Sex in the City - Garden Edition

Hidden among the trimmings

Well, this settles it - we for sure have female and male Eastern box turtles in our back yard. Last year at this time, we saw two, and were fairly sure they were opposite sexes (click here). This morning, everything was confirmed. I was cleaning up a pile of tree branch trimmings from last week. As I was picking up each branch from a pile and chopped them up with a pair of hand shears into a yard waste recycling bag, I noticed a half shell of a black walnut nut shell?....or was it a champagne bottle cork?.....in the pile of branches with leaves. No, it was a small tortoise. I showed it to Jan, asking what she thought it was - she guessed first time correctly. She got my camera, and was a willing portrait prop - a small miracle given she does not like things that move on their own other than grandchildren, dogs, and cats (1). It likely turned out to be the most photographed reptile of its kind this morning. After we were finished admiring our find, I put it in a shaded and moist bed at the back of the yard - well protected. After ten more minutes of pruning, when I went back to the release point, it had disappeared somewhere in our constructed habitat - just like its parents do - its the turtle way.
_______________________________

Close up of a young Eastern Box Turtle

Reproduction does not come readily or easily to Eastern box turtles.  It can take a female box turtle at least five years, and possibly a full decade, to reach sexual maturity. When she is ready to breed, she must first encounter a mate, which may or may not happen depending on whether her home territory (which she won’t leave) happens to overlap with a mate’s home territory (which he won’t leave). She may then lay eggs, but they will be few in number and may include some infertile ones. If the eggs make it to hatching, the hatchlings will be extremely vulnerable to predation and few if any will make it to adulthood. Given the odds against reproductive success for box turtles, this is why it is so important to the long-term viability of any local population to leave it intact and not remove any adults. (2)

Eastern Box Turtle natural range

Box turtle mating season begins in the spring and continues through the summer. A male may mate with the same female several years in a row, or with several females, depending on availability. Interestingly, females can lay fertile eggs up to four years after a successful mating. Females make their nests in the leaf litter and lay 3 to 8 eggs per clutch.  Incubation lasts about three months, and temperature determines the sex of the young.  If eggs are incubated in a temperature range of 72-81 degrees Fahrenheit, the hatchlings will be male.  If the incubation temperature is 82 degrees or above, the hatchlings will be female. (2)
 _______________________________
(1) See about a previous close encounter but clicking here.
(2) From the Maryland Zoo Website. Click there for more information.