Being born a box turtle has its benefits. For starters, you have this awesome unique hinge on the back underside of your shell. Thanks to this hinge, you can pull every single appendage (head, tail, legs – the whole package) inside your shell and active its hinge and – presto! – no more box turtle!ContinueContinue reading “Day 12: What’s Under the Box”
Tag Archives: box turtle
Day 9: Box Turtle Booty
The large shell-less beings may not always be that swift on the uptake, but they definitely have their moments. For example, let’s take the day you first met your personal shell-less assistant. And she was instantly smitten with you – your pale ivory neck skin, your oh-so-colorful orange cheek patches, the way your bright redContinueContinue reading “Day 9: Box Turtle Booty”
Day 6: Box Turtle Cloaking Device
Being a shellebrity has its perks. It also has its drawbacks. This is especially true when you are a manly and oh-so-masculine male box turtle who is currently unattached. “Keeping your options open” is the technical term. You may try to hide your single status, but the lady box turtles have their ways. Sooner orContinueContinue reading “Day 6: Box Turtle Cloaking Device”
Day 3: Box Turtle Brumation Safety Checks
When you live in an interspecies flock, getting the deep, restful sleep you require can present some special challenges. For instance, maybe you are a “hibernating species,” which means you like to spend your winter season – all of it – sleeping. So you go to sleep around October or November each year, anticipating aContinueContinue reading “Day 3: Box Turtle Brumation Safety Checks”
Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Seating
I will never forget the first time I walked outside to check on Bruce in his outdoor habitat and found him roosting – I kid you not – high up in his asparagus fern. He had climbed up into the center of this sprawling springy thing and balanced his plastron (under-shell) just so….he spent theContinueContinue reading “Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Seating”
Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Brumation Checks
This is Bruce’s third winter with our little flock. So this is also the third year he has brumated (hibernated) here in captivity. (I hate the word “captivity” by the way….but that is the reality of Bruce’s situation as a wild rescued box turtle who would have otherwise long ago become a road pancake. AndContinueContinue reading “Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Brumation Checks”
Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Digging
Box turtles are really amazing at digging. They have powerful front and back feet equipped with longish sharp claws that can turn them into streamlined plowing machines. Bruce, like all box turtles, craves the ability to dig. I didn’t know this when I first rescued him, and it took a lot of reading and studyingContinueContinue reading “Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Digging”
Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Agility
When I was little, I kept five water turtles – all red-eared and yellow-eared sliders. They were adorable and so agile! They could pile out of the water directly on top of one another like tiny shelled acrobats. I didn’t keep close company with shelled beings again for many years until four and a halfContinueContinue reading “Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Agility”
Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Safety Checks
When you are a homo sapiens, you have four seasons (at least in theory if you’re living in the south): spring, summer, fall and winter. When you are a box turtle, you also have four seasons: spring, estivation, fall and hibernation. During two of your seasons, you will be out and about, active, eager toContinueContinue reading “Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Safety Checks”
Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Burrowing
Bruce is a native Texas box turtle, which means his species naturally lives in the southern and central parts of our home state, as well as elsewhere (including in Missouri, which had the good taste to pick the 3-toed box turtle as their state reptile). But even though he is quite literally at home hereContinueContinue reading “Bruce Explains Box Turtles: Burrowing”
Love & Feathers & Shells 