Turtle and Ants

While on my way to the garden, I discovered this Eastern Box Turtle sitting at the edge of the mowed path.  I recognized this female as one who typically spends her summers feasting on fallen tomatoes.  Last year she had a decided preference for the taste of Early Goliath.  I made sure there was always a ripe tomato on the ground for her dining pleasure.

When she stuck her head out as I approached, I got concerned about the condition of her eye.  Eye infections are usually a sign that the turtle is in poor health.  I hated the thought of losing a friend I’ve known for so long.

Closer inspection revealed that the eye was in fine shape.  It was just closed.

The eye was closed for good reason.  The turtle was hosting a party of Allegheny Mound Ants.  The ants didn’t seem to be biting.  They were just investigating, as they would with any other stationary object found in their territory.

As I watched, more ants joined in.  The turtle had stopped right on top of a foraging trail and every ant to come along climbed on.  I’m wondering if the ants might be performing a cleaning service for the turtle.  They might be checking the turtle over for parasites or other hitchhikers and removing those undesirable pests.  The turtle stayed in place for another ten minutes and then wandered away.  If it had really been bothered by the ants, I figure it would have moved on much sooner.

The ants certainly did not treat the turtle in the same manner that they treated my feet.  If I stayed still long enough, they would probably clean me down to the bone.  The ants are fast moving and biting when on my feet, but they are calm and searching when on the turtle.  I think the ants and the turtle have a special relationship going on.

Turtle Activity

I don’t often find mating turtles, but this is the second pair I’ve seen this month.  Their breeding season runs from mid-spring, through summer and into mid-fall.  I’m not sure I would describe that as an actual breeding season.  It seems that they are liable to mate anytime they’re not hibernating.

By the time I spot a turtle pair, they’ve already seen me.  The typical result is for the male to lose his balance and end up on this side. 

Eastern Box Turtles use no mating grounds or special calls or scents to aid in finding a mate.  They have to take advantage of chance encounters.  Fortunately, females can produce fertile eggs for several seasons after a successful mating.

This pair was still in the preliminary stages, so I backed away and gave them some privacy.  I hope to be seeing some of their offspring next year.

About one hundred feet into the woods from the mating pair was a third turtle.  This female was moving away from the pair and has no connection to them other than being of the same species.

I particularly liked her facial markings.  She appears to have been painted up for battle. 

A Turtle's Mushroom Meal

Not all of the Blue Jay Barrens Eastern Box Turtles are hanging around in the yard.  I found this handsome turtle walking across the steep slope of the cedar forest. 

The recent rains have caused worms and slugs to become more active near the surface of the soil and the turtles are on the prowl to take advantage of these tasty morsels.

Another result of the rain was the emergence of several species of fungi.  This is some member of the Boletes family.  I found the turtle not far away.  I’m not sure if that particular turtle is responsible for the section of missing cap, but that’s quite likely to be the case.

Turtles leave a rather distinctive bite profile.  If this were a crime scene, I could make some plaster casts and check against the turtle’s bite.  It’s not uncommon for turtles to consume fungi.  Turtles are quite opportunistic and will feed on just about anything they come across.

Open water can be hard to find in a normal year and is especially scarce during a drought.  A moist fungus can go a long way towards supplying the turtle’s water needs.

The fungi are quite abundant.  There’s no way that a few turtle meals are going to diminish the fungi’s ability to produce plenty of spores.  A stem defect caused this fungus to topple and expose a mold advancing across the reproductive pores.  Even a fungus can’t avoid being consumed by a fungus.

Yard Turtles

I was walking through the back yard last Tuesday and encountered this female Eastern Box Turtle.  I just happened to be carrying a few fresh garden ripened tomatoes, so I broke one apart and gave it to her.  She quickly ate about half of the tomato and then disappeared.  When I looked out the window Wednesday morning, I saw her sitting beside the patio, so I grabbed some strawberries and headed out the back door to give her another meal.

What I found outside the back door was a little bit surprising.  I had set a bag of over ripe bananas outside with the intent of mixing up some butterfly bait.  The aroma apparently attracted another female turtle who crawled inside the sack for a banana feast.  She in turn attracted a male turtle who was doing his part to insure a new generation of turtles.  Somewhere in the process, he fell over backwards.

I’ve seen male turtles in this position before.  Everything goes fine until the female decides to move forward.  The male has his hind feet tucked up beneath the female’s shell, so it’s not possible for him to walk along with her.  His front legs are not built for hugging, so the typical outcome is a backward flip.

