TAXONOMY
There are six subspecies of Eastern box turtles, four of which are found in the United States.
T. c. carolina
Terrapene carolina carolina (Linnaeus):
Common Box Turtle, is found in the eastern United States from southern Maine westward to Michigan and Illinois, and south to Tennessee and Georgia. The carapace of the common box turtle is brightly colored. It has four toes on the back feet. Males of this subspecies often have bright orange and yellow blotches on their heads and forelimbs (de Vosjoli, 1995). Duller markings are present on the extremities of females.
Terrapene carolina bauri (Taylor):
Florida Box Turtle, is restricted to Florida and the Keys. Its carapace is brightly patterned with radiating lines on each scute. There are two stripes on each side of the head and usually three toes on the hind feet. The throat of the male is yellowish. This subspecies is threatened by the continuing destruction of Florida's remaining forest and scrub areas.
Terrapene carolina major (Agassiz):
Gulf Coast Box Turtle, is found along the Gulf of Mexico coast from northern Florida to Texas. It is the largest subspecies (Ernst and Barbour, 1989), and often darkest in color. The rear margin of its carapace is flared upward. There are four toes on the rear legs. Specimens with white or cream colored heads are common in some areas. This turtle is often heavily parasitzed by botfly larvae.
T. c. triunguis
Terrapene carolina triunguis (Agassiz):
Three-toed Box Turtle, is found from Missouri south to Texas and eastward into Alabama and Georgia. It has a light tan, olive, or reddish brown carapace, with a faint or obscure pattern of radiating lines. The male of this subspecies often has a dark red head and an orange throat (Schwartz et al, 1984). As its common name suggests, it usually has three toes on the hind feet.
Eastern box turtles are easily recognized. These terrestrial turtles may reach 8 inches (20 cm) in length. The carapace is high, dome-shaped, and has a low keel. The color of the carapace is brown, black, tan, or olive and usually has a variable pattern of bright yellow or orange blotches or radiating lines. Concentric growth rings appear on the shells of many younger individuals. These rings wear with age and older turtles often have smooth shells. The plastron is olive, tan, or brown. It is often smudged with black. A single hinge runs across the plastron. This adaptation enables a box turtle to withdraw its head and limbs and close its shell tightly for protection. The front legs are heavily scaled. The skin is black, reddish brown, tan, or grey. The sides of the head and neck are marked with yellow and orange spots or lines. The upper jaw is hooked at the end and without a notch. Although there are variations and exceptions, male and female box turtles can usually be distinguished by several secondary sexual characteristics. The plastrons of most males are concave, while those of females are flat and may have slightly convex edges. The male's tail is generally longer and thicker with the anus placed farther back than the females. A slight bulge at the base of the tail may also be observable in males. The male is larger, and has enlarged, curved claws on the hind feet. The eyes of females are grayish-brown, yellowish, or dark red. Eyes of adult males are usually brighter, often a bright red.
In the northern part of its range, the Eastern box turtle enters hibernation in October or November. In the south, a box turtle may remain semiactive throughout the winter. During cold snaps, the box turtle will slow down, but will not become truly dormant. For its hibernacula, the box turtle buries into loose soil, leaf litter, mud, sand, logs, or animal burrows. Frequently, box turtles can found hibernating in the same area with other turtles. Through the winter, as the soil temperature drops, the box turtle buries deeper. They often dig up to two feet deep (Ernst and Barbour, 1972). During spring warm spells, box turtles will awaken and leave their burrows. Dropping temperatures often kill many of them by catching them before they can return to their hibernacula. Box turtles usually emerge for good in April, after the danger of freezing temperatures has past.
Three Toed Box Turtle 
EASTERN ORNATE CARAPACE
EASTERN ORNATE BOX TURTLE
NATURAL HABITAT
The Eastern box turtle favors open woodlands. However, it can also be found in pastures, marshy meadows, and flood lands. Box turtles prefer a location near a source of water. They are good swimmers and sometimes been found soaking in shallow water.
Most Eastern box turtles have permanent home ranges. Juvenile turtles often have small, temporary territories which grow larger as they age. If relocated, a box turtle will often attempt to return to its home area. The average size of the home range of an adult turtle varies with habitat. The size may also increase or decrease over time. Schwartz and Schwartz (1974) reported that during a six year study of T. c. triunguis, the average size of a home range was 5.3 acres (2.1 ha). Thirteen years later, the average territory size of the same turtles was 12.8 acres (5.1 ha) (Schwartz et al, 1984). The home ranges of several individuals will often overlap. However, not all box turtles live in a fixed location. There are also transient turtles, which do not establish permanent territories (Schwartz and Schwartz, 1974). Instead, these turtles, often males, travel between areas. They are important in carrying genes between isolated populations.
EAST GULF COAST BOX TURTLE CARAPACE
FOODS
These turtles should be fed a wide variety of native foods.
Box turtles are truly omnivorous. They eat anything you imagine--and other things. On one hand, they find wild strawberries delectable; on the other, entrails left by a successful hunter (of any species) are a smorgasbord. Day after day, turtles will consume the same fungi, the slightest taste of which would gag a hardy outsdoorsman. Box turtles even will clean up droppings left by other wildlife along a forest path. In short, the more natural processes, the more food from which to choose.
