The turtles usually grow to be between 5 to 8 inches in length. Other than the box turtle, the wood turtle is Pennsylvania’s most terrestrial turtle. What that means is this turtle species spends more time on land than in water.

One interesting thing I learned while writing this article is that during the late 1800s to early 1900s, this turtle was available at markets for its meat.

The plastron, or lower shell, is yellow with black blotches and doesn’t have a hinge like a box turtle. The plastron of the male is concave. The female’s is flat or slightly convex. The skin on the neck and front legs is frequently adorned with reddish orange scales. The tail is moderately heavy and nearly as long as the carapace.

Eating everything

Being an omnivore, it consumes a variety of animal and plant matter. Insects and their larvae, earthworms, slugs, snails, fish, frogs, tadpoles, and crayfish are included in their diet.

Exhibiting a behavior not observed in any other reptile: the worm stomp. This involves stomping their feet and shell on the ground to imitate falling rain or the movement of moles, tricking worms into coming to the surface where they can be eaten.

They also eat leaves, algae, moss, mushrooms, fruit, and berries like wild strawberries and low-bush blueberries. Other plants, such as dandelion and sorrel also are favored.

Endangered

The wood turtle is found in all of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties and is not considered to be endangered or threatened as far as its numbers seem to indicate. The wood turtle is able to move from land to water environments and back again easily. Aquatic habitats are required for mating, feeding, and brumation, while terrestrial (land) habitats are used for egg laying and foraging.

Streams, creeks, and rivers found in hardwood forests, marshy meadows, farmlands, and swamps with stands of red maple are all ideal habitats for the wood turtle. Although a terrestrial turtle, the wood turtle is very much at home in the water and they are swift swimmers.

Time to sleep

By late November, the wood turtle begins a process called brumation. Brumation is similar to hibernation but occurs in reptiles and amphibians.

This is a period of time where they experience inactivity, and the lowering of body temperature, heart rate, metabolic rate, and respiratory rate. The biggest difference between animals that hibernate and animals that brumate is whether or not they consume food beforehand.

Hibernating animals need to eat in order to have enough food storage to last them through their hibernation period as their metabolism is still active. Brumating animals stop eating before entering inactivity as their metabolic rate drops so low that they are unable to fully digest food until outside temperatures increase.

It’s hard to imagine an air-breathing vertebrate taking in little oxygen for 130 days, but that is exactly what a wood turtle does as it enters brumation.

When water temperatures are just barely above freezing, a wood turtle’s metabolism shuts down to roughly 5% of what it would be midsummer. But they are actually extremely sensitive to oxygen levels in the water.

Clean flowing water with high levels of oxygen all winter is absolutely critical to the survival of this species. They absorb oxygen through the lining of their mouths and through their cloaca. The absorption of oxygen through the cloaca is often referred to as “butt breathing.”

Unlike snapping turtles and painted turtles, who both burrow in the mud and are completely shut off from an oxygen supply, the wood turtle relies on swiftly flowing waterways to receive a steady supply of oxygenated water during brumation.

Where the babies are born

In the spring the female wood turtle searches for a sunny nesting site, preferring sandy banks near moving water.

The female digs the nest with her hind feet into which she lays 3 to 18 eggs. The eggs hatch in September or October, and it is not unusual for the young wood turtles to remain in the nest through the winter. The hatchling wood turtles are about 2 inches in length. If the young turtles survive, they can live 20 to 30 years.

I have a friend who is an amazing wood carver and if I ever decide to take up this hobby under his direction, the first thing I am going to attempt is a wood turtle carving. Wish me luck!

Jeannie Carl is a naturalist at the Carbon County Environmental Education Center in Summit Hill. The center rehabilitates injured animals and educates the public on a variety of wildlife found in the area. For information on the Carbon County Environmental Center, visit www.carboneec.org.