Another way to tell the difference between male and female Eastern box turtles is that males typically have bright red eyes, while females’ eyes are dull or brown. The plastron of the female is flat, where the male plastron is curved inward, or concave. When compared side by side, females have longer claws on their hind legs, which helps them dig nests in the ground in which they lay their eggs.
Eastern box turtles average about seven inches long and weigh in at one or two pounds. They are slow to reach sexual maturity— it may take 10 years— but they can live 50 years or more in the wild. The high dome of the carapace differentiates them from aquatic turtles, whose shells are flattened to streamline their swimming.
Box turtles don’ t move around much during their lifetimes— they may spend their entire lives exploring a plot of only a few acres. A good habitat has a water source, a mix of trees and shrubs, and plenty of insects, mushrooms, berries, and other fruit. In the summer their diet may consist almost entirely of mayapple fruits if they are available; in the fall it shifts to mushrooms.
Fall is a good time to see box turtles in the Reserve, often illadvisedly crossing roads. Typically, these autumnal turtles are hunting places to spend the winter— a shallow hole they dig, and then cover themselves with leaf litter or grass. They slow down their metabolism and prepare to spend the cold days brumating.
Brumation is the reptile equivalent of mammalian hibernation. In this state, they can withstand freezing, ice or snow cover, and even a fair amount of frost heaving in the soil. Compared to mammalian hibernation, brumation is light sleep— Eastern box turtles often wake up during warm spells and may even move to a more comfortable napping spot. Otherwise, they’ ll stay put until spring— usually late April in the Maryland Piedmont. Spring is when the prospect of turtle tango permeates the air.
In spring, males go in search of females, and sometimes travel a rather far distance out of their home range( a quarter mile or so, far for a box turtle) to mate. They may encounter other males en route, and a wrestling match often ensues in which the turtles bite at each other’ s carapaces and legs( harmlessly, it appears) and attempt to flip their competitors on their backs, which signals victory.
Once the victor finds a female, and she signals willingness to mate, he’ ll clamber on top of her
PHOTO: Sarov702
Dark eyes and very long claws on the hind legs distinguish the female box turtle. Left: Ripe mayapples are a staple of box turtle diets at midsummer.
( here’ s where the concave plastron comes in handy). Meantime, he’ s as rough with her as he was with other males, biting at her head and forelegs. Eventually, he’ ll insert his penis, and he may stay connected this way for an hour or two during which she may drag him around her home range until they mutually call it quits. Often he falls off and gets flipped on his back but remains locked in place.
The male then returns to his home range and gives no further thought to the female or their offspring. The female can hold onto the sperm she got in their love bout for up to four years before she lays eggs. When she does, she goes in search of a sandy or friable patch of soil she can dig a nest in.
During this phase she is all but unstoppable, lured by some memory or scent to the perfect nest site. She digs a shallow, flask-shaped hole and deposits around five leathery eggs. She is then careful to tamp the soil back down and throw some plant material over it to hide it.
If the nest escapes detection by foxes, raccoons, or skunks— major
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