{"id":14880,"date":"2014-05-06T21:15:37","date_gmt":"2014-05-07T02:15:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=14880"},"modified":"2014-05-06T21:15:37","modified_gmt":"2014-05-07T02:15:37","slug":"surprise-eastern-box-turtle-hatchling-discovered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=14880","title":{"rendered":"Surprise! Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling Discovered"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) Hatchling<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The Turtle Journal team was shocked this morning to find a tiny Eastern box turtle hatchling that had emerged from its first winter brumation (hibernation). \u00c2\u00a0Discovering a hatchling or yearling box turtle, after they have left the nest and disappeared into the wild, is a rare and extraordinary experience. \u00c2\u00a0In fact, the first few years of a turtle’s life are called the “Lost Years,” because hatchlings, yearlings and juveniles can’t be found as they hide in secluded habitats from legions of predators.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling with Quarters<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

You can imagine our surprise upon discovering this precious little character today, motionless within a dense concentration of pine needles, grass, weeds and wildflowers. \u00c2\u00a0We placed the hatchling with two quarters to give a sense of its size. \u00c2\u00a0From the hatchling’s color and pattern, you can infer how well these camouflaged critters blend into their woodland habitat.<\/p>\n

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Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling Plastron<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This baby box turtle hatched late last summer and shortly thereafter burrowed into thick vegetation for winter brumation. \u00c2\u00a0Examining the center of its abdominal plastron scutes (see above), we noted the spot where the yolk sac had been absorbed over fall and winter. \u00c2\u00a0We also observed that the hatchling’s left front limb had been nibbled by some predator below the “knuckles.” \u00c2\u00a0The wound has healed.<\/p>\n

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Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling Weighs 6 Grams (0.2 Ounce)<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

This Eastern box turtle hatchling hit the scale at 6 grams, or approximately 0.2 ounce. \u00c2\u00a0It appeared a bit dehydrated and we have allowed it to soak in warm fresh water this evening before we release it back into the wild.<\/p>\n

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Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling ~ 1.25 Inch Carapace<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The hatchling’s carapace measured a little more than 3 centimeters long. \u00c2\u00a0Among our local turtle species, Eastern box turtle hatchlings seem larger, on average, than spotted, painted, snapper and terrapin hatchlings.<\/p>\n

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Eastern Box Turtle Hatchling and Mature Male Box Turtle<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

With this surprise discovery, we had the rare opportunity to compare a hatchling box turtle and a mature adult (male) box turtle. \u00c2\u00a0While clearly an unnatural set up, the portrait offers a great perspective on the future growth expectation for this tiny hatchling.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eastern Box Turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina) Hatchling The Turtle Journal team was shocked this morning to find a tiny Eastern box turtle hatchling that had emerged from its first winter brumation (hibernation). \u00c2\u00a0Discovering a hatchling or yearling box turtle, after they have left the nest and disappeared into the wild, is a rare and extraordinary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14880"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14911,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14880\/revisions\/14911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}