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Reptiles of the United States
Snakes of the U.S.

Painted Turtle ()


Adult Size: 4" to 10"

Description: The carapace is olive or black, oval, smooth, flattened, unkeeled, and the scute seams are bordered with olive, yellow, or red. There are red bars or crescents on the marginal scutes. The plastron is yellow, unpatterned or intricately marked. There are yellow and red stripes on the neck, legs, and tail. The upper jaw is notched.

Habitat: Slow moving shallow streams, rivers, and lakes. Likes soft bottoms with vegetation and half submerged logs.

Breeding: Mests in May to July. In the north females lay 1 to 2 clutches a year, in the south 2 to 4 clutches are laid. Typically there are 4 to 20 elliptical eggs that are 1¼" long. The eggs are laid into a flask shaped cavity that is about 4" deep. hatchlings in the north may overwinter in the nest. Incubation averages 10 to 11 weeks. Males mature in 2 to 5 years while females mature in 4 to 8 years.

Range: British Columbia to Nova Scotia, south to Georgia, west to Louisiana, north to Oklahoma, and northwest to Oregon. Isolated populations in the Southwest.

Diet: Young turtles are basically carnivorous, but become more herbivorous as they mature.

Behavior: It is fond of basking and often dozens can be observed on a single log.

Video

Conservation Status:

Additonal Notes: The most widespread turtle in North America.

Subspecies: Four in our range.
Specimens from areas where ranges of subspecies overlaps display an intergration of characteristics.

Eastern Painted Turtle(C.p. picta) - the vertebral and costal scute seams align and the plastron is yellow and unpatterned. Found in southeastern Canada through New England and the Atlantic coastal states to northern Georgia and eastern Alabama. Photo...

Midland Painted Turtle(C.p. marginata) - the vertebral and costal scutes do not align and the plastron is yellow with a dark blotch in the center. Found in southern Quebec and southern Ontario to Tennessee. Photo...

Southern Painted Turtle(C.p. dorsalis) - a red or yellow stripe down the carapace, and the plastron is yellow and not patterned. Found in southern Illinois to the Gulf, southeastern Oklahoma to central Alabama. Photo...

Western Painted Turtle(C.p. belli) - the largest subspecies, with netlike lines on the carapace, bars on the marginals, and an intricate branching pattern on the plastron. Found in southwestern Ontario south to Missouri and west to Oregon and British Columbia, with isolated populations on the Southwest. Photo...

 
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