Bog Turtle

Bog turtles occupy shallow wetland habitats. They are semi-aquatic, meaning sometimes they like to spend time in the water and sometimes they like to be on land or on top of hummocky vegetation above the water.  The wetlands they occupy tend to be open-canopy herbaceous sedge bogs, fens or wet meadows, meaning there aren’t a lot of trees present that shade out plants that bog turtles like, such as the tussock sedges that form hummocks used for basking and nesting, shrubby cinquefoil, poison sumac, grass-of-parnassus, and cattail, among many other plant species. 

Their preferred wetlands comprise microhabitats that bog turtles rely on for many parts of their life-cycle activities, such as foraging, nesting, basking, hibernating, and sheltering. These microhabitats are characterized by soft muddy bottoms, interspersed wet and dry pockets, vegetation dominated by low-growing grasses and sedges, and a low volume of standing or slow-moving water, which often forms a network of shallow pools and rivulets. Bog turtles prefer areas with ample sunlight,  high humidity in the near-ground microclimate, and perennial saturation of portions of the ground in which to bury themselves to get cool during hot summer months.

Bog turtles generally retreat into more densely vegetated areas (different areas than what they typically use during spring and summer months), under the roots of trees or shrubs, rock walls, or even muskrat burrows to hibernate from mid-September through mid-April (depending on latitude).

Adults can grow up to 4.5 inches in length.

Bog turtles are mostly dark brown and have a prominent orangey-yellow blotch behind and above each tympanum. A tympanum is the ear of the turtle, which looks like a circle on their head and is located behind their eye. This is generally seen as their identifying feature, but they also have flecks of orange or yellow on the head, neck and limbs. Both the carapace and plastron (the shell on their underside) are dark brown or black, but the plastron can have orangey-yellow blotches toward the tail end of it. When they are very young, they have visible growth rings, called scute annuli, on the carapace. These growth rings become harder to see as a turtle ages or they get worn over time due to turtles burrowing in gritty mud in a wetland.

Eggs are often laid in elevated areas, such as on top of hummock-forming tussock sedge about May-June (depending on latitude), and each nest has about 3-5 eggs.  Hatching begins in late August or September.

Bog turtles occupy shallow wetland habitats. They are semi-aquatic, meaning sometimes they like to spend time in the water and sometimes they like to be on land or on top of hummocky vegetation above the water.  The wetlands they occupy tend to be open-canopy herbaceous sedge bogs, fens or wet meadows, meaning there aren’t a lot of trees present that shade out plants that bog turtles like, such as the tussock sedges that form hummocks used for basking and nesting, shrubby cinquefoil, poison sumac, grass-of-parnassus, and cattail, among many other plant species. 

These wetlands comprise microhabitats that bog turtles rely on for many parts of their life-cycle activities, such as foraging, nesting, basking, hibernating, and sheltering. These microhabitats are characterized by soft muddy bottoms, interspersed wet and dry pockets, vegetation dominated by low-growing grasses and sedges, and a low volume of standing or slow-moving water, which often forms a network of shallow pools and rivulets. Bog turtles prefer areas with ample sunlight, high humidity in the near-ground microclimate, and perennial saturation of portions of the ground in which to bury themselves to get cool during hot summer months.

Bog turtles generally retreat into more densely vegetated areas (different areas than what they typically use during spring and summer months), under the roots of trees or shrubs, rock walls, or even muskrat burrows to hibernate from mid-September through mid-April, depending on latitude.