Blue Ridge Wildlife Center Patient of the Week: Woodland Box Turtle

Sometimes the healing process takes time… not a problem for this woodland box turtle, who was admitted to the Center in September after suffering a spinal fracture caused by a lawnmower incident.

Photo / Blue Ridge Wildlife Center

On intake, she could not use her hind legs to walk, but as she still had some movement in those legs, we were hopeful she could recover. Throughout the fall, she received daily physical therapy to stretch her hind legs and encourage their use.

It took three months in care for her to start weakly placing her legs – an exciting improvement! So we began hydrotherapy by placing her in water to get some of the weight off her legs, encouraging exercise and use.

Six months into care, her hind leg use improved immensely! That may seem like a long time, but for a box turtle who could live to be over 100 years old, it’s not such a big deal. Sometimes a successful recovery is slow and steady.

Check out her progress in this video, and subscribe to Blue Ridge Wildlife Center’s YouTube Channel so you don’t miss out on other videos like this:

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Did you know that turtles brumate? (Brumation in reptiles is similar to hibernation in mammals.) In our area, wild turtles brumate in the fall and winter months which is why the law in Virginia does not allow rehabilitators to release reptile patients between October 1 – April 30. So any turtle we couldn’t release before October, or who came to us within that time, has overwintered with us at the Center. We keep them in a warm and humid room so they don’t fall into brumation and can continue to be rehabbed. We expect our featured woodland box turtle will be ready for release in May!