Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) is a small-sized turtle and it is one of the six subspecies of the common box turtle. These turtles are terrestrial animals and crawl leisurely.
The carapace (upper shell) of this long-lived turtle is shaped like a dome. The background of this carapace is brown-to-black and is covered with orange streaks. Its skin and carapace change colors. The skin is speckled with reddish-orange lines. The eye color of a male turtle is red while it is orange for a female turtle.
It can grow from a length of 11.4 to 15 centimeters.
In captivity, it has
a lifespan of more than 100 years. But in the wild, it has shorter lifespan.
Mating season for eastern box turtles occur from late spring to early fall.
A female lays a clutch size of about 1 to 9 eggs. It lays 1 to 5 clutches in one breeding season. The eggs are hatched after about 50 to 70 days.
As its name suggests, these turtles belong to the eastern region of the U.S. To the north, they inhabit all the way up to Maine; toward Florida to the south and toward Texas and Kansas to the west.
The deciduous forests are probably the favorite habitat of eastern box turtles. They also prefer to live in open grasslands and swamps.
Eastern box turtles are omnivores and eat a wide variety of foodstuff. They readily feed on beetles, snails, caterpillars, earthworms, slugs, duck weed, berries, flowers and fruit.
