Box turtles are charming and likeable reptiles that play a valuable role in nature. We believe that commercially collecting and selling box turtles is not sustainable and should be prohibited. Box turtles reproduce themselves slowly and only a few make it to adulthood. Those who do survive to adulthood must be allowed to stay where they are and lay many clutches of eggs over the course of decades in order for the population to survive. If the number of box turtles drops too low because of overcollection (or other factors), the population dies out.

For these reasons,
1. we must not only protect their habitat, we must also limit collection
2. we cannot wait until they are in big trouble before we act, because if we wait that long, it is too late

We ask the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and/or the Texas Legislature to take steps to protect the box turtles that are found naturally in Texas. These are: the ornate box turtle (Terrapene ornata ornata), the desert box turtle (Terrapene ornata luteola) and the 3-toed box turtle (Terrapene carolina triunguis). We ask that:
1. The commercial collection and sale of wild box turtles, or parts of box turtles, be prohibited in Texas
2. The collection or keeping of wild box turtles in Texas for personal use be allowed, limited to two individuals per species without a permit
3. A permitting process should allow for the keeping of more than two box turtles, the captive breeding of box turtles and sale of juvenile captive-bred box turtles with a carapace length under four inches (for educational or scientific purposes).