The female is totally focused on the bananas.

The male eventually composed himself and regained his proper orientation.  I figured he deserved a couple of strawberries for his efforts.

The other female waited patiently while I photographed the romantic couple.  I finally got her a portion of the strawberries.  These three turtles have been here for over 20 years and all arrived after suffering from encounters with automobiles.  In the late 80’s, I had a reputation for being a turtle rehabilitator and over a two year period, acquired about a dozen turtles delivered by people who had found them hit on the road.  Each turtle was cleaned up and placed into a 12 foot by 16 foot enclosure that provided a pool, a subterranean den, a variety of cover types and food.

This female came to me with a puncture through the top of the shell.  I didn’t do any real doctoring to these turtles.  I just gave them a place where they were protected as they recovered from their injuries.  Many box turtles respond to injury by pulling themselves in and remaining immobile while the damage heals, a strategy that doesn’t work very well in the middle of a road.  After this female arrived, it was two weeks before her head emerged from her shell.  After a few days, her wound became covered with fly eggs. Maggots spent several days cleaning up dead and infected tissue.  After the maggots left, the wound skinned over.  When I came out one morning, she was drinking from the pool.  Soon after that, she began eating.

The male suffered several cracks near the front of the shell, which is to the right in this photo.  The damaged shell actually flexed at the seams when pressure was applied.  He spent a period of immobility while the seams healed and then went up and over the wall of the enclosure.  That was typical of most of the turtles.  The enclosure walls were just some old planks of barn siding and were easily scaled by any turtle with a little bit of ambition.  Finally, one particularly rotten board fell down and the few turtles that were left were free to leave.  The turtles had been in the pen for over a year and were in no hurry to depart.  Three of those turtles, these two females included, spent over a year foraging around the yard and returning to the enclosure to get food and to hibernate.  I don’t see them often and sometimes a year or two will pass between encounters.  It’s nice to know they are still alive and doing well.

A Camera Critters submission.

Turtles on the Move

The other morning, I found this Eastern Box Turtle crossing the driveway in front of my house.  I hung around and watched as it made its way across the drive and on into the tall grass near the upper end of the pond.  Several years ago, I was standing near some bushes at the edge of the lawn, watching a turtle travel an almost identical path.  Someone skidded their car to a stop at the end of the drive, got out and hurried towards the turtle.  They never saw me and were quite startled when I was suddenly between them and the turtle.  Their mistake cost them a lecture in which I imparted my thoughts on wildlife conservation, trespassers, poachers, thieves and idiots.  I don’t know if their day improved from that point on, but I doubt it got any worse.

You’re liable to find turtles any time from spring through fall, but there are two weather events that are guaranteed to make them increase their activity.  One is rain.  Rain brings out the worms and slugs and the turtles go in search of these juicy morsels.  Two is drought.  Turtles change their patterns to utilize available water sources.  When a drought comes on suddenly, like the one we’re experiencing right now, the turtles all seem to shift at once.

On a recent hour long walk, I found six different turtles.  As the turtle from the driveway made its way to the pond, this turtle was already finding the pond waterless.  Several different turtles visit the pond.  It’s a common sight to see one of them crossing the yard on the way to the water.

This youngster was traveling across the dry floodplain near the creek.  Its line of travel would take it to one of the few remaining pools.

Farther down the creek, I found this guy with a lump in his neck.  He was walking when I first caught sight of him.  I was approaching head on and he pulled himself in as soon as he saw me. 

By the way the skin is folded; I would guess that the lump was down the neck away from the head.  The turtle was active, alert and appeared in fine health.  The lump didn’t seem to be causing it any trouble.

Still farther downstream was another fine specimen.  The turtles don’t spend a lot of time in the creek channel, but I’ve often seen them drinking from the pools.  I hope their instinctual behavior is honed enough to keep them from all getting carried downstream in the event of a drought buster flood.

Not all of the turtles were near water.  This guy was walking across a mowed trail at the top of the hill.  Slugs are still active in the early morning and box turtles love to eat slugs.  A slug body would certainly hold a good deal of moisture which would help meet the turtle’s water needs.

I thought this to be a particularly intricate shell pattern.  The turtles of Blue Jay Barrens have suffered through many droughts during the past 27 years.  They always seem to survive.  July is typically a good rain producing month, so there’s a chance of us picking up a few storms that will at least bring some relief to the situation.  Until then, the turtles will position themselves to best advantage in relation to available water.  Hopefully I’ll have many more turtle encounters through the summer.

