Box turtle questions ~~ a pet that lives in our backyard?

Question

One has lived in our backyard for 12 years. The backyard is a virtual paradise of shrubs, flowers in full bloom, shade all along the wooden fence line. The turtle is solid brown, not spotted brown. It has a few yellow spots around the mouth, but none on its front legs. It is larger than a man's fist by about 1/2 again. In 2005 a super heat wave hit and the turtle disappeared. This year in the spring it appeared again, apparently none the worse for having hid out through two summers and winters. It eats snails, bugs, earthworms. We offer eggs, apples, plumbs, wet dog food. Every morning it walks up to our back door and stares at us on the inside. That's when we freshen the bath water and take out some food. It quickly takes its bath, sometimes eats a tiny amount of the food, sometimes ignores it. It is friendly, listens to us talk, and allows us to stroke its chin.

Yesterday my daughter nearly ran over a box turtle in our front driveway. It wasn't ours. It is smaller, with lots of yellow spots around the mouth and all over the front legs. It looks like photos I've seen on the net.

What's the risk of this new turtle in the backyard, and why is our turtle brown-shelled all over, with no yellow dots like this new one?

:-)
Don Watson
In God We Trust
One Nation Under God Indivisible

That is, why no yellow spots on its front legs, no yellow places on its shell?

Answer 1

There is a fair amount of variation between individual box turtles and the males tend to have brighter colours on the head and legs. However you may also have two sub-species. The solid brown shell is more typical of the three-toed box (they can actually have 4 toes) which is Terrapene carolina triungis while the one with yellow on the shell sounds like an Eastern box (T. carolina carolina). Their ranges do overlap around Alabama and Mississippi.
Your care of your backyard visitor is excellent and your description of living with him/her quite charming. It's no wonder why he has stayed in your yard for 12 years.
If the second turtle is also native to your area then there should be no risk from introducing them. Males can be territorial but as your first one is established in your backyard they will likely naturally work something out. I'm assuming that the turtles are not actively contained in your yard but are free to come and go. This link may be helpful.

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/midorcas/research/Contribute/box%20turtle/boxinfo.htm

Answer 2

all individuals are different only clones have identical genetics. humans dont all have the same moles and skin colour shape size etc. so why would a turtle?