OHIO – The Ohio Wildlife Conservation Center says that they have found a painted box turtle and wanted to share some info on why keeping Ohio native turtles like this one in captivity isn’t a good thing.
First they wanted to point out that this box turtle has been painted with glitter and nail polish on its shell. This can be deadly to a turtle as the shell of the turtle absorbs the lights vitamin D and helps the turtle grow its amazing skeleton. Also painting a shell and releasing it into the wild will attract predators to the turtle, normally turtles have a natural pattern that camouflages them from danger glitter would defiantly make a turtle stand out.
Keeping wild turtles as pets also is a concern and then releasing them after captivity is also another concern. Box turtles are decreasing in population in Ohio so taking them out of the wild can reduce their future numbers, also turtles search for their original habitat when released and if a wild turtle was found miles away from where it is released it will forever look for that old home crossing roads and dangerous intersections to find it. Also releasing a turtle back into the wild can spread disease the turtle could have contracted within a home and then that turtle could cause other turtles to die.
Turtles should be observed in the wild and left there. It is illegal to keep a wild native Ohio turtle without a license.
