How to tell if a box turtle is wild?
Your best clue is where you found it. If in the wilderness while camping or down by the river, it’s probably wild. NEVER capture a wild turtle. This is illegal in most states and is immoral as well: because it takes box turtles so long to reach sexual maturity and breed, you could be destabilizing wild populations by capturing turtles. Besides, wild-caught turtles will usually stress out so much in captivity that they die.
