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*EDIT: We identified and released him, see my post near the bottom of this page.

I know not to keep a turtle from the wild, and I'm not! No need to warn me.

My friends found a turtle and want to identify the species. I live in Northwest Florida. It is just a hatchling, with a yellow stripe down the middle and 4 dots on either side of the shell. Pictures are below. It was found in the middle of the road near my house. I think it may be a striped mud turtle, but it has dots on the side and not stripes. This could just be a little individual trait. So, what do you guys think it is?

i have no idea what he is.. but damn he is SOOO cute!!

He is cute! Have you tried Austin's Turtle Page? They have pictures of many different kinds of turtles and you could browse those until you find a match...or maybe someone else on here will know.

www.austinsturtlepage.com

He's so cute! Let us know if you find out for sure what it is.

I still have to find out what he is, but I also need to find where he came from. He was found in the middle of the road near no water except small ditches. I have him in a basic-turtle-needs tank for this night, and tomorrow I will spend the day finding his home.

Oh, and yes, he is sooo cute. He reminds me of my little turtles when they were just hatchlings. BTW, his head is really big, with this little grin perpetually on his face.

I can't tell in the pics so I'm going to ask a really stupid question... Are his back feet webbed?

very cute! i hope you havn't put him in water because he isn't an aquatic turtle. looks to me as though you have a box turtle hatchling!

eastern box turtle, to be exact....here is a link
http://gallery.cs.umb.edu/gallery/easternbox

That's why I asked about the feet as well. I was thinking he looked like an Eastern Boxie after looking on Chelonia.org last night.

I was just going to say make sure you don't let him go in a pond or something. He's a box turtle, though I'm not sure what kind. They all pretty much look the same at that age.

He's a cutie!

Yeah, he's a Eastern Box Turtle all right. We released him near a pond in a sheltered woodland area close to where he was found. He just waddled away, with that cute grin on his face (captive turtles, I notice, never seem to have that grin). Even though box turtles are land turtles, they love water and actually swim quite a bit, so I made sure his new wild home had water access. It is also well sheltered, so that birds and such can't get to him.

And we named him Lieutenant. As in LT., as in Little Turtle. I will miss him.

Kakama5 wrote:It is just a hatchling, with a yellow stripe down the middle and 4 dots on either side of the shell. So, what do you guys think it is?

It is soooo cute with the little leathery scutes! Unfortunately I can't help you identify it though. Thanks for sharing the pics!