Types of Painted Turtles: A Rainbow Of Color

Painted turtles are, as the name indicates, very colorful creatures. With their vivid splashes of red, yellow, orange, ochre, tan, olive, black, and white, they are the show-offs of the turtle world. The skin of the head, neck, and legs is usually the most colorful part of the animal. Coloring on the shell may be bright when young but will tend to fade and wear as the individual turtle gets older.

Eastern Painted Turtle

The Painted Turtle – Where Does It Live?

This turtle is the most widely distributed of all the North American turtle species. It can be found from the Atlantic coast to the Pacific coast and from the north of Mexico to the south of Canada. It can be found in forty-five out of the fifty states, as well as in Canada and Mexico.

The painted turtle family has proved to be able to withstand pollution, urban sprawl, habitat loss, hunting, capture for the pet trade, interbreeding, human predation, climate change, and more. As such, it is not considered to be endangered overall in North America, although in some areas specific populations may be at risk or even endangered. In fact, the painted turtle is probably the most common turtle in the entire United States.

Western painted turtle

The Western Painted Turtle – Chrysemys picta belli

These are the largest of the painted turtles, and they grow up to 10″ in length. Males weigh around eleven ounces when fully grown, females around eighteen ounces. They are the official state reptile of Colorado and can live for as many as fifty years.

In color, the carapace is dark brown or black with a pattern of thin net-like lines. The plastron is red, with an area of orange and green markings in the center of this lower shell. The skin of their head, neck, and legs is brown with yellow patterning. The males can be identified by their thicker, longer tails and longer claws.

The western painted turtle can be found in twenty-three states, as well as Canada, and they are the most widely distributed of the painted turtle family. Like all the other painted turtles, they enjoy relatively shallow, clean, slow-moving water, and a habitat that has plenty of vegetation. In contrast to the other sub-species, that don’t tolerate higher elevations well, the western painted turtle can be found as high up as 6,000 feet above sea level.

Diet

They are omnivores, eating as much as 60% of their diet in the form of insects, small fish, and crustaceans. Their diet changes with the season, and they eat a little more vegetable matter in the winter months when their usual diet is not as available.

Western painted turtle females can lay up to a dozen eggs at a time, as many as five times a year. This high reproduction rate is no doubt a factor in the success of the sub-species, along with adaptability to environmental changes.

Southern painted turtle

The Southern Painted Turtle – Chrysemys picta dorsalis

The Southern painted turtle is the smallest of the subspecies. It grows to around six inches, and it is recognized by a very clear red line that runs along the length of the top of the carapace. The plastron is a plain light brown or tan in color. The legs and head have wavy red and yellow markings.

These turtles can live to be fifty years old. The female only lays around 4 eggs at a time, and the incubation time is around 75 days. Like all painted turtles, the southern painted turtle likes lazy, slow-moving waters. Ponds, creeks, marshes, and swamps are home to this species, and they enjoy basking in the sun, either partly submerged or on a log or a convenient flat rock.

Where, Though?

This turtle has a range from Missouri, along the Mississippi River Valley, west towards Texas, and in the southeast of Oklahoma. You can find it throughout Louisiana, down to the Gulf of Mexico. To the east, it reaches to western Tennessee and throughout most of Alabama.

This turtle shows a distinct change in diet from youth to age. As youngsters, southern painted turtles eat around 88% animal protein, mainly in the form of plankton. As they age, this percentage decreases to about 18%, as their diet switches to duckweed and algae. It’s thought that the adults simply can’t get enough food from just tiny plankton. As well as vegetation, adults eat aquatic insects, such as dragonflies and dragonfly larvae.

Midland painted turtle

The Midland Painted Turtle – Chrysemys picta marginata

The Midland painted turtle grows to between 4″ and 7″ long, with the females being slightly larger than the males. They can live to be forty years of age. The carapace, or upper shell, ranges in color from green through brown to black. It might display red blotches, lines, or bars. The plastron is usually light yellow in color, and on close inspection, you can see a darker strip running along the middle of the shell.

The skin of the Midland painted turtle can be pale green all the way through to black. The front legs show broad red stripes, and the head and neck have yellow markings. Look for a yellow line running behind the eyes as a good means of identification. Altogether, he’s a very handsome fellow. The females lay clutches of up to ten eggs at a time, which take around eighty days to incubate.

Activities

These turtles love to swim, and they enjoy medium-depth water with a soft bottom. They can be found in slow-moving coves and along shorelines as well as marshes, slow-moving streams, and swamps. They enjoy living in places where there is lots of dense vegetation. Waters that are choked with vegetation due to fertilizer runoff prove to be a happy hunting ground for the Midland painted turtle, which seems to be quite tolerant of pollution.

They are omnivores, but they eat mostly aquatic insects and vegetation. This subspecies of painted turtle can be found from the south of Quebec all the way down to Northern Alabama.

Eastern Painted Turtle

The Eastern Painted Turtle – Chrysemys picta picta

The Eastern painted turtle grows to between 4″ and 7″ long. The females are usually larger than the males, to accommodate egg production. They have a slightly flattened carapace (upper shell) which is greenish brown in color, and which has yellow and red striped markings. Look for straight lines running across the carapace as an aid to identification. The plastron, or lower shell, is yellow in color, sometimes with a suggestion of red or brown.

