THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 10, 1995 TAG: 9502100516
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: GUY FRIDDELL
LENGTH: Medium: 63 lines
It was no walkaway for the timber rattlesnake when the House of Delegates picked it as the state reptile. The rattler had competition from the box turtle.
The box turtle, which is truly more of a tortoise in preferring to live, largely, on land, had a fluent advocate in House Majority Leader Richard Cranwell of Roanoke.
Cranwell's encomium on the box turtle is one of the better speeches thus far in the General Assembly.
His remarks offered relief from the acrimonious exchanges over Gov. Allen's fiscal program.
On behalf of the Virginia Herpetological Society, friend of the box turtle, Cranwell said:
``The box turtle is more indicative of Virginia. They are slow and they are sure. They win the race by consistency and persistence. They have a nice hard shell so they can take a lot of battering and still proceed with the race.''
For another thing, the box turtle makes a far better pet than does a rattlesnake.
And it has a varied, easily supplied diet, says David Liebman, a friend who owns two box turtles.
``Each individual box turtle tends to have a slightly different preference in food - from lettuce to strawberries, from tomatoes to slugs,'' Liebman said Thursday.
Because of the box turtle's fondness for slugs, it is good to have around the garden. It also eats earthworms, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles and grubs.
It is about the size of half a cantaloupe and bears on its back a shell of a mottled yellow and brown pattern. For protection, it can close its pliable front flap.
Unlike the snapping turtle, which, legend says, after it bites you will not let go until it thunders, the box turtle is not disposed to bite at all except when in pursuit of its natural diet.
You may get nipped slightly by accident, Liebman said, if the box turtle is hungry. His vision is deficient, but once he realizes you are not on his menu, he lets go.
Once, a box turtle made a home in our back yard. It would amble out of the brush, making its way through pine straw like a miniature tank, and munch on the remains of cantaloupe, a Harper melon from Williams Farm. Then it would depart.
It was calm, inoffensive, not the sort to have offered Adam and Eve an apple in Eden.
Which brings up the snake again. Resse F. Lukei Jr. of Virginia Beach questions my estimate at having encountered an 8-foot timber rattler.
``It may have SEEMED to have been eight-foot; however, the record length for a timber rattlesnake is 74 inches,'' he writes. ``Perhaps you should have caught and measured that monster for the record book!''
I started to write 6-foot, thought maybe it hit 7-foot, but settled on 8-foot as sounding more authoritative. I'm glad to hear what the record is - or was, for who knows what tomorrow will bring. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo - and turtle - courtesy of David Liebman.
by CNB