The Three Toed Box Turtle is found from Texas and Alabama northward to Missouri. The Gulf Coast Box Turtle is found in Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Western Florida. The Florida Box Turtle is found exclusively in Florida. The Western Ornate Box Turtle is found throughout the grasslands of South Dakota through Illinois and Southward to Arizona and Texas. There are several characteristics about the American Box Turtle that make it particularly vulnerable to development and wild harvest for the pet trade.
Box turtles have a small home range.
Research indicates that they cannot detect mates at a distance. They therefore rely on a high population density in a small area for the incidental encounters needed for breeding and sustaining their population. One 10-year study of a population with a density of 12 turtles per acre found that the population was too small and unstable to avoid a steady decline to extinction. Most population counts show that most densities are now well below that. Box turtles can live to be 100 years or older.