Thursday: 14 June 2007
I was delighted to come across a new eastern boxturtle (Terrapens carolina carolina) a month after the last new one. The patterning on this female is clearly different from any of the other six that I’ve documented in the last couple of years.
This makes the fourth female, as well as three males. Box turtles don’t range very far within their lifetimes, staying within a few acres. I don’t imagine they defend their territories (or at least if I could, I can’t imagine a battle of the box turtles, though I should say I have seen one box turtle scampering after another, I mean that literally, truly, they were scampering, and I suspect what was going on there), so territories certainly can overlap. And since they need a source of water, I would guess about 3/4 of our 40 acres are frequented by them (the remaining ten being relatively dry upper pineland).
I’ve seen more than seven box turtles in the last 15 or 20 years here, of course, but it’s only in the last two that I’ve documented them. Still, even seven box turtles over 30 acres sounds like a healthy population.
The box turtles I’ve seen have all been about the same size, and probably two or three decades old, if I count the scutes (not necessarily a good indicator of precise age). This female was probably the smallest so far - about 2/3 the size of previous turtles. I think I mentioned earlier that I’ve never seen a small, i.e., yearling box turtle. I suspect it’s because finding a box turtle is more a matter of surprise than intentional searching. You simply come upon them, and it’s unlikely to be because they’re moving and thereby catch your eye. That was the case here. And a very small turtle would probably be close to invisible.
This makes the fourth female, as well as three males. Box turtles don’t range very far within their lifetimes, staying within a few acres. I don’t imagine they defend their territories (or at least if I could, I can’t imagine a battle of the box turtles, though I should say I have seen one box turtle scampering after another, I mean that literally, truly, they were scampering, and I suspect what was going on there), so territories certainly can overlap. And since they need a source of water, I would guess about 3/4 of our 40 acres are frequented by them (the remaining ten being relatively dry upper pineland).
I’ve seen more than seven box turtles in the last 15 or 20 years here, of course, but it’s only in the last two that I’ve documented them. Still, even seven box turtles over 30 acres sounds like a healthy population.
The box turtles I’ve seen have all been about the same size, and probably two or three decades old, if I count the scutes (not necessarily a good indicator of precise age). This female was probably the smallest so far - about 2/3 the size of previous turtles. I think I mentioned earlier that I’ve never seen a small, i.e., yearling box turtle. I suspect it’s because finding a box turtle is more a matter of surprise than intentional searching. You simply come upon them, and it’s unlikely to be because they’re moving and thereby catch your eye. That was the case here. And a very small turtle would probably be close to invisible.
