Natural History of the Ornate Box Turtle, Terrapene ornata ornata Agassiz

by John M. Legler

An adult female, infested with bot fly larvae when she was removed from her hibernaculum in late October, 1955, bore no trace of larvae or of the pocket that had contained them when she was recaptured the following June. According to Rokosky (1948), the larvae eventually fall to earth and pupate. The individuals of T. carolina studied by him were not re-infested by adult bot flies; one turtle ate some of the larvae that dropped from its body.

The manner in which box turtles are infested by bot fly larvae is uncertain. Possibly the eggs are picked up accidentally or laid on the skin while box turtles are foraging in dung. Belding (1952:841) classifies the genus Scarophaga as semi-host-specific, depositing eggs in open wounds.

McMullen (1940), Rodeck (1949), and Rainey (1953), described individuals of T. ornata parasitized by S. cistudinis. Rokosky (1948) and Peters (1948:473) reported infestations in T. carolina. Infestations were the cause of death in the instances noted by Rainey and Rokosky.

PREDATORS

Few first-hand observations on predators of T. ornata are available and I have found little direct evidence of predation in the course of this study. In general, adults of the species seem to have few natural enemies other than man. Several of my colleagues at the University of Kansas have observed dogs carrying box turtles in their mouths or chewing on them. Frank B. Cross told me his dog caught and ate young T. ornata in Payne County, Oklahoma, and A. B. Leonard once saw a badger carrying one in Dewy County, Oklahoma. At the Reservation, a freshly killed juvenile was found beneath the nest of a crow (Corvus brachyrhynchos) and remains of a hatchling were found in a scat of a copperhead (Agkistrodon contortrix).

Dr. Fred H. Dale, Director of the Patuxent Research Refuge, Laurel, Maryland, kindly furnished photostatic copies of cards, from the Division of Food Habits Research of the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, recording the instances in which Terrapene ornata was listed as a food-item. In one instance the stomach of each of two nestlings, in the same nest, of the White-necked Raven (Corvus cryptoleucus) in Terry County, Texas, contained remains of recently hatched ornate box turtles; the remains of one turtle made up 64 per cent of the contents of one stomach, and parts of three turtles made up 80 per cent of the contents of the other stomach. Each of two stomachs of the coyote (Canis latrans) from Quay County, New Mexico, contained a "trace" of ornate box turtle.

Wild carnivores known to occur on the Damm Farm were raccoons (Procyon lotor), striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis), badgers (Taxidea taxus), and coyotes (Canis latrans); all were suspect as predators of ornate box turtles.

On December 10, 1953, ten dead box turtles (eight adults and two juveniles) were discovered at the top of a cut bank on the Damm Farm, within a few feet of a burrow that was used at least part of the time by a striped skunk. The condition of the turtles suggested that they had lain in the open for several weeks. The heads and legs were missing from most of the turtles and tooth marks were discernible on several of the shells. A logical explanation of this occurrence is that the turtles, using the burrow as a hibernaculum, were ousted by a predator that also inhabited the burrow. Turtles moving about sporadically in late autumn may be quickly chilled by a sudden drop in temperature and therefore be more susceptible to predation than at other times of the year. Two of my colleagues at the Museum of Natural History informed me that they had observed similar concentrations of dead T. ornata in winter.

In July, 1952, H. B. Tordoff collected eight shells of juvenile T. ornata in a dry creek bed near Sharon, Barber County, Kansas. Some of the shells had small tooth-punctures. The stream bed habitat and the appearance of the tooth punctures tended to incriminate raccoons as predators. Raccoons, more than any other carnivore mentioned above, possess the manual dexterity necessary to pry open the shell of a box turtle and bite away the soft parts. Badgers and possibly coyotes are probably the only local carnivores (excluding large dogs) that could crack open the shell of an adult turtle by sheer force.