Thanks for the information and photo. My older neighbour has one growing in his garden and after 15 years is finally flowering maybe the extra snow and the contining earthquakes have had something to do to it.
He's a painted/northern map turtle, genus Graptemys sp. I had one for 17 years, his name was smokey and I miss him so! I found him when I was four and he was exactly that size! Not much is known about their life history or habits, I had quite a bit of trouble finding information when he started to get sick. They are absolutely beautiful organisms and your pictures were wonderful! Thank you for bringing back some good memories.
Hi William - thanks for the clarification. Locally, in the Ozarks, a lot of people call any land turtle a "terrapin" and I've wondered about that since the guide book I have only calls them box turtles. I'll look up terrapins and read about them. We are a long way from salt water here in the hills, so I don't imagine there are any true terrapins near. Thanks again.
Lol sry was jus browsing and saw the note, terrapins are actually aquatic turtles that live in brakish or salt water :) the 3 classes of testudines are terrestrial, aquatic and terrapin and the box turtle falls under the terrestrial tortoise. Random trivial fact of the day. Take care
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing a peak into this lesser known part of the Ozarks. I hope to do some exploring myself the next time we get home. Pat and I are going to take Spock out to explore the woods.