Sweet, rotting fruit is perfect box turtle food. Within their home range, turtles remember where raspberry, blackberry, gooseberry, and similar plants grow. They travel to take advantage of seasonal fruit as it falls. Encourage wild berry plants, especially in well-defined thickets that keep human hands and raccoon paws out. Remember: turtles can eat only what hangs long enough to rot and plop down around them.
Box turtles are effective hunters. They strike with surprising speed over the last inch to their target. Speed, paired with remarkable fluidity of movement and astonishing patience, make them a match for almost any insect. They can approach a target invertebrate over many inches, at a pace nearly too slow to discern.
Given a choice, box turtles relish katydids above other prey; common earthworms rank well. Preferred habitat--including variably wet grass or forest floor--provides these readily. Retain patches of heavy leaf litter that sport numerous spiders. The spiders' success is proof of insect variety and productivity.
Natural patches of forest and meadow also produce many fungi. These may recur for years in the same vicinity. Box turtles learn where certain mushrooms flourish, and when, just as they do for a berry snack. One turtle may return day after day to crop new caps from the previous night. When good feeding conditions develop, maintain that character, even if it means doing nothing.
If you feed domestic animals outdoors, box turtles may take advantage. That's dangerous. (Please understand: this is not a recommendation to let pets roam outside. Free-range cats and dogs kill an enormous quantity of wildlife.) If you set out smelly pet food daily over a period of years, individual wild turtles may exploit it. Browsing marks them with fishy, meaty odors of the food, and they may die as a result. Many a turtle leg has been lost to a raccoon who smelled something yummy in the leaves at dusk.
Looking for perpared foods for your box turtles be sure to click the link below
BREEDING
Box turtles reach sexual maturity at four or five years of age. The courtship and mating of box turtles usually occur in the spring, immediately after awakening from hibernation. However, it may continue into the summer and fall. The courtship of the Eastern box turtle varies with subspecies, but is complex and ritualized in all.
The nails on the hind feet of the male Eastern box turtle are usually curved while those of the female are straighter. The curved claws allow the male to grip the female during mating.
During the first phase, the male approaches the female, stopping when he is a few inches away from her. The female retracts her head and watches as the male holds his head high with his legs straightened. Some males lift one leg slightly off the ground. The male then circles the female, biting and nudging her carapace until she opens her plastron. The male then stops, mounts the female, and hooks his feet into her plastral opening. In the second phase, the male's feet follow the edge of the plastron forward until they are near the hinge. The female then closes her shell on his claws and holds them tightly. The final phase is copulation. The male bites the front edge of the female's shell. He then slips backwards and rests the edge of his carapace on the ground. After mating, the male sits up and rests on the back of the female.
The mating habits of the other two subspecies involve the male inflating his throat to entice the female to breed. In the three-toed box turtle, the male stops in front of the female and holds his head high. He then pulsates his orange-colored throat. Then he mounts the female and exposes his pulsating throat to the female for several minutes before copulating. The Florida box turtle mounts the female and pulses his yellow throat. Then, immediately before mating, the male bites at the female's neck.
Female T. carolina can retain the sperm from a mating for up to four years (Ernst and Barbour, 1989). Most nesting occurs from May through July (Ernst and Barbour, 1989). In the south, nesting may extend into September. Females may lay several clutches of eggs per year (Messinger and Patton, 1995). An open site of sandy or loamy soil is selected for the nest. Nests are usually begun at twilight and take several hours to complete. The nest chamber is dug and the eggs are arranged by the hind feet. The thin, white, flexible eggs are laid at intervals of one to six minutes. The clutch consists of three to eight eggs, the average being four to five (Ernst and Barbour, 1989). After she is finished, the female fills the nest in and compacts the soil with her legs and plastron.
The incubation time of the eggs is variable, depending on the temperature and rainfall. Average incubation time is 75 to 90 days (Ernst and Barbour, 1989). The hatchlings usually leave the nest in early September or October. However, if they hatch late, they may overwinter in the nest and leave the following spring.
The hatchlings are brownish-gray and barely over one inch (31 mm) long. They have flat carapaces, with a low vertebral keel. A small yellow spot is found on each scute of the carapace (Smith and Brodie, Jr., 1982). Box turtle hatchlings are vulnerable to many predators. Snakes, raccoons, opossums, rats, crows and many other animals prey on the young turtles. To avoid the predators, box turtles instinctively remain hidden much of the time. Because they are very secretive, young box turtles are rarely seen in the wild.
During the first four or five years of life, box turtles grow rapidly. As they age, their growth slows. Full adult size is not reached until the turtle is at least 20 years old (Schwartz and Schwartz, 1974; Schwartz et al., 1984).
Please check here for additional information on Breeding Box Turtles:
Breeding and Egg Hatching
HIBERNATION
Eastern box turtles are diurnal. During the day, T. carolina forage for food, search for mates, and explore their territory. At night, they rest in shallow forms that they scoop out at dusk. Box turtles are unable to tolerate high temperatures and in the summer are most active in the morning or after periods of rain. During the midday, box turtles become less active and seek shade. Also, they will bury into rotten logs, leaf piles, or mud to avoid the heat. Eastern box turtles can retain water better than aquatic turtles. This allows them to cope with short dry spells. They survive longer periods of drought by burying into logs or mud. During the cooler temperatures of spring and fall, box turtles are more active. At these times, they can be found moving around their territory at any daytime hour.
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