Herps in Maryland?

[Vicious_Fish]

Ok, here are some pics to help distinguish the sexes.

Female Terrapene carolina carolina have higher domed shells then males along with a very flat plastron with little to no concaveness to it. This female of mine has the typical brown eyes of this species but I have found females with yellow to reddish brown eyes.





Side shot showing the flatness of the plastron.



Males have a less domed shell than the females and their shells are a little more elongated. The plastron has a strong inner concave to it for balancing on the female when breeding. Most males have pink, orange or red eyes and sometimes their skin can be more brightly colored than the females.





An ok side shot showing the concaved plastron.

 

[rrcoolj]

Ahhh I see. Water turtles must have drastically less of the concove shape to thier plastron because I have never seen one with that much of an indent.

Oh and beautiful turtles.

 

[manlyfish]

ya know box turtles are like threatened and illegal to take?

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Ahhh I see. Water turtles must have drastically less of the concove shape to thier plastron because I have never seen one with that much of an indent.

Oh and beautiful turtles.

Yep, they definitely don't have as much of a concaveness to the plastron as Terrapene carolina. And thanks for the compliment.

ya know box turtles are like threatened and illegal to take?

Are you referring to me? Thanks for the heads up but I've had the proper paper work to keep these guys for well over a decade.