Older Box Turtles

Not long after discovering the baby box turtle, I found some more mature members of the species.  This turtle is about two-thirds of the typical adult size and is at the stage that I think of as a teenager, even though the actual age of the turtle is probably around four to six years. 

The shell pattern is developed enough to make an identification shot worthwhile.  If I photograph him in future years, I should be able to match him to this photo.

The shell of a young turtle hasn’t seen a lot of wear and shows the build up of many layers of scutes.  You can count the number of scutes as you would rings of a tree, but that’s not an accurate way of determining age.  Turtle growth is determined by food consumption and environment.  The more it eats, the faster it grows and the more scutes you will have.

The most common turtle find is an old adult.  Turtles spend their lives within a small territory.  The entire life of an Eastern Box Turtle could easily be lived in an area of less than an acre.  I find it comforting to think that those turtles living well within the borders of Blue Jay Barrens have little risk of being run over or getting carried off to be pets.

Some of the shell patterns can be quite intricate.  These markings remind me of prehistoric cave paintings. 

Older turtles have well worn shells.  The younger scutes have all worn off, leaving the shell with a smooth polished look.  I’m fortunate to have so many opportunities to visit with these interesting creatures.

Baby Box Turtle

I’m a big fan of turtles and was happy to find a young Eastern Box Turtle near my fence row clearing site.  Box Turtle eggs typically hatch from late August through mid October, so this guy has only had a few months of active life.  Despite his youth, he’s grown enough to replace the rounded features of a hatchling with those of a wizened old turtle.

The youngster was aware of my presence and froze in place as I approached.  The baby seems in perfect health with bright eyes, good color and signs of growth.  The plates covering the shell, called scutes, are constantly replaced by the formation of new scutes from beneath.  As the new, larger scutes form, the space between the old scutes expands.  Eventually, the old scute is shed and the new one becomes visible.

It’ll be a while before the shell gets large enough to allow the turtle to completely withdraw inside.  It may be several years before the turtle reaches a size that reduces its vulnerability to predation.

Chances are that this baby will not make it to the end of summer, but at least it’s got a good start.  Most eggs are lost to predators before they hatch and the hatchlings are on the menu for all sorts of animals.  Since I found one baby, that means the nest was probably untouched and there should be another four or five siblings that made their ways into the world.  I hope at least one is lucky enough to reach adulthood.

Even though he’s grown a bit since hatching, the turtle is still a tiny thing.  That’s my thumb beside the baby. 

Here’s the location of the find.  I guess I’m lucky that the search image of a turtle shape was firmly planted in my mind at an early age.  I stopped walking the instant I caught sight of the turtle, but it took a second for my conscious mind to realize what I was seeing.  The baby is in the center foreground of this shot.  You can see that with everything there was to look at, the turtle could easily have been overlooked.

I couldn’t determine the cause of this irregularity in the shell.  It looks like a surface deformity that will be shed with the scutes.  It will certainly be a way of identifying this individual should we meet again any time soon.

My traditional turtle mug shot will not help in future identification.  The pattern will go through several changes before developing its more enduring adult form.  Finding this baby makes me hopeful that the Blue Jay Barrens Box Turtle population is healthy and stable.

A Camera Critters submission.

Dirty Turtle

The hot weather hasn’t slowed down the Eastern Box Turtles. I see at least one turtle every time I walk through the woods. This one spent some time buried in a muddy spot and is now carrying around a ring of dried soil on its shell.

This guy was taking advantage of the early morning coolness to get out and move around. Things are dry enough now that you can hear the turtles crunching leaves as they walk.

There’s not much in the way of worms, bugs, or slugs for the turtle to eat. Most of those items have retreated deeper into the soil where some moisture still exists. I guess it’s a lucky thing the turtles can’t find a never ending supply of food. I’ve seen captive box turtles that were so well fed they couldn’t close their shells. That wouldn’t be a good situation for a wild turtle.

At some point in its life, this turtle had a nasty encounter with something. Part of the foot is gone and there’s a deep wound on the leg. There’s no telling how long ago this happened. All that’s left is some scar tissue and disfigurement. The turtle didn’t have any trouble walking.

The mud on the shell made it difficult to get a good ID portrait. I don’t think I really need one in this case. The damaged leg, a chunk missing from the shell and a splash of color that looks like a bird dropping on top of the head should be enough for me to recognize this guy if I meet him again.