Complete Guide To The Eastern Box Turtle

Eastern Box Turtle Notes

• Like many turtles, they live a long time and reproduce slowly.
  • Female Eastern Box Turtles can store sperm and fertilize eggs for many years after a single mating (Behler and King 2020).
• Many predators feed on Eastern Box Turtle eggs such as snakes like Black Racer Snakes (Coluber constrictor) and Eastern Kingsnakes (Lampropeltis getula getula), and mammals like Raccoons (Procyon lotor).
• Unlike many North Carolina turtles, Eastern Box Turtles can close themselves completely into their shells when threatened. Their plastrons (the bottom half of their shells) have hinged flaps that close tightly against the carapace (the upper half of their shells).
  • Eastern Box Turtles withdraw their heads, legs, and tails into their shells, then clamp their hinged plastrons closed.
  • Their shells provide the turtles superb mechanical protection. Few predators have the jaw gape or strength to crack the hard, domed shells, and few have the dexterity or strength to pry open their shells.
  • Unfortunately, while their habit of withdrawing into their shells and waiting out threats works very well against natural animal predators, it works against Eastern Box Turtles in areas with lots of humans.
    • Many, many Eastern Box Turtles are run over by cars every year, which are unfortunately heavy enough to crack the turtles’ shells and crush the animals inside.
• Eastern Box Turtles are omnivores; they eat a wide variety of plants, animals, and fungi. Some favorite foods include:
  • Plants and seeds from:
    • family Ericaceae (Heaths) – genera Vaccinium and Gaylussacia
    • family Rosaceae (Roses) – genus Rubus (Figueras, Green, and Burke 2021, https://doi.org/10.3390/d13080345)
  • Earthworms
  • Slugs and snails
  • Fruits like wild strawberries
  • Fungi (including fungi toxic to humans)
  • Insects, including beetles, ants, and caterpillars.