There are small turtles in the world, but the Bog turtle is the smallest and is one of the most rare turtles around. The Bog turtle rarely grows four inches. The bright orange and yellow marks on their head and neck make it very easy to identify the Big turtles. Their upper shell is dark, it is three to four inches narrow and it's marked by concentric rings.
Bog turtles love basking in the sun and they spend significant periods of their life doing it. Bog turtles rely on certain native plants for food. Their eating habits include a variety of plants and small animals. They enjoy beetles, worms, slugs, carrion, snails, millipedes, sedge seeds and pond weed seeds.
Their mating period starts in April and ends in July, from April to June they mare and from June to July they nest. During this time they lay 2-5 eggs.
The eastern United States is where they are usually found. Their preference is a cool habitat, where the water is slow moving and shallow. Bog turtles live in wetlands, that can provide both wet and dry areas. This way they have the conditions that aid in thermoregulation and egg incubation.
Bog turtles are cute, petite, and very attractive, which makes them an easy animal for people to like and want to protect.
The Bog turtle is so small that you can fit it in your hand. Until now it is known as the smallest turtle on Earth. You can identify it by its bright yellow or orange blotches on each side of its head and neck. Their skin is brown molted with red, and their shells have a rough appearance on the younger turtles.
The male, unlike the female, has a long, thick tail and long fore claws.His plastron is concave, while the females one is slightly convex. Moreover, males are larger than females, when each is full grown (even their heads are larger than female’s).
This type of turtle lives in wet and cold areas, where the water is shallow and slow moving. You might also find them in bogs, swamps or marshes, because the bog turtle needs mossy places and high humidity.
The bog turtle can be found in the following states: Massachusetts, Georgia, New York, Tennessee, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, North Carolina, Rhode Island, South Carolina.
They don`t have any problems at this chapter, because they can find plenty food in their habitat. Their diet is considered from many types of animals and plants which live among them. The bog turtle eat insects larva (crickets, millipedes, beetles and butterflies) or Wood and Bull frogs with their tadpoles. Other creatures that they eat are snails, slugs, crayfish or dead water snakes, and salamanders. As for the plants, they prefer Skunk Cabbage, Cat Tail, Duck Weed, berries, and seeds(Pond Weed or Carex).
The Bog turtle is very active from spring to fall, and hibernate during the winter. The mature turtles (3 to 4 years) hibernate underwater in deep areas of bogs in about 6 to 18 inches of mud. In the other part of the year, they usually bask as to maintain their body temperature, since the sun rises, because they are cold blooded as all reptiles. If they don’t lie in the sun, they are cold and become less active. This is why the open, sunny areas are very important for their habitat. Others activities during the day are to find food and, if necessary, find another home. Moreover, they try to find a mate to produce with.
The Bog turtle reach sexual maturity at 5 to 8 years old. They mate from April to May and lay their egs (2-6) in June or even July. They place their egs in the sunlight, in sphagnum moss or sedge tussocks areas. In most cases, the incubation lasts 7-8 weeks and the hatching occurs from June to September, but sometimes the hatching may occur after winter, when there is as abundant food supply. Many egs are usually infertile and not all females produce eggs each year.
Their life spam is up to 30-40 years, but many turtles don’t reach this age because of their prowiors ( raccoons, skunks, foxes and dogs).