People naturally find furred or feathered creatures more appealing.
Box turtles are perhaps the one exception.
People who'll recoil from other reptiles will take to box turtles. Box turtles even have qualities we admire, such as the persistence and perseverance of the famous tortoise in Aesop's Fable. Mother nature seems to have applied this principle to turtles. The fossil record tells us that turtles have been on earth some 200 million years, and in that time have changed little. Box turtles won't win any races.