in trouble in various parts of it's range.  Fortunately there are a variety of reintroduction programs around the country and recent work by some concerned Louisiana turtle enthusiasts have led to the stoppage of the shipment of thousands of animals overseas.

If you see one of these animals in a pet store near you, please check with your local and state regulations before purchasing the animal.  Not only may it be illegal to sell, purchase, or own the animal but odds are good that the animal was taken from the wild and purchasing it will only contribute to further population declines.   And if we can't take care of our own animal populations, what right do we have to tell other countries how to take care of theirs?

Links to further information on T. carolina triunguis:

Care sheets and pictures-nicely done: http://www.personal.psu.edu/users/n/n/nna102/turtles/box.htm

Care sheet and info: http://www.sonic.net/~melissk/box.html

Care sheet- general: http://www.tortoise.org/general/boxcare.html

Care info for each subspecies: http://www.tortoise.org/archives/terrapen.html

Box turtle ID pages: http://www.primenet.com/~kosh/TURTLE/species.htm

Picture and some info: http://www.primenet.com/~kosh/TURTLE/threetoe.htm

Picture and some info: http://www.rainforestsearch.com/rrrs/trtl_bt.htm

Box turtle exploitation article: http://www.tortoise.org/general/exploit.html

Picture: http://gto.ncsa.uiuc.edu/pingleto/herps/images/turtles/triunguis2.jpg

Picture: http://gto.ncsa.uiuc.edu/pingleto/herps/images/turtles/triunguis1.jpg

Picture: http://www.tortoise.org/gallery/pic3toed.html

Numerous pictures: http://home.earthlink.net/~rednine/gallery3.htm

Literature bibliography for box turtles: http://www.fcsc.usgs.gov/Amphibians_and_Reptiles/Amphibians_and_Reptiles_Resear/box_turtle_bib1/box_turtle_bib1.html

PetSmart care sheet- I DO NOT AGREE WITH ALL OF THE LISTED RECOMMENDATIONS AT THIS SITE          http://www.petsmart.com/reptile___amphibian/answers/breed_guide/articles/article_3817.shtml#housing