Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there:

I discovered this Eastern box turtle last week in the woods of Southeastern Ohio. He was not even hiding. Instead, he was out in the open, hiding inside his shell. We waited a long time till he came out. We counted the rings on his shell to find that he was about 22 years old.

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DAVE

Western green toad
green treefrogs
green Anole
brown Anole
Mediterranean gecko
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South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
Spanish ribbed newt
rough-skinned newt
golden Axolotl
Eastern ribbon snakes
red-cheeked mud turtles
dwarf peacock day gecko
Dubia day gecko
Sonoran gopher snake
rough green snakes
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yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
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fire salamander

yea that ring thing is an urbin leaguened its not true. u can not tell how old a turtle is by the number of rings they have.

CrazyCody

Hi there:

You are correct. You cannot tell the exact age of a turtle by the number of rings on its shell. You can, however, get a pretty good idea of its age. I recall hearing somewhere that everytime a turtles shell "sheds"' or peals, a new ring forms. Of course they do not do this once a yer. That is like the superstition of telling how old a rattlesnake is by counting its rattles.
These turtles peel a few times a year. Of course I could never tell its exact age, but I could make a pretty close estimate by counting the rings, and guessing about how many times the average box turtle's shell peels per year.
My counting was a little off, but still, seeing lots of rings probably does indeed indicate that the turtle is older, than if it had, let's say one ring.

DAVE
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DAVE

Western green toad
green treefrogs
green Anole
brown Anole
Mediterranean gecko
Oriental fire-bellied toads
American bullfrog
South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
Spanish ribbed newt
rough-skinned newt
golden Axolotl
Eastern ribbon snakes
red-cheeked mud turtles
dwarf peacock day gecko
Dubia day gecko
Sonoran gopher snake
rough green snakes
giant African black millipedes
White's treefrog
Okeetee corn snake
Albino African clawed frog
Pygmy leaf chameleon
Kenyan sand boa
Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
African bullfrog
yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
Western hognose snake
fire salamander

The rings are not formed by shedding. Box turtles don't shed their scutes, not normally, anyway. They're formed during periods of growth when new segments of the scutes/shell form. If the turtle doesn't eat for a while, the shell will stop growing. Once the shell starts growing again, a new ring will form. If this happened consistently once a year, you could make an accurate estimate of a turtles age. However, it's not that consistent, and once a turtle stops/slows growing, it's useless.

Hi there:

Thanks for the info. I searched for information about a turtles rings, which was very hard to locate. Almost all of it was superstition. With these little facts that very few people take the time to think about, it can be hard to believe, and with everyone saying something different, it can be a difficult task locating a reliable source, even for a herpetologist. You seem pretty reliable, so I am sticking with what you said. Thanks for actually knowing the real answer. Now if only more people could understand abou that rattle tale...
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DAVE

Western green toad
green treefrogs
green Anole
brown Anole
Mediterranean gecko
Oriental fire-bellied toads
American bullfrog
South American caecilian (Dermophis occidentalis)
Spanish ribbed newt
rough-skinned newt
golden Axolotl
Eastern ribbon snakes
red-cheeked mud turtles
dwarf peacock day gecko
Dubia day gecko
Sonoran gopher snake
rough green snakes
giant African black millipedes
White's treefrog
Okeetee corn snake
Albino African clawed frog
Pygmy leaf chameleon
Kenyan sand boa
Argentine flame-bellied toadlet
African bullfrog
yellow * Everglades rat snake intergrade
Western hognose snake
fire salamander

Let me add a little more confusion to the mix.
As a turtle ages, the rings eventually grow so close together that you can't tell them apart on the edges of the scute. I've heard a couple of box turtle researchers say that they use ring growth as an indicator of age (only an indicator, not an exact science), but that after 20, it becomes increasingly difficult to count the rings accurately.

Now, take a really old turtle into consideration. As the turtle ages, the wear and tear of daily life takes it's toll on the shell, and wears it down. You have probably found some turtles that have parts of the scutes worm smooth If you're lucky, you've found one that is totally smooth - what I like to call "an ancient" (and I've been watching too much Farscape!). How long must a turtle live to have worn the shell smooth? One old Malaysian I took in was so smooth that you couldn't tell where one scute began and another ended. Just thinking about how such an old soul ended up thousands of miles from his native habitat made my head hurt. I'm sure living conditions determine how fast a shell wears, and some very old looking turtles might be relatively young, just have a lot of wear, but it does give you an idea of how much living a turtle has done! I've heard that Malaysians live about 30 years, but I have a hard time believing that a shell can smooth down like that - and in a mostly aquatic turtle, no less - in just 30 years.

Katrina