I found this turtle walking through my front yard landscape.
light rain over night. red and black face, nice shell - no scars (maybe that means he's young). flared shell with lots of markings, but plain plastron. pronounced keel. concave. ornate-ish looking, but plastron too light (possible hybrid??). light film of dirt on shell.
This turtle has been coming to my back door for 3 years. She loves bread I feed the birds. She eats so much I think she will be sick.
She also likes watermelon but not as much as the bread.
Shell approximately 4" lengthwise down center and 3 1/2" at widest point. Height of shell about 2 1/2"
Found shell as shown upside down near cedar fence post on south side of property.
Was crossing the road after an overnight shower of 0.06". Found entering the road from a wooded area with leaf litter.
found under a tree up against the trunk. large turtle. very scarred. shy. black, red, and white face. male. light rain last night.
mating turtles. i have seen the female turtle many times before. 70 degrees and overcast. last rain was 4-5 days ago.
found him walking in the mud around a pond. scarred up carapace and plastron. back, right side of shell was broken off or birth defect. red face with white beak and orange legs. not shy. bug leg hanging on his face - maybe he ate the other parts of the bug??
most favorite turtle of all time. have seen her 30+ times over 4 years. was measuring another male turtle and heard her walking under a nearby palm frond. the 2 were only about 3 feet from each other. light rain last night. about an hour later she showed up 20 yards away at a gathering of people (close to where I believe she lives) and ate grapes out of my hand. she stayed for about 10 minutes and then wandered off.
TCT-1 originally observed 2010
A lady had called me and asked what do to with this box turtle they found in the yard... Since they have a few dogs and didn't want it to be eaten, they asked me if they could relocate it to the park. Since we've spotted another of the same species at the park, I had no issue with it. :)
She left it some food as a "house warming gift." :)