Phillip's Natural World: Florida Box Turtle

While clearing some brush on the lakefront yesterday I came across this female Florida Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina bauri) whom I've seen before over the years. Notice on the top of her shell (carapace) there is an injury scar that appears as a sunken area.

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This turtle is very shy and rare in developed areas of Central Florida. I have some untouched lakefront woods that are home to many reptile species that have been crowded out of surrounding areas as development has destroyed their habitat. This individual turtle is large for her species, filling my hand at 7"-long by 5"-wide (18 by 13 cm); below.

"Box" in the turtle's common name refers to their ability to withdraw head, tail and legs into their shell and tightly close in all. Not all turtles can do this. The shell kind of snaps shut when she senses danger.

Florida box turtles are a subspecies of turtle belonging to the family Emydidae and are one of four subspecies of the common box turtle (T. carolina). The Florida subspecies occurs in the southernmost areas of its range. It is endemic to Florida and extreme southeastern Georgia.

Usually found in damp environments, this specimen lives in a palmetto thicket on the berm of our 700 acre lake. You will not see this turtle deep enough in the lake for it to swim, instead it forages along the lakeshore for all types of insects, algae, and plants.

In the image above you can see the damaged section of carapace. It has been this way for years and does not affect the turtle's health. I only see this turtle once or twice a year but can always identify her by the carapace.

Florida box turtles exhibit sexual dimorphism. On average, males are larger than females. However, female carapaces tend to be taller than those of males.

These turtles spend the majority of their lives buried in the underbrush or underground and are extremely inactive and hard to find. They are somewhat more active in hot weather but no less elusive.

Florida box turtles are omnivorous eating insects, low-hanging fruits, vegetation crustaceans, and fungi. They will even eat carrion or anything else that is near their habitat and seems remotely digestible.

Sexing a Turtle

I know this is a female because of its flat plastron (bottom shell). Some believe you can tell the sex of a box turtle by its eye color, with the males generally having orange to red eyes. The better way to sex a turtle is by looking at its plastron.

The plastron consists of the clavicles (shoulder blades), the bones between the clavicles and portions of the ribs. The plastron of females is relatively flat. Males have a more concave plastron (for mating). In the image below Welcome Wildlife has labeled the plastron of a male for comparison to my female.

Scutes provide the patterns and colors of the shell of the Florida Box Turtle. Different species have different patterns and designs, and there are differences between individuals of the same species. The colors and patterns provide excellent camouflage for the box turtle; it literally disappears into the Florida scrub environment (below).

Scutes are made of beta-keratin like human fingernails. Their arrangement roughly corresponds to the position of the turtle's bones and body parts and are scattered to help give the shell more rigidity. There are 38 scutes on the carapace and 12-16 on the plastron.

The following images are from other Florida Wildlife websites and show slightly different appearances for each individual Florida Box Turtle.

Box Turtle Image by Anthony Lau

Hibernation versus Brumation

The most common question I'm asked is whether these species hibernate. In Florida it is often too warm for any real hibernation but turtles do go into a period of dormancy that is referred to as Brumation (hibernation).

Brumation differs in the metabolic processes involved from hibernation. Turtles generally will stop eating to empty their digestive system. They will move into wooded areas, traveling hundreds of feet from their summer range if necessary. There they burrow into loose soil or under decaying vegetation, sometimes in the same spot, year-after-year. Several turtles may brumate together. Their heart rate slows from about 40 beats per minute to about 1 beat every 5-10 minutes. If the ground is soft enough, turtles may dig themselves deeper and deeper as temperatures fall closer to freezing.

The past few winters have been so warm in Central Florida that if there was any brumation it was only for a short period of time. With temperatures regularly in the 80°s January to March 2020 and 90°s in April 2020 it was, yet again, the warmest Florida winter ever recorded.

Box Turtle Image by Frank Boston

Never remove a turtle from the wild. Never try to make a turtle a pet. If you find an injured turtle take it to a qualified veterinarian or call the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.