r/Boxturtles

I have no idea how he got up there

Yet another little lady looking to lay her eggs in my swampy back yard. At least I assume its a female, since she is now buried about 4 inches deep, booty first, into the ground beneath a pile of yard trimmings. I now have two box turtle nests in my backyard, though the first nest is due to hatch out any day now (the ground is still intact). I'm a little concerned about the scrapes on her scutes, any idea what may have caused it? The scratches look old to me so I'm hoping they aren't impacting her quality of life. They're pretty consistent with what getting scraped by a broken fence board and most fences in my neighborhood are older, so maybe that?

My yard backs up to the Ocmulgee river shed but this is the first time the boxies have ever come this far up the hill to lay. Hopefully they're not an omen of floods to come.