Dinner was being cleared off the table, when I spotted from the kitchen window, a Box Turtle in the vegetable garden. Right away I went out with my camera. I always take a photograph of any Box Turtle I come upon, whether I’m here at home or driving down the road. If it’s on the road, it’s most important to help it across, putting it on the side where it’s heading. The photos are because the patterns on the shells are unique to each individual and it is easy to tell one from the other. That helps to know if I’m seeing the same one time and again.

The surprise though, was there were two turtles out there in the garden. Both of them were digging away with their back legs, preparing to lay their eggs. One would have not been a surprise. But two!

Box Turtles lay their eggs mid-May to late June and into July, depending on the elevation. Two to eight eggs in a clutch. These turtles don’t usually begin breeding until they are about ten years of age. And with some luck they will live to be Fifty to One Hundred or more years of age.

The home range of a Box Turtle is about two hundred fifty yards or less, whether male or female, old or young. Their home ranges often overlap with no antagonism. Given the turtles inability to travel long distances leave them where you find them. Don’t pick one up and move it to another location.

I’m looking forward to discovering more little Box Turtles in the future.

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