#17 Sharp

DDW January Challenge #17 Sharp

This is Turnie, our rescue Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene Carolina). The Box Turtle is known for its sharp beak, which slices vegetation and crunches worms, snails, grasshoppers and such, hence Turnie here for the challenge today.

Box Turtles can weigh up to 2 pounds and are around 4.5 to 5 inches in length. We found out Turnie was male because of his red eyes. Females have yellowish-brown eyes and are larger than males. Both have brown shells with yellow markings. They are listed as near-threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

They are omnivorous, but Turnie eats only worms. He was starved and neglected when we got him and had been wasting away on stale turtle pellets. Now, he loves a good, fresh earthworm or a few mealworms a day.

During the winter, they burrow and hibernate in their natural habitat. We keep the terrarium warm day and night and the lights on for around 12 hours a day year round so that he isn't tempted to hibernate.

He's been very healthy and happy in the 9 years we've had him, except for the time he got lost outside. Fellow blipper and close friend Mary Jo and I put flyers in mailboxes up and down the street to find him. A neighbor called after he had been missing for a month, having recognized him from the flyer's photo. They had just run him over with their lawnmower! He survived his long adventure with a cracked shell and other injuries, and after two months and numerous antibiotic shots, he pulled through.

Here he is outside his terrarium. Even though these turtles are solitary animals, he likes to hang out with the other animals in the house and will spend a lot of time just walking from room to room exploring when we let him out.