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 North American Box Turtles
Natural History
Information
Species:
The Common box turtle, Terrepene carolina,
currently has 6 subspecies recognized:
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Eastern box turtle, T. c. carolina
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Gulf Coast box turtle, T. c. major
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Three-toed box turtle, T. c.
triunguis
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Florida box turtle, T. c. bauri
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Yucatan box turtle, T. c. yucatana
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Mexican box turtle, T. c. mexicana
The Ornate box turtle, Terrepene ornata,
has 2 subspecies recognized:
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Ornate box turtle, T. o. ornata
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Desert box turtle, T. o. luteola
There are also two other species of box
turtles:
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Coahuilan box turtle, Terrepene
coahuila
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Spotted box turtle, Terrepene
nelsoni
Size:
-
Box turtles average around 5-6 inches in length,
but some like the Gulf Coast box can attain 8 inches in size.
Habitat:
-
Due to their need for microclimate environments,
box turtles can be found in a wide variety of places including oak and hickory
woodlands, grasslands, river-bottom land, pastures, fields, meadows, forests,
dune, and in pond, marshy or swampy areas. In Mexico, they can be found in
scrub forests and brushy grasslands.
Sexing:
-
Male box turtles about 90% of the time are found
to have red or orange irises, while females tend to have yellow or brown
irises. Sometimes eye color may not be enough to determine the gender of
a turtle. Males and females have been found with opposite eye colors as well
as green and white irises. Another way to tell the gender of a box turtle
is to look at the lower half of the plastron (bottom shell). Males will have
a concave (depressed) plastron, while females will have a flat or slightly
convex (pushed out) plastron. Even further, the shape of the turtle's shell
might help determine the box turtle's gender. Females typically have shells
that are higher domed and rounder in appearance as opposed to males that
seem to have a lower shell height and more oval or oblong appearance.
Breeding:
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Early spring and sometimes into early summer
are the normal breeding times for box turtles.
Nests:
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Females normally lay their eggs May through
July.
Eggs:
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2-8 eggs may be laid, though 4-5 eggs are the
average. Larger females may lay larger clutches than smaller females.
Incubation:
-
75-90 days is typical for box turtles eggs to
incubate and hatch. Clutches laid late in the season may see the hatchling
turtles remaining in the nest to over winter (in northern areas) and emerge
the following spring.
Mature:
-
Box turtles mature around 10 years of age.
Food:
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Omnivorous. When young they are chiefly carnivorous,
and as they mature and grow they begin to include plant based food sources
into their diet. They do not switch to an all plant diet, as some people
mistakenly believe. Their plant to animal material ratio evens out to about
50/50 as adults.
-
Animal based food sources include, but are not
restricted to: snails, slugs, worms, insects of all kinds, crayfish, spiders,
millipedes, frogs, salamanders, lizards, snakes, smaller turtles, small mammals,
and ground nesting birds. Sometimes they may be seen feeding on carrion rather
than actually hunting various animals down. Box turtles have been seen to
actively attack small ground-nesting birds and their eggs/babies.
-
Plant based food sources include, but are not
restricted to: sub-aquatic herbaceous plants, strawberries, blackberries,
blueberries, mulberries, may apples, mushrooms, dandelions, pigweed, various
vegetables from raided vegetable gardens, etc.
Notes:
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Females may be capable of laying fertile eggs
for up to four years after a single mating.
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Box turtles are believed to be the only known
agent for dispersing the seed of the May apple Podophyllum
peltatum
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Box turtles have been known to eat mushrooms
that are toxic to humans. The turtle's body is able to retain the toxins.
The toxins may then poison any person who eats the turtle.
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In the summer, activity is mostly restricted
to mornings, overcast days, or after rains in order to avoid the heat of
the day. The turtles control their body temperatures by moving from one
microclimate to another.
-
Lifespan is estimated to be on average of 50
- 75 years, but some have been said to exceed 100 years.
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T. c. bauri and T. c. triunguis
are apparently the more aquatic loving of the sub-species; however, I have
seen some T. c. carolina that were not adverse to a nice swim in a
shallow pond or creek edge.
Tips for Keeping
Account of:
-
This is only a generalized account of my way
for captive care of box turtles so you are allowed room to experiment with
within reason to the nature of the specific species of turtle. Some people
have success following one path while others have success following another
path. There is no true set directive that demands you follow this, this,
and this 100% of the time or the turtle will die. Turtles to some extent
are very adaptive creatures. You need to find out what your turtle is like,
where is naturally comes from, and the natural history of it in its native
habitat in order to have any chance for success in keeping them. This account
leans more towards the keeping of T. carolina subspecies north of
Mexico.
