Harmless · Native to the United States

Eastern box turtle

Terrapene carolina (Linnaeus, 1758)

Also called box turtle; three-toed box turtle (western form)
Data updated October 2026

Eastern box turtle walking through leaf litter, showing its high domed shell with yellow and orange blotches
Fig. 1 — Adult in leaf litter, showing the high-domed shell with yellow and orange markings.
Close view of an eastern box turtle with its hinged lower shell partly closed
Fig. 2 — The hinged lower shell lets the turtle close itself in completely.

At a glance

A small land turtle with a high, domed shell splashed with yellow or orange. A hinge in the lower shell lets it shut itself in completely. It spends its long life in a small home area, which is why moving or keeping wild box turtles harms them.

01

Identification

Look for a small, high-domed shell, dark brown or black with yellow to orange spots, blotches or lines. The pattern varies a great deal from turtle to turtle and fades with age. Many have a low ridge down the middle of the back, most obvious in young turtles. The lower shell has a hinge across its front third, so the turtle can pull in its head and legs and close up tight. Males often have red or orange eyes, brighter heads and forelimbs, thicker curved rear claws and a dented-in lower shell. Females usually have brown eyes, a flat lower shell and a higher dome. The western three-toed form is duller olive or tan and usually has three toes on each hind foot.

  1. 01Hinged lower shell. A hinge near the front lets it close the shell completely.
  2. 02High dome. A tall, rounded shell, very different from the flat shells of pond turtles.
  3. 03Yellow-orange markings. Bright spots, blotches or lines on a dark shell, unique to each turtle.

Commonly confused with

02

Size

01 in2 in3 in4 in5 in6 in7 in8 in Typical adult shell · about 5¼ in (13 cm)

Most adults have an upper shell 4.5 to 6 inches (11.5–15 cm) long, and a few reach 7 to 8 inches. Males are often a little larger than females. Hatchlings are only slightly bigger than a US quarter, and they cannot fully close their shells until the hinge develops at about 4 to 5 years old.

03

Range & habitat

Eastern box turtle on the floor of an open hardwood forest
Fig. 3 — Open hardwood forest with sunny edges is prime box turtle habitat.

Eastern box turtles live across much of the eastern United States, from southeastern Maine and New York west to central Illinois and south to northern Florida. They are found statewide in North Carolina and across most of Tennessee, where the three-toed form takes over in the far southwest; at the northern edge they occur only in a few spots in southern New Hampshire. Box turtles live on land, mainly in moist, open hardwood forest such as mature oak-hickory woods with scattered openings, and in forested bottomlands near streams. They also use field edges, old fields, pastures, thickets, power-line corridors, the edges of marshes and bogs, and suburban neighborhoods. In hot weather they soak in puddles, springs and shallow streams or burrow into moist soil.

04

Diet & predators

Box turtles are omnivores that forage on the forest floor. They eat mushrooms, berries, grapes, persimmons and other fruit, leaves and grasses, along with earthworms, slugs, snails, insects, salamanders, frogs and toads, small snakes and dead animals. Adults eat mostly plants.

Feeds on

  • Mushrooms and other fungi
  • Berries and fallen fruit
  • Earthworms, slugs and snails
  • Insects

Preyed on by

  • Raccoons (nests and young)
  • Skunks and foxes (nests and young)
  • Snakes and crows (eggs)
  • Dogs and some birds (young turtles)
Wild mushroom growing on the forest floor
Food — mushrooms.
Raccoon in a forest at dusk
Predator — raccoon (nests and young).

05

Behavior & seasons

Box turtles spend their lives in a small home range, usually under 2 acres and seldom more than 10, and they have a strong homing instinct. In summer they are active mainly in the morning and evening and rest out of the heat; only nesting females move about at night. When threatened, a box turtle pulls in its head and legs and closes its hinged shell.

They are active from about April to October. For winter they burrow into loose soil, rotting leaves or mud, or use mammal burrows, often returning to the same spot year after year. Many are killed on roads, especially females looking for nest sites in June and July.

06

Reproduction

Box turtles mate in spring and again in fall, and females can store sperm for up to four years, so they do not need to mate every year. From mid-May to late June, females dig a shallow nest with their hind legs in loose or sandy soil in open spots such as hayfields, pastures and roadsides, lay 3 to 8 eggs, cover them and leave. A female may lay up to three clutches in a year. Eggs hatch in about 2 to 3 months, in late summer or early fall; young from late clutches may stay in the nest and emerge the next spring. Hatchlings get no care from their parents. Females usually do not breed until about 10 years old, and box turtles can live 50 years or more, some past 100.

07

Conservation

The eastern box turtle is not federally listed, but populations are declining in many places where it was once common. The main threats are habitat loss and fragmentation, road deaths and collection for the pet trade. Several states protect it. It is a species of special concern in Connecticut, where collecting box turtles from the wild is not allowed, and it is listed as endangered in New Hampshire. In North Carolina it is a nongame species with no open season and a Wildlife Action Plan priority, and taking, possessing, buying or selling five or more is treated as illegal commercial take. International trade is also regulated under CITES. Wildlife agencies agree: do not take a box turtle home or move it to a new area. If one is crossing a road and it is safe to help, carry it a short distance across in the direction it was heading.

Keep reading

Sources

Data updated October 2026 · How we build these pages