Detailed Pictures of 'T3'
(Male/Female? Three-Toed Box Turtle)
NOTICE: This page contains 7 somewhat large and
detailed photographs, and therefore, the time to display them all may seem
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NON-COPYWRITE NOTICE: All photographs contained on this
page are hereby Released into the Public Domain. You may copy, use, distribute,
publish, sell, or alter them without consent of Roger Louie, the creator
of these photos. It is the authors wish to have these photographs help others
to learn about the American Box Turtle species, but this is not a requirement
for their use or redistribution.
Origionally, when I bought this turtle, I was told by the pet store employee that this turtle was a female. Well, after taking numerous detailed pictures of this T3 turtle, I'm beginning to think that T3 is actually a Male. For now, I will label this turtle as a Male/Female, until the time that I know for sure. Below are some photos that support the idea that this is a male turtle.
NOTICE:As of 04/26/98, I am starting to think that
this T3 turtle is really a Male turtle. My recent closeup
pictures of this turtle point to this fact.
T3's left side.
T3's right eye.
T3's closeup mugshot. A common trait of American Box Turtles is that Male eye
iris coloration is usually Red, or Reddish. This is true for Males of
the subspecies Florida Box Turtles, Gulf Coast Box Turtles, Three-Toed Box Turtles, and Ornate Box Turtles. On the other hand, Eastern Box Turtle
Males are known to have an eye 'iris' color of Orange-yellow. Beware, don't
use eye coloration as a sole method of determining box turtle sex. Use it
in conjunction with other male traits.
The coloration as seen above is typical of my other 2 definitely male box turtles. This 'reddish' eye iris coloring
indicates to me that this might be a male turtle.
Tess Cook,
who maintains the 'Box Turtle Care and Conservation Web Page',
mentioned to me that when turtles are born the amount of sex
hormones are low, therefore it is difficult to determine
whether a turtle is a male or female. Now, since the amount of
hormones can vary from month to month in adults, the eye
coloration with males can also vary. I guess that is why the
books either say Red, or Reddish.
Bye the way, according to most books, Female box turtles, in many cases,
have Brown, or Yellowish-Brown colored eye iris's.
T3's Right Hind leg. Notice the characteristic 3 toenails. This 3 toenail
characteristic is only seen in the rear hind limbs.
T3's Carapace (The Top side of it's Shell). All of my quantity 3 Three-Toed
box turtles, male or female, look somewhat similar to this. In general, their
color is Brown, and there is no distinctive coloration, no spots, and no radial
line patterns as found in other types of American Box Turtle subspecies. It should be noted that T3 has a somewhat more 'distinctive' carapace than T1 and T2. Still, overall, it has that 'brownish' look to it, with no fancy patterns.
T3's Plastron (The Bottom side of it's Shell). I have read in more than
one book that Male Three-Toed box turtles have a slight 'indention' on their
plastron. I assume this 'indentation' would help during the mating process.
(T1 mating with T3) For this T3 male/female?, you can see a slight 'indention', and this
fact indicates to me that this might be a male turtle.
T3's tail. According to the books, male box turtles are
supposed to have 'thick' tails at the base of the tail. Also,
their 'vent', or in human terms, the anus, is located farther
away from the base of the tail. Female box turtles are
supposed to 'vents' that are located closer to the base of
their trails, and their tails are shorter than males. Since
T3's 'vent' is located in a similar relative position from
the plastron as T1's and T2's, I'm now almost positive that
T3 is indeed a Male box turtle.
This page Edited/Updated: 05-07-98 4:45 PM
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