Male Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina)
The Turtle Journal team found our first Eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) of the 2014 season at noon on Thursday, May 1st, in an upland woods on Outer Cape Cod. Â As pictured above peering through the partially closed hinged plastron, the turtle’s bright red eyes confirm his masculine gender.
Eastern Box Turtle #1110 in Wellfleet Woodlands
We had committed to search a wooded upland property off Old Kings Highway in Wellfleet for Eastern box turtles.  As we well know, this spring has been especially chilly and box turtles have remained inactive, lingering in hibernacula, and delaying the timing for this sweep.  Because  the forecast promised temperatures in the upper 50s accompanied by torrential rain, the Turtle Journal team selected Thursday as the first viable opportunity to find box turtles on the site.  And so we did.
Don Lewis Discovers Eastern Box Turtle #1110
As we swept these woodlands, we looked for box turtle “forms,” which are shallow depressions covered by grass, leaves and debris. Â We sometimes call these forms “garages” because box turtles “park” themselves inside. Â Eastern Box Turtle #1110 had left its most recent form and was lazing in the warm rain, rehydrating after a long, hard winter brumation. Â His domed bright yellow shell seemed quite gaudy in contrast to the surrounding pine needles, oak leaves and winter grass.
Sue Wieber Nourse Examines Male Eastern Box Turtle #1110
The turtle proved shy and “boxed” himself up tightly with his hinged plastron. Â Still, we could easily identify his gender based on the concavity in his abdominal scutes and confirmed later by his bright red eyes.
Male Eastern Box Turtle #1110 Carapace (Top Shell)
Male Eastern Box Turtle #1110 Plastron (Bottom Shell)
Male Eastern Box Turtle #1110’s carapace (top shell) measured 14.9 centimeters (5.9 inches) long and 12.3 centimeters (4.8 inches) wide. Â He weighed 571 grams (1.26 pounds). Â His girth (bottom to top) measured 6.8 centimeters (2.7 inches) at the hinge. Â This hinged plastron provides a survival edge for box turtles when confronting a predator. Â The anterior (front) and posterior (back) sections of the plastron swing on the hinge to close up like a sealed box … giving this turtle its common name.