Desert Box Turtle (Terrapene ornata luteola)

Desert Box Turtle, Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum, Tucson, AZ
Photograph by Sue in az. License: Public Domain. (view image details)

DESERT BOX TURTLE FACTS

Description
The Desert Box Turtle is a dull brown turtle, with indistinct darker markings. The skin is dark with some yellowish or greenish markings. The head may have some greenish markings. Young turtles have brighter markings than older turtles. Males usually have red eyes and females usually have brown eyes. Eastern box turtles have a sharp horny beak. The legs are stout with feet webbed only at the base. Males have concave plastron, while females have a flat plastron. Desert Box Turtles hibernate in winter, and emerge again around April.

Size
length to 35cm

Environment
arid, open prairie areas.

Food
The Desert Box Turtle is an omnivore and eats plants, insects, and sometimes carrion.

Breeding
Nesting season is from May to July. Female lays clutch of 2 - 8 eggs. Young turtles hatch after about seventy days. Desert Box Turtles can live 25 years or more.

Range
from the Trans-Pecos region of Texas, New Mexico, south east Arizona in the United States, south into Sonora and Chihuahua in Mexico

Conservation Status
LR|nt

Classification

Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Family:	Emydidae
Genus:	Terrapene
Species:	ornata luteola
Common Name:	Desert Box Turtle

Relatives in same Genus
Eastern Box Turtle (T. carolina)

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