The bog turtle is among the smallest North American turtles. A large red-orange or yellow blotch behind each eye is the most conspicuous color feature of an otherwise brown body lightly marked with orange or yellow. Mating takes place in May and early June. Each female then digs a nest and lays a clutch of three to five eggs during June or July.
Eggs receive no parental care, and hatchlings leave the nest several months later.
Adults and young feed on a variety of plant and animal food, such as berries, insects and even carrion. They do not wander far from hibernating sites in spring seepage, which they leave in April or May and return to in late summer. When danger threatens, individuals burrow rapidly into the mucky bottom of spring runs. Bog turtles live in relatively open portions of sphagnum bogs, swamps or marshy meadows with slow moving, spring fed streams or spring runs with soft bottoms. The primary reason for the bog turtle's status is the draining or other destruction of its habitat.