Finding Box Turtles In Pennsylvania

For those of you not really into turtles this is a big who cares and probably tediously boring. For the rest of you I hope you find this short video interesting. This is what its about...

Here in the Poconos we had a nasty snowstorm on October 15th. I actually had to sweep several inches of snow off my fathers car. Just 6 days later its like Spring has returned! I went searching around our small property just on the off chance I might spot a few critters before the weather turned chilly again.

I ended up finding 6 Box Turtles! I have seen box turtles on our property several times before but never so many on the same day and never this close together! The two males that you see me uncovering in the ground seemed to be in a communal den or scoop. I could feel 2 additional turtles further in but I didnt want to dig them out to record them. I like to leave these creatures as undisturbed as possible.

I have done very little editing because I thought it would be more fun for the nature lovers out there to actually follow me, almost in real time, as I explore all the places the turtles were hanging out.

The red-backed salamander in the beginning was...well just a salamander. Nothing special there except that, like I said, a few days ago it was just all ice and snow here!

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• Box Turtles
• Eastern Box Turtles
• Terrapene carolina carolina
• PA
• Pennsylvania
• Turtles
• Box Turtle

[ace8842]

@doctorkazoo In the fall, when it snows or gets cold, the ground becomes cold. Then when you have some warm days afterwards, and you haven't yet had extended cold, reptiles will come to the surface to try to warm their body temperature.  So you have the air and surface much warmer than the ground below. Still, 6 box turtles is amazing in such a small area. What county?

[doctorkazoo]

@FOLLOWTHEREAPER65 You are correct! I knew EXACTLY where they were! When I first happened on them it took a very long time! I was amazed how many were in such close proximity to each other! I made a mental note of where they all were and then I ran and got my video camera! There is something about this small area that causes them to congregate there at the end of the season!

[ckphillies1221]

i'm going to the poconos soon and i would love to know where to look for these things

[misswildthunder]

crack crack is all i hear lol but love seeing those turtles.. i used to have a turtle as a pet as a kid but i put him back outside where he belonged.

[kov75]

The sound of dry leaves under your boots is weird... what were you looking to find there? Very cool though :)