Category Archives: Plastron

Baby Common Box Turtle

Today as I was looking through images from a few years ago, I came upon one of these photos and thought you might enjoy seeing the fun time our family had back then. Take a look, and see what you think. From June 2021.

Yesterday GrandCamper and I were checking on the little pawpaw trees that I planted several days ago. We brought along a great big watering can. Such a big watering can that she could hardly pick it up! That big! After the watering was completed I happened to look around, and at our feet was a little tiny Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina). An incredible sight. The shell just one and a half inches long.

Here’s GrandCamper holding (and really admiring) the little turtle. I would guess from the rings on the scutes (the scales) on the turtle’s shell that this turtle is maybe a year old. Though somewhat reliable, counting those rings is not totally accurate. Sometimes a turtle will produce two rings in one year, but not every year, usually just one is produced in one year.

Here’s a picture of the plastron, or bottom portion of the shell and my finger tips. This is a female Common Box Turtle since the plastron is flat. Male Common Box Turtle’s plastrons are concave. Later in the afternoon while she was out swinging GrandCamper spotted another Common Box Turtle. This one was a female digging a hole in the soil to lay her eggs! After the eggs are laid and they are covered with soil the female will leave the eggs to fend for themselves. I think though, we created too much commotion when we found her. This morning the hole was abandoned and not covered over.

Yesterday certainly was SUPER TURTLE DAY at GrandCamp! And we’re still (now very quietly) searching to find that female turtle and her new spot for her eggs.

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Common Box Turtle

So many Common Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina) shell designs! Each and every one of them different. They fascinate me. But then it’s not just the shell design, it’s the whole turtle that fascinates me.

As I’m out roaming I’ll stop if I see a turtle in the middle of the road, to help it get across safely. Surely many of you do that too. I’ve always got my camera with me and I’ll take a picture of the critter. Most of the time I get a picture from above as you can see in the first composite image.

I also get a picture that includes one of the turtles eyes. Males are supposed to have red eyes and females brown eyes but I find that a bit confusing since there is so much variation in the range of red to brown.

Another picture, this, of the turtle’s plastron, which is the bottom of the shell. That will help determine the sex of the turtle as well. A flat plastron belongs to a female. A plastron that is slightly concave indicates a male. Along with the photos I’ll make a note of the location. That way I can keep track of a second sighting if it happens.

Quite likely to happen since Common Box Turtles live to be 25 to 35 years old, and some have actually lived to 100 years of age. Their home range usually is less than 2 acres. So quite likely to show up at the same spot again which makes me feel like I’m seeing an old friend.