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© Jennifer Nordyke

Ornate Box Turtle

Terrapene ornata ornata

Physical Characteristics

  • The upper shell is dark brown or reddish-brown and covered with yellow or yellow-orange radiating lines. The dark lower shell is hinged and also has radiating yellow lines. The tail is short and each hind foot has four claws. Adult males have red eyes and females yellowish-brown eyes.
  • Size of average adult
    • length: 4 - 5 inches
  • Approximate life span is 30 years.

Diet

  • Wild: beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, cicadas, earthworms, dead vertebrates, berries and other fruits

Behavior

  • Diurnal, spend the daytime basking, feeding and at rest
  • Active from April - October
  • When winter approaches will dig beneath the ground or enter the dens or burrows of other animals, will not emerge until a period of warm, moist weather
  • Reproduction
    • sexual maturity: 7 - 8 years
    • breeding season: spring and fall
    • clutch size: 2 - 8 elongate, white eggs
    • incubation: 2 months
    • female digs a hole and buries the eggs, the young dig themselves out after hatching and are self-sufficient

Environmental/Global

  • Habitat: treeless plains, prairies and rolling country covered with grass and scattered low brush
  • Distribution: southwestern, central and south-central United States and western Mexico
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