Download Turtle, Eastern Box

Eastern Box Turtle
Family: Emydidae
(Terrapene carolina carolina)
Status: Not listed
Range:
Strictly North American, this species is found Maine to Florida along the east
coast, west to Michigan, Illinois, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Habitat:
Open woodlands and adjacent meadows, thickets and gardens; often hear shallow
ponds, swamps or streams.
Diet:
Wild: Plants, berries, fungi, insects, worms, slugs, snails, and carrion.
Captivity: Romaine, spinach, fruit, monkey chow, Bird of Prey diet, boiled eggs,
smelt, mealworms.
Description: Length 4½ to 8”. High, domed carapace is dark with a radiating pattern of yellow
or orange. Plastron has flexible hinge, allowing nearly complete shell closure.
Head and legs have yellow markings. Male usually has red eyes, red on front legs
and concave plastron. Toes are slightly webbed.
Lifespan: Up to 138 years.
Reproduction: Mating can occur spring through fall; female may remain fertile for four years after
mating. Nests are started at twilight and usually finished by dawn. Oviparous, the
female lays 3-8 oval, soft-shelled eggs in the ground in June; they hatch in 75-90
days depending on soil temperature. Sexual maturity is at 10-20 years.
Behavior: Michigan’s only terrestrial turtle. Diurnal during warmer months, it depends on
sight rather than other senses. Uncommon to rare in southern and western Lower
Peninsula. Declining due to habitat loss, collecting for pets and road mortality.
Protected by Michigan law. Overwinters buried in leaves and soil up to 2 ft deep.
Home range of roughly 250 ft in diameter; frequent overlaps by others is usually
tolerated without antagonism.
Our animals: Female (Polly), captured in 1992.
09/08