SCOTT SHALAWAY Box turtles: life in the slow lane

One of my favorite chores is maintaining the trails that snake through the woods and fields near the house. Some are old logging roads that I've reclaimed; others I create each year in a never-ending battle with multiflora rose and fast-growing grasses. The fun in trail maintenance comes from the surprises I find along the way.
Recently, a flash of orange caught my eye just ahead of the mower, and I immediately stopped. The color decorated the shell of a small box turtle. It was less than 4 inches long. The blotchy pattern of orange and browns blended in with the lush growing vegetation.
I've always loved box turtles. I help them across busy roads when possible, and when my daughters were younger, I sometimes brought them home for show and tell. But I always returned them to the exact spot I found them because I learned a long time ago that displaced box turtles, despite our best intentions, rarely survive.
New encounters
Box turtle courtship is just getting under way and may continue into July. Males and females wander fields and forests and eventually encounter one another. When a pair meets, the male circles the female, occasionally pushing her and biting her shell. These preliminary rituals may persist for an hour or more before mating occurs.
The male overcomes the obvious physical challenge of mating with a concave lower shell and surprising gymnastic ability. During the encounter, the male stands upright on the hind tip of his shell. He steadies himself by gripping the female's shell with his rear feet. A few weeks later, the female moves to high, dry, open ground to dig a shallow nest. Using only her hind legs, she digs out a small hole, just 2 or 3 inches deep. The sun provides the heat for incubation.
The bottom of the nest is wider than the opening at the top. Into the nest she drops four or five white, rubbery inch-long eggs. The female may take as long as five hours to lay the eggs. She then scoops dirt back into the nest and tamps down the soil with her legs and shell.
Approximately three months later, depending on soil temperature and moisture, the eggs hatch. Broods that hatch in October may overwinter in the nest. Turtles that hatch earlier dig their way out of the nest and immediately burrow beneath the leaf litter on the forest floor. Here they spend their first few years of life -- hibernating through the winter, eating and growing in the summer. This is why we so rarely see young box turtles less than 3 inches long.
How they live
Box turtles are most often seen crossing roads after warm spring and summer rains. Rain seems to trigger a wanderlust in box turtles. Unfortunately, many fail to reach the other side of busy highways. We can all do turtles a big favor by safely straddling them when we see them on the road. Cars and trucks probably kill more box turtles each year than all predators combined.
But resist the urge to take them home. It may seem that moving turtles found on the road to a place far from traffic would be best for the turtles. More likely, though, it's a death sentence.
Box turtles spend their entire lives, which may span 60 or 70 years, on just a few acres. They know every mud hole, hiding place and food patch. If moved to an unfamiliar area, they're likely to starve or be eaten by predators. But if you do take a box turtle home to show the kids, which I think can be a great learning experience, return it a few days later to the place you found it.
True omnivores, box turtles eat a variety of plants and animals. Strawberries and raspberries, flowers and mushrooms, grasshoppers and crickets, earthworms and salamanders, and even carrion satisfy a hungry box turtle. Sounds like the perfect diet for life in the slow lane.
sshalaway@aol.com