These turtles can live for up to forty years of age. They are egg layers, laying up to ten eggs at a time. Their eggs take between 72 and 80 days to incubate and then hatch.

What Does The Eastern Painted Turtle Like?

The Eastern painted turtle prefers to spend most of its time in the water, and it prefers slow-moving, shallow, rivers. It also likes ponds, swamps, and marches, and it can even tolerate slight brackish or mildly salty water. They are strong swimmers, and if you keep them as pets, they need plenty of water to swim in and enjoy.

They do love to bask in the sun, and it is not uncommon to see groups of these turtles sunbathing together by the side of the water on flat rocks or logs. These turtles like to live in places where there is lots of vegetation, making for good ambush spots and places to hide.

As this turtle can be found in cold parts of North America, it isn’t unexpected that they hibernate in the winter. Being cold-blooded, they can burrow down and live in suspended animation, without oxygen, for long periods of time, until the warmer weather comes.

They are omnivores, eating more protein when young, and a little more vegetation as they get older. They are known to eat injured or dead fish, as well as aquatic insects.

Where Does The Eastern Painted Turtle Call Home?

From as far south as Georgia all the way up to Canada, and west out to the Appalachian Mountains – that’s where the eastern painted turtle calls home. In the places where it adjoins the homeland of other painted turtle species, it intermixes and hybridizes. This is especially true in the northeast but is less so in the southeast, where mountains separate the subspecies.

The Conservancy Status of Painted Turtles

Painted turtles are considered to be “Demonstrably widespread”: – that is, they are not under threat, although individual populations might be threatened. Their wide range, high reproductive rate, and ability to adapt to a variety of environments mean that they can hold their own against any number of threats.

Here are some of the factors that may put the painted turtle under threat:

  • Habitat loss. This includes draining of wetlands, the pollution of waterways, clearing of banks and waterside areas leading to loss of basking sites, human presence, in the form of pedestrians using waterside footpaths, and creating a disturbance.
  • Pollution. Although painted turtles have shown a certain adaptability and tolerance of some types of pollution, pouring poisons into our waterways is not a long term plan for conservation of any species.
  • Roadkill. Turtles are slow-moving and dark in color, making them vulnerable to being killed on the road. They may also be perceived as not worth avoiding. If you see a turtle on the road, and it is safe to stop, do so, and move the turtle onto the side of the road where it was heading.
  • Introduced species. Predators that will eat hatchlings, such as snapping turtles, bass, and bullfrogs have been introduced, deliberately or accidentally, into painted turtle habitats. It’s not certain of the effect that these have had, but studies are being undertaken to evaluate any effects, so that if necessary vulnerable local populations can be protected.
  • Agricultural machinery. Large-scale agriculture requires large machines for planting and harvesting. These can damage nesting sites, as the operators are unable to see nests from their high elevation.
  • Small machines. Lawnmowers and all-terrain vehicles are also thought to destroy turtle nests if used thoughtlessly.
  • Boating and fishing. Turtles are frequently killed by boats, especially high-speed boats. They also take anglers’ bait and are killed by the hook or entanglement in the line. At a minimum, keeping low speeds in restricted areas, and the careful disposal of hooks, especially baited hooks, and fishing line, is a necessity for protecting turtles and many other forms of wildlife.

Into the Wild

Pet turtles being released into the wild. Interestingly, this is thought to be an issue, as native populations may breed with introduced painted turtles that have poor genetics or diseases. For a wealth of information on the conservation statues of turtles, check out the Nature Conservancy website.

Keeping a Painted Turtle as a Pet

Their good looks make painted turtles popular as pets, and it’s certainly a pleasure to watch them in an aquarium home. They are not aggressive by nature, but they don’t like to be handled, so avoid this as much as you can. They are easily available in pet stores, although you should be sure that you are buying captive-bred animals and not turtles taken from the wild. Unlike some turtles, painted turtles are affordable, although the cost of setting up a suitable environment can be quite a consideration for the young owner.

The Painted Turtle Environment

Painted turtles need at least a seventy-five-gallon tank, and as much as a 125-gallon tank if you plan on keeping the larger Western painted turtles. They need clean, well-filtered water, with a temperature of around 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit. The air temperature in the tank should be 80 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit, and they need a basking spot of 90 degrees Fahrenheit, which should be supplied by a special lamp that produces the right kind of UV rays that turtles need for their health. Create a basking area with a flat rock or a log, and you will be able to enjoy watching your turtle sunning himself. You should supply your tank with vegetation that can be used for hiding and also as a food source. Create an underwater cave for your turtle to hide out in if he feels like it.

Feeding Your Pet Painted Turtle

You can feed your painted turtle with proprietary turtle food from the pet store. Be sure to follow feeding instructions carefully. If you can include some fresh food in your pet’s diet, that will be appreciated. It will keep your animal healthy. It isn’t usually necessary to feed your turtle every day. Do be sure to clear up any leftover food to keep the tank environment clean and healthy.

Turtle Friends And Relatives

You can mix species of turtle together. Red-eared sliders, for example, will live happily with painted turtles. You should only have one male in your aquarium, as more than one male in a small space means fighting! You can of course have a group of peace loving females together, and it is fun to watch them interact. For more information on how to care for painted turtles as pets, this is a good source of information.

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