Eastern Box Turtle

Terrapene carolina

R2D2 the Eastern Box Turtle

Reptiles Alive Name: “R2D2″

Hissstory:  We received R2D2 after she was hit by a car.  We were able to save her life and heal most of her wounds.  Her lower jaw, however, was so badly damaged that she can now eat only soft food – so she became non-releasable and was added to our education collection.

RA Diet: All of R2′s food comes finely chopped or blended.  She gets a mixture of pureed:  berries, melons, worms, slugs, and special zoo turtle food that is soaked in water until it is soft and mushy for her.

Natural Diet: Wild box turtles will eat just about anything!   Fruit, berries, slugs, snails,insects, worms, mushrooms, baby mice, and carrion are all part of a box turtle’s diet.

Range:  Eastern Box turtles range in the eastern United States from New York south to Florida and west into Texas.

Habitat: Box turtles may be found in forests, moist meadows, and suburban parks and yards.

Size: Box turtles grow 6-8 inches long. Females tend to grow larger than males.

Lifespan: Box turtles can live over 50 years – the record is 138 years!

Reproduction: Females nest May through July, laying 3-8 eggs.  Female box turtles can store sperm for several years. Hatchlings may winter in the nest then emerge in the spring.

Conservation: Box turtles are protected in most states and should not be collected as pets from the wild.  Due to their slow rate of reproduction, when adult box turtles are removed from the wild either by collection for the pet trade or death by automobiles, the entire local population of turtles can be threatened.

It is also important not to relocate box turtles.  They have a small home range or territory where they spend their life.  Turtles relocated by well-meaning but uninformed people have difficulty finding food, water, and shelter.  The survival rate for relocated box turtles is very low.

If you see a box turtle, the best thing for you to do is just leave turtles alone.

Cool Fact: The reason box turtles are called “box” turtles is because they have a unique ability to close their bottom shell up to their top shell – they close up like a box!  Most turtles can tuck their heads and limbs inside their shell, but most cannot fully close up like box turtles can.  So remember, they are not boxing turtles (they don’t punch and kick!), they are called box turtles.

Posting by Caroline Seitz

Memorial Day was a particularly busy day, herpetologically speaking.  I started the day in my garden with a cup of coffee and a Northern Brown Snake basking on top of some thyme.  I was careful not to disturb the little foot long snake, and he seemed happy to hang out.  I love having brown snakes in the garden since they love to eat slugs and snails.  I also just happen to like snakes in general.

As Rachel was getting ready to drive in to work, she spotted her neighbor about to hurt a Black Rat snake that was in his front yard. Luckily, she was able to save the snake and move it to the woods in the back of his property.  Black Rat snakes help control rodent populations and are not dangerous to humans in any way.

Later, while Rachel was loading animals to go to her show, she heard our next-door neighbor scream!  She asked if he was ok and he said he just saw a snake in his golf bag in the garage and would she please come and get it.  Rachel had to leave so she would be on time for her reptile birthday show, so she came and got me.  I went over to my neighbor’s and found the 4 feet long Black Rat snake hiding behind a shelf in the back of his garage.  I gently picked it up, carried it to the bushes in my front yard and released it.

Whew – but that was not all!

As usual, I saw the Five-lined Skink lizards that live in the my compost area.  These beautful blue, yellow, and brown striped lizards are fantastic insect hunters and are a fabulous addition to any garden.  They are also fun to watch.

The grand finale of the reptile day was in the evening.  We had a Reptiles Alive Memorial Day barbecue with Jen Pennington, Jen Rafter, Rachel and a few other friends and family members.  As Rachel was walking in the garden, she found a young Eastern Box turtle!  We all looked at the turtle and noted how young and healthy it looked before returning it to the garden.

So, to review, in one day in one neighborhood we saw:   One Northern Brown snake, one Black Rat Snake, two Five-lined Skinks, one Eastern Box turtle and Rachel saw one more Black Rat snake in her neighborhood before she came to work.