Their favorite foods are slugs, earthworms, and berries. They can eat both in and out of the water, which comes in handy during the seasonal water level fluctuations. Bog Turtles usually bask while partially hiding either under grass tussocks or with their shell barely exposed in the water. Being poor swimmers, they like the shallows that the bogs provide. Mountain bogs aren't true bogs stagnant, rainfilled bodies of water.
Mountain bogs are cool, spring-fed, sphagnum filled sedge meadows called fens.
Bog Turtles are not the only rare species found in these soggy environments. Natural forest successions and human development are increasing the rapid disappearance of these natural treasures. Beside loss of habitat, Bog Turtles have a few other things against their survival. One is that they don't reach sexual maturity until seven or eight years old. Predators like raccoons, minks, skunks, and herons can wipe out a whole nest of eggs or hatchlings in a short period of time.