Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The zoo where I volunteer has two eastern box turtles in the herp building, and two that are outside in the warmer weather. The ones that were outside have recently been brought inside.

Well, with the ones inside, the male frequently tries to mate with the females. He puts his hind feet on the inside of the back plastron and tries to mount the female. Then, I think almost every time, the female closes the shell, and the male is stuck with his feet stuck in the female, lying on the rear part of his back. It's really quite funny to observe.

If you mean like this, that's just the normal way they mate. The male only needs to get his back feet hooked into the right spot to gain access. They don't have much use for their front feet except for balance in the biginning of the process.

Sounds to me like they're mating.

But the female's plaston is CLOSED, and the male's penis is not inserted.

It's part of the mating behavior. If I remmeber correctly, the reason the males put their toes inside the shell is to attempt to prevent the female from closing it all the way so the male can mate.

With this pair, the mating NEVER gets completed. The male never inserts his penis.

I'm surprised no one seems familiar with this sort of thing happening. I mentioned it to Jim Harding, and he said it happens fairly often.

I quote from Amphibians and Reptiles of the Great Lakes Region (by Jim Harding), in the section on box turtles: "Copulation can only occur when the female opens her rear plastral lobe and the male assumes a vertical postion".

In the pair I describe, the female's rear plastral lobe never opens.