As soon as these little guys' first cracks a hole in it's egg it gets a sight of the world, it's about the size of a quarter. They might spend several days peeking out from inside the egg, but once they leave the egg you will notice an "Egg Tooth" and a "Yoke Sack".

The egg tooth is a sharp peace at the end of the nose they use to crack open the egg, it will go away after a week or two. And the yoke sack is on their navel area that they absorb the last bit of nutrients from for the first several days of life, it will soon shrivel up and fall off on its own.

In the wild a hatchling will either stay in its egg and winter over, or wander out and hide under a pile of leaves or grass, they sit and wait for bugs to crawl by as their food source, and stay there for a year or so. Most hatchlings do not live to be adults because they are discovered or stepped on by other animals. From one wild mother, only 3 out of every 100 hatchlings will survive.

Hatchlings in captivity are very active, moving around their home and eating every day. They are very carnivorous the first years of their life and might not eat the other food you provide for several weeks or even months.

(Click Here for more information on the hatching process)
(Or Click Here for information on Hatchling Housing)

It's been a year since their arrival and they are a little bigger than they once were. Their markings have changed and they each very in personality and size.

At this age it is important that yearlings get the care and attention they require to grow up properly with no deformities. Sometimes you will need to separate the big from the small because of aggression, this is how turtles lose toenails and even get flesh wounds.

However turtle's kept together from the same clutch often do fine, if you include a new hatchling from another clutch, that is a ticket to injuries and illnesses!

(Click Here for information on Indoor Habitats for hatchlings and yearlings)

The 3rd year of life thru the 8th-10th year is the Juvenile Stage in life. The first year of being juveniles they will double in size and continue to grow until achieving adult hood. Juveniles begin to like plant matter, develop their permanent markings for life, and their hinge becomes functional.

Around the 5th to 6th year you will be able to tell the sex of some of the larger juveniles. The tail will begin to show signs if it is male or female, and soon the skin and eyes will change to back that theory up.

(Click Here for information on what makes a turtle male or female)
(Or Click Here for information on Sexing Box Turtles)

If your turtle is a decent size and very active and healthy it may be time to put your turtles into an enclosed outdoor pen. It's always healthier with some fresh air and sunshine!

At this time I have no care sheet or article about pens, but I plan to build my own and share the process next year.

(If you have any questions about Box Turtle Pens you could try posting a topic on TT - Turtle Forums!)

For males, they reach sexual maturity at 8 years old, and females after 10 years. Most adult turtles are 4 inches long or bigger, for some species the shell can reach up to 8 inches long.

Adults should live outside the remainder of their life, with other turtles of the same species. Their diet is now 40% plant matter and 60% animal matter.

Adults in the wild can have territory range up to a mile. With roads cutting between their territories they are forced to cross them which is why you see so many road-kills, and the box turtle species decreases in numbers. You might think you see box turtles everyday in the wild, but what you don't know is that it is the same handful of box turtles, not a different, fully grown one every time.

When two sexually mature turtles come across each other, and the conditions are right, mating may accrue and the process of life starts all over again!

(Click Here for more Information on the Courtship of adult box turtles.)