Mating Box Turtles

     By chance, one day in mid-July, I came across a pair of box turtles mating in the grass of a suburban lawn near a woods; or, at least the male was trying to.  Those turtles were more obvious on the lawn than they would have been in their native carpets of fallen leaves, moss and ferns on woodland floors. 
     The male box turtle was handsome in the way of his gender.  He had a dark upper shell with yellow markings which mimic dappled sunlight on the forest floor for camouflage.  And he  had  bright-orange scales on his head, neck and front legs and red irises in his eyes, all of which intimidate rival males and entice females to mate. 
     The day was warm and the male turtle was active in his courtship of the female.  He was constantly aggressive toward her, excitedly biting the rim of her shell from all directions and pushing against her to coax her to mate with him, but without hurting her.  He mounted her several times from every direction.  (Male box turtles have an indentation on their lower shells to help with that activity.)  At times, surprisingly to me, he even did a bit of an agile two-step, for a turtle, in front of the female.  After several minutes of actively courting her, he would stop to rest, but then continued his strenuous efforts.  Through all this, the female kept her head and legs in her shell and did not move.  She didn't seem to be in the mood for mating.  And no wonder with that rough courtship. 
     As the Earth turned on its axis, the spot where the turtles were came into the sunlight, which made them too hot.  The female stuck her head and legs out of her shell and quickly moved to a shady, cooler spot under a small tree.  It was then I noticed she had a dark head and neck, a bit of yellow on her forelegs and liquid, dark eyes.  She, like the male, was handsome in the camouflaged way of her gender.  The male, of course, was in hot pursuit and continued his efforts in the shade.  But after a few hours, he gave up, without success I think, and crawled away to cool shelter.  And after several minutes, when she realized the male was gone, the female did the same, but in a different direction.
     The cold-blooded box turtles mate during the warm days of summer when they are active to do so.  One mating is enough for a few clutches of eggs, one per year, with about six eggs in each clutch.  Early in June, female box turtles lay eggs in holes they dig with their back legs in loose soil in sunny places.  Sunlight warms the eggs in the ground and the dark young hatch a couple of months later, with shells about the size of quarters.     
     Box turtles are omnivorous, eating earthworms, beetles, slugs, blueberries, mushrooms, carrion and almost anything else edible they come across.  They are not fast on their feet, so their food has to be still or slow-moving. 
     Box turtles come out to feed during and just after a rain when worms and slugs are most active.  Then they are a beautiful sight in the wet woods, with their heads raised high like periscopes and eyes alert to any sources of food.
     Sometime in October, box turtles dig under the protective leaf carpet and soil of woodland floors to sleep through the winter.  But they come abroad again in April, ready to eat and breed.
     Box turtles are such lovely, interesting creatures in their native woodlands that it is a shame when  they are removed from it.  If the reader comes across a turtle in the woods, please leave it there where it belongs.  The two turtles I saw on that suburban lawn, only thirty yards from a woodland, were never disturbed.  Photos can be taken, but not the turtles themselves.  Box turtles are protected by law in some states.