The Wood turtle. A great name for a great turtle.

It is perfectly named, spending most of it's life in wooded areas.

But also a semi-aquatic turtle and dependent on rivers, streams, and ponds.

The Wood turtle is well-named due to its choice of habitat, but its genus is regarded as the "pond turtles" group.

Putting these together indicates the wood turtle is semi-aquatic, but indigenous to forested rivers and streams.

In other words, wood turtles are a bit of both worlds.

As you read through this Hub you may discover other unique features of this incredible, quick-witted turtle.

This amazingly intelligent turtle, (indeed thought to be the smartest of all turtles) likes to forage and travel around his domain by day, April to November where he omnivorously eats insects, carrion, dandelions and various succulent herbs. In the late fall, wood turtles inhabit stream banks and when the cold weather comes knocking, they hibernate in community burrows.

Wood turtle gets it's name from the 'woody' appearance of it's shell. It is easily recognized by the sculptured growth rings on each scute of its carapace. Of medium brown color the carapace also has black flecks and faint yellow rays. The plastron (underbelly) is yellowish with black patches toward the outer edges. The head of the Wood turtle is brown to black and not of a pattern, and the skin of the neck and leg varies from a pale yellow to an orange-red.

Wood turtles fall into the category of semi-aquatic and like a slower moving stream than rapidly flowing river. Wood turtles frequently bask on land and are not as visible as many water turtles such as the painted or the red-earred slider.

Females actually nest communally, quite a unique habit among turtles in general. Female wood turtles lay between three and eighteen eggs in a clutch about the middle of spring, and hatchlings emerge about sixty to seventy days later.Baby hatchlings are colored olive green to light brown with slightly longer tails than their carapaces.

The Wood turtle mates and forages in streams during late winter and early spring and as summer approaches, both females and males become very terrestrial and look for their food - fruits and berries, invertebrates, and carrion - in the stream, the floodplain as well as the adjacent uplands.

An important characteristic of the wood turtle's shell is that it is hinge-less, and hence they are unable to close the front of their shell. Because of this, the Wood is relatively defenseless as are many other turtles and tortoises, and so he has to keep a keen eye out for predators. His superior intelligence no doubt helps him in this endeavor.

This turtle has been called the “red-leg” turtle as a result of the coloration of the underside of its forelegs, which can range anywhere from bright yellow to almost red.

Wood turtles are protected in Canada, one place in which they are found, by Ontario's fish and wildlife conservation act. The species is also protected by the Convention on International Trade for endangered species which monitors international trade.

In the US Wood turtles receive varying levels of protection in most states in particular Minnesota, Wisconsin and New Jersey.

Another peculiarity of Wood turtles is that they are "cold-weather" turtles, becoming active in early spring, even while ice and snow may be around. When they wake up after hibernation they can often be found nestled among beds of Tiger Lilies with their shells completely exposed to the spring sunshine.

"My North American Wood baby did very well in a 20 gallon aquarium that had a shallow water pan (an eight-inch plant saucer that had a flat stone in it to allow him climb out) surrounded by some moss I collected from the backyard with some nice dry leaves and a piece of bark to hide under. You might like to add a thin layer of dirt under the moss to provide it some added nutrients. I enlarged the size of the water pan as little "Micro" grew up. He also had a UV-B lamp for light about 8-9 hours every day, because he was too tiny to be safe outside. After 14 months he outgrew his setup, and now is about 4 inches long, and in a more spacious cage, and I changed his name to a more grown-up name "Sparky" As a hatchling he always liked to eat in water, but as he got bigger he began to munch on dry land. As a baby he ate pillbugs and also baby Reptomin pellets in small pieces. When the can of baby Reptomin was empty he was eager for large-sized pellets.... as well as chopped up veggies, lettuce, berries, fruit, worms, slugs and eggs. Being shy, he liked to hide a lot at first, Now however he spends about half his time in the water and the other half on land,"

Wood turtles generally like to eat just about anything that is edible. In the wild they prefer worms, beetles and other insects and fish. In terms of plant life strawberries and raspberries are enjoyed.

Temperature-wise they should be kept at 70 degrees F to 80 degrees F and their water should be a tad cooler around 60F.

Your turtle should be allowed to bask under a reptile light UVA for 8 to 10 hrs a day in order to get the vitamin D that they need to be healthy.

These turtles need leafy greens (Note: Romaine, Butter lettuce. Iceberg and cabbage are bad and not advised.)



North American Wood Turtles additionally have the unique characteristic among turtles as being rather intelligent and in laboratory tests were discovered to perform as well as rats on mazes!

Yet another evidence of this reptile's intelligence is the documented fact that they use their hind legs to pound the ground in order to draw worms, (who think the pounding is the fall of water in raindrops) up to the surface in order to catch and eat the worms.  Now is that smart or what?






A special favorite of herpetologists, Wood turtles are admired not for their beauty-- it is their puppy-like nature and special personality that sets them apart from almost all other turtle species.

Breeders are having some success with this turtle and it is now possible to buy these semi -aquatic turtles from captive born stock.

If you upon a wood turtle in the wild please do NOT remove it.