Threats to Box Turtles
Due to their long life spans, delayed sexual maturity, and low reproductive output, box turtle populations are very susceptible to decline. Even though a female box turtle may produce 200 eggs over her lifetime, only two or three of those eggs will survive to become adults that in turn produce offspring. In other words, it may take 
decades for an individual box turtle to produce its own replacement. Since so few young survive, box turtle populations depend upon adults residing in one place, living multiple decades, and having multiple opportunities to reproduce. Box turtles need large areas of good-quality habitat and as little mortality of adults as possible for this to occur. Unfortunately, box turtles now face a variety of threats that makes that task more difficult.
Habitat loss and fragmentation
Habitat loss and fragmentation are major threats to box turtles. Ornate box turtles have been especially hard-hit as Arkansas's tallgrass prairies disappeared. With most of the tallgrass prairie habitat gone, ornate box turtles are often stranded in small, isolated habitat fragments. Construction and road development can also leave three-toed box turtles isolated in woodland remnants. Box turtle populations stranded in habitat fragments are often subject to increased nest predation and vulnerable to changes in surrounding land-uses.
Road mortality
Roads, streets and highways cause several problems for box turtles. Some roadways act as barriers to box turtles attempting to move within a certain range, fragmenting their natural habitat into isolated patches. Those 
box turtles that do attempt to cross roads are often struck by vehicles. A 2002 study of the impact of road density and traffic volume on land turtle populations found that road kill alone contributed enough mortality to reduce the size of a local turtle population.
Removal from the wild
Commercial collection of box turtles from the wild for the pet trade is another damaging human activity. Between the late 1980s and early 1990s over 100,000 box turtles from the U.S. were exported to Europe and Asia. In 1994, all nine U.S. box turtle species were listed in Appendix II of the Convention on the International Trade of Endangered Species (CITES) of Wild Flora and Fauna thereby prohibiting international export. On June 30, 2005, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission closed the commercial trade of box turtles in Arkansas (Commission code section 15.12). It is now illegal to import, sale, or barter any native box turtle species; such acts are punishable by a fine (penalty: $500.00-$5,000.00). While a small number of wild three-toed box turtles may be kept as personal pets, it is illegal to take ornate box turtles from the wild for pets (Commission code section 15.16).
While seemingly innocuous, the casual taking of box turtles for pets or short-term amusement can also be damaging, especially for populations already on the decline. The removal of even a handful of adult box turtles from an area has the potential to reduce population size over the long-term. Box turtles have very strong homing instincts. Box turtles released outside of their home range, even less than a mile, rarely adapt to their new location. Rather, a displaced box turtle will wander in search of its old home. This wandering puts the displaced box turtle at increased risk of being struck by a car, encountering a predator, being unable to find food, or unable to find a place to overwinter.