Turtles Living In and Around the Cacapon River
Turtles Living In and Around the Cacapon River
by Don Robinson
We often see many turtles basking in the sun on logs or perhaps the riverbank as we canoe the deeper pools of the Cacapon from Spring through Autumn. This brief article is to give a description of each species and try to make it so that you can recognize by sight which of the turtles you are observing.
The Box turtle Terrapene carolina does not spend time in the water or basking. You see these often crossing the roadway in the spring. The Box turtle is territorial, with a territory from 2 to 10 acres. Some, however, seem to be free spirits, and roam to other areas in search of a mate and a home. I should quickly mention that the sex of a turtle can easily be determined by observing the concavity of the 'plastron', or the bottom part of the shell. If the plastron is concave, then you are looking at a boy. That seems less personal than looking around the turtle's anatomy, and is good enough for me. If not for the concavity, the mating would not work very well, as the male gets on top while both partners face the floor. The Box turtle is generally dark brown or black in color, quite rounded, with a pattern of yellow and sometimes orange spots on the 'carapace', or upper part of the shell. This is the only turtle that can pull his head and feet completely inside the 'house'. When we rescue them from the highway, they usually do this with a hissing sound of escaping air from the frightened animal's lungs. The bottom part of the shell is called the 'plastron' and is generally yellowish or brownish orange. They have alert red eyes if they are healthy. They eat snails and worms, mostly but like people need vegetative matter in their diet as well. Some people keep them as pets, as they are intelligent and do respond to their keepers. Since their numbers are in decline, I don't keep them as pets but my wife and I can often be seen stopped along the highway getting the 'roaming' turtles to the safety of the berm. They can live 50 to 100 years.
The rest of these are true turtles, so expect to see them in or near the water.
Wood Turtles Clemmys insculpta are in the southernmost part of their range in the Cacapon, and are considered endangered in the Eastern panhandle of West Virginia, but the Cacapon still seems to have a good many of them. They can be recognized by the orange color of the feet and neck and yellow plastron. These are rather docile, and not prone to attack if disturbed. I was able to rescue a few when some ignorant old fisherman left a series of baited floats in the river one Autumn a few years ago. The main catch was Wood Turtles, and not the desired catfish, snappers or eels. At any rate, that's not a sporting way to fish or hunt turtles. They grow to about 9 inches long. This like the other turtles hibernates in water, burrowing into the mud somewhere. When mating, the male and female approach each other with necks extended. When they get within inches, they lower the heads as swing them for about three hours without stopping. I can't help but chuckle that turtles also get involved with 'necking' before they mate. I hope I get to observe that some day. These turtles are 'omnivorous', eating both plant and animal material such as moss, grass, bugs, tadpoles, berries, worms and slugs. They can be found on land except in spring and fall 'necking', foraging, and laying eggs.
Painted Turtles Chrysemys picta have beautifully colored plastrons, with red spots on the outer edge of the carapace, both above and below. They are small, maybe to about 4-10 inches around. I often confuse them with the slightly larger sliders. There is a yellow stripe down the middle of plastron and around the shell plates. They too hibernate at the bottom of the ponds and slow sections of rivers where they live. The plastron is usually bright yellow and the head streaked with yellow with red stripes on tail, neck and legs. They eat insects, snails, and bits of water plants.
The Slider Chrysemys scripta is the turtle that used to be kidnapped and painted brightly and sold at the old time five and dime stores. The slider has two red or yellow 'ears' (really just spots) on the sides of the striped head. They grow to 5-12 inches, with the female being larger than the male. The young are carnivorous, but they become vegetarian mostly when they age. There are really two species: Trachemys scripta, or yellow-bellied and one that is red-eared Chrysemys scripta elegans.
The Stinkpot Sternotherus odoratusis is a type of musk turtle that truly earns it's name. As a defense, the stinkpot releases a foul-odored musk when harassed by a predator. These are relatively nasty, and I wouldn't recommend catching one unless you are careful with your fingers, and they will bite. The head can stretch out from the body quite far. I often see these from my dock, swimming along the bottom, and are often covered with algae and mud. If they don't move, it is next to impossible to see them. I saw one with a missing foot in the small pond near my camp recently. From that you can deduce that they are 'nasty' because they can't get their entire body closed up inside the shell.
The Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle Trionyx spiniferus spiniferus could live in the Cacapon basin, but I've never seen one there. In fact I've only seen one in the wild during my entire life, and that was in the Middle Fork of the South Branch of the Potomac (aren't some river names in West Virginia a bit long?) when I was about 12 or 13 years old. Female shells are up to 18 inches long, with the male being half that size. They would be easy to recognize, as the olive-gray shell is like a spotted pancake, and the tube-like snout is quite distinctive. If you or anyone you know has seen one in the Cacapon, please let me know via email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . To find a picture, copy the genus/species above and paste into a search engine's window. Don't try to catch one, since the spines sticking out of the edge of the shell could injure you.
The Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina is the largest turtle you'll likely ever see in the Cacapon. One of these could weigh over 30 pounds, and have a huge head and powerful jaws, and like the other water turtles, can live for 30 or more years. Don't ever take chances with these critters, they bite and maim. They have pronounced ridges on their carapace. I liken their shell to a gladiator's helmet. You won't often see these basking on the bank or a log, but they spend much time hiding under banks and in holes. They sit on the bottom motionless and try to catch what they can. They will also scavenge. They eat fish, amphibians, and whatever they can catch. I've seen them in the water with their head down scouring crayfish from under rocks. I've observed fishermen leaving a stringer full of fish attached to their boat or dock and coming back to find only a few heads left after a snapper has visited. I confess, if a stringer is deserted by its owner, I usually let the fish go, since the snappers will be the ones dining anyway. Hope that didn't ever bother too many fishermen! They also have a small plastron and hibernate under water. They are aggressive as a defense, since they can't pull back into their shell like other turtles. I saw this turtle described as a size 10 turtle with a size 6 shell on a website. Some people I know dress like that. Do not attempt to catch a snapping turtle! They can reach around to almost everywhere on their body with their long neck and bite you, and the bite is severe, including possible loss of fingers or toes. I once got out of my car to take one off the road up in Pocahontas, Pennsylvania, and grabbed it by the back of the shell. I saw it going for my hand when I dropped it without ceremony on the berm. It crawled away to a nearby stream.
There is another species of snapping turtle called the Alligator Snapping Turtle Macroclemys temminckii that lives in the Mississippi basin. Note, these DON'T live in the Cacapon, sorry. They can grow to over 200 pounds, and are the largest freshwater turtle. A PBS show I once watched talked about a man who once hunted Alligator Snappers and has become so impressed by their longevity and scarceness that he now is a conservationist regarding this creature. He found a 'minie' ball from the civil war era in one of these turtles, and the turtle's longevity so impressed him that he could hunt them no more. These live a long time, longer than humans. The last Civil War veteran died in 1955, but some Alligator Snapping turtles live on.