Working outside in the rain usually brings me very little joy, but this day was different. I was clearing brush on the trail out back, soaked to my boots, when I came across this little guy, uncomfortably lodged in the backyard fence.
It wasn’t
every day that I saw box turtles (Terrapene Carolina),
especially not one this small, and especially not one in a predicament like
this!
After
carefully removing the juvenile turtle, I did my best standing vertical long
jump (aka I walked around to the other side of the fence) and sent him on his
way.
Unlike most species in Emydidae, these turtles
are terrestrial and live mostly in wooded areas where they can hide in the leaf
litter or burrow. Like all turtles, they only have direct development, and
during the summer, these turtles lay their eggs underground.
As you can
tell from this little guy closing his shell up on me, box turtles aren’t super pleased
with the presence of humans or anything large and predatory-looking, but they
are sometimes kept as pets regardless.
They’re
omnivores as well and basically eat whatever they can find; unfortunately, though,
they’re not able to consume metal, even with their keratinized beak, so this
guy wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. But luckily, I found him, and this
story has a happy ending. Although, I can’t help but wonder what would have
happened hadn’t.
Ah well,
hypotheticals always bum me out, so I’ll leave it at that. The turtle lives
another day, and so do we!
2 comments:
Nice save! Approximately how large was this individual? What size do they typically reach maturity?
Fairly small, only about 3 inches. They reach maturity around 5-6in, and it can take about 10-20 years before they do, so I doubt this guy was there yet.
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