Aquatic // Semi aquatic-terrestrial //
Terrestrial ??
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The species and subspecies of these turtles
occupy a wide range of habitats. It is such a wide range of habitats that
it is even difficult to generalize the preferences within a single species
much less all of them.
-
American box turtles are essentially terrestrial
by nature, though some (T. c. bauri and T. c. triunguis) tend
to prefer being around water more so than the others do. These two are noted
for their desire to occasionally swim in a pond and even dive to the bottom
to forage among the plants. Ornate box turtles on the other hand are prairie
turtles and prefer somewhat drier conditions with preferences for pastures
and open woodlands.
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Box turtles tend to be most active in warm,
wet weather. Passing thunderstorms or a good steady rain usually bring these
creatures out of hiding and during the spring this is also the time when
eggs will most likely be laid. Box turtles are usually out roaming about
in the early morning to avoid the high heat of summer. They also prefer to
roam about on overcast days as well.
Indoor / Outdoor ??
-
Overall I find that box turtles tend to do poorly
when kept in an indoor setup so I refrain from that kind of situation whenever
possible. Box turtles control their temperatures and humidity needs by moving
from one microclimate to another, and this is practically impossible to reproduce
in an indoor setup. You will either have it too wet, too dry, too hot, too
cold, too light, or too dark. Experience has shown me that they do best when
kept in outdoor enclosures. Indoor setups should be reserved for when you
are nursing a sick or severely injured turtle back to health or raising small
hatchlings that may be at risk from predators in an outdoor setup. For more
information concerning an outdoors enclosure, please read the following article:
Outdoor
Box Turtle Pen.
Herbivorous // Omnivorous // Carnivorous
??
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Box turtles are omnivores so a wide range of
safe plants (including weeds) should be provided to the turtle to forage
on. Some of the best ones to have are dandelions, pigweed, may apples,
strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, blueberry bushes, vegetable plants such
as collards or swiss chard are also good. Don't feed box turtles items such
as hamburger, hotdogs, or raw chicken, or deli meats. Canned dog and cat
foods need to be avoided as well. It is always best if you can provide your
turtle with naturally found protein sources like worms and insects. It is
known that box turtles will scavenge off carrion so if you aren't too squeamish
you may on rare occasions put a pre-killed, sliced open mouse into the enclosure.
At the very least, the maggots that soon appear will provide the turtle with
a nice snack. Lettuce is to be avoided, as there is too little nutritional
value in it. Spinach needs to be limited due to the calcium oxalates contained
in them. These plants may be high in calcium content, but the oxalates bind
with the calcium preventing the turtle from absorbing the calcium into its
system properly. A recipe for box turtles can be found at the following article:
Box
and Wood Turtle (& Tortoise!) Buffet Recipe.
 Breeding:
-
When it comes to breeding, it is best to let
nature take its course rather than trying to force the issue and the same
goes for the eggs. If your set up is properly done then the female turtle
will find a spot to dig her nest and lay the eggs. The sun and natural weather
will do the rest. Hatching box turtle eggs artificially may be difficult.
In general, eggs will hatch in about 70-100 days after having been laid depending
on the incubation temperatures. When letting the eggs hatch naturally outside
in the enclosure you will need to make sure that the sides of the enclosure
are small enough to prevent the babies from escaping once they hatch out.
It is also good to make sure there is a good spot within the enclosure that
the female can properly lay eggs in, a nice, soft loose pile of damp dirt
or a mini compost pile is good. The baby box turtle in the photo above is
that of a one-year-old hatchling while the one below is that of a 3, 2, and
1 year old. If you would rather setup an incubator for hatching eggs you
can find additional information at this article:
Homemade
Reptile Egg Incubator .
Hibernating:
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If you are going to allow your turtles to hibernate
outside naturally you will need to provide enough loose dirt, loam, leaf
litter, compost, and straw for the turtle to bury down in to escape the cold
temperatures and frost. Some turtles will go down as far as 18 inches deep.
Turtles native to southern areas should not be hibernated outside in northern
areas, but rather indoors in a place like a basement or garage to keep the
temperature from dropping dangerously low. They still will need the appropriate
substrate mixture to bury down in.
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