what is the difference between a box turtle and a mud turtle?

Question

One of my turtles has 3 toes on the back legs, the other, 4. The 3 toed one has one hinge, the other, two.

Answer 1

Box turtles (Terrapene spp.) are land turtles and cannot swim. They spend all their days on land and feed on land. They may soak in shallow streams or pools of water, but will drown in deep water.

Box turtles get their name because they have a hinged plastron (lower shell) which can allow the turtle to with draw it's head and limbs completely into the shell and close up like a box. They do this for protection and they are the only species of turtle that can do this, that is why they are called box turtles. Mud turtles have a hinged plastron as well, but they cannot completely bring in their linbs to hide completely.

Check out a caresheet and pics:
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-easternboxie.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/world_of_turtles/Eastern_Box_Turtles_-_Terrapene_carolina_carolina/index.html
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/world_of_turtles/3-Toed_Box_Turtles_-_Terrapene_carolina_truinguis/index.html
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/world_of_turtles/Florida_Box_Turtle_-_Terrapene_carolina_bauri/index.html

Mud turtles (Kinosternon spp.) are common in the eastern coast and midwest of US all the way through Central America. They are an aquatic turtle, which spends almost all its life in the freshwater ponds, lakes and streams. They may bask on the water's edge or submerged rock or log. The feed, mate and hibernate in the water. They only come on land to lay eggs. They cannot swallow food on land, since they need water to swallow.

Mud turtles have a hinged plastron as well, but they cannot completely hide in the shell like a box turtle. There are 20 different species and sub-species of mud turtles in the Americas. There are a few species of mud turtles in Africa as well, but they are non-related.

Check out mud turtle caresheet and pics:
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-3_striped_mud.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/world_of_turtles/Yellow_Mud_Turtles_-_Kinosternon_flavescens_flavescens/index.html
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/world_of_turtles/3-Striped_Mud_Turtles_-_Kinosternon_bauri/index.html

As for your sub question... you may have a three-toed box turtle, but not all three-toed box turtles have three toes on the back laegs. They may have four toes as well. Check the previous picture link for the box turtles.

If you need help identifying yor turtle, feel free to email me your pics at [e-mail]

Answer 2

Turtle— Spends maximum of its existence interior the water. Turtles tend to have webbed ft for swimming. Sea turtles (Cheloniidae relatives) are surprisingly tailored for an aquatic existence, with long ft that type flippers and a streamlined physique shape. They hardly flow away the sea, different than whilst the girls come ashore to place their eggs. different turtles stay in clean water, like ponds and lakes. They swim, yet additionally they climb out onto banks, logs, or rocks to bask interior the sunlight. In chilly climate, they could burrow into the airborne dirt and dust, the place they flow into torpor till spring brings heat climate lower back. Tortoise— A land-dweller that eats low-transforming into shrubs, grasses, or maybe cactus. Tortoises don't have webbed ft. Their ft are around and stumpy for walking on land. Tortoises that stay in warm, dry habitats use their reliable legs to dig burrows. Then, whilst it’s too warm interior the sunlight, they slip underground. Terrapin— Spends its time the two on land and in water, besides the fact that it continuously lives close to water, alongside rivers, ponds, and lakes. Terrapins are often modern in brackish, swampy factors. The notice terrapin comes from an Indian notice meaning "slightly turtle.”

Answer 3

one lives in a box and the other one lives in the mud...

Answer 4

the onily defference is that a mud tutle is light brown

Answer 5

The size and color on it's belly.