Painted Turtles

This is only a summary. Painted Turtles are the most widespread turtle in North America. Their range extends from British Columbia to Nova Scotia, south to Georgia, west to Louisiana, north to Oklahoma, and nothwest to Oregon. Isolated populations can also be found in the southwest. Painted Turtles have an olive or black shell without any keels. The scute seams are bordered with olive, yellow, or red markings. All Painted turtles have red bars or crescents on the marginal scutes. The plastron is yellow with or without markings. Painted turtles have red and yellow stripes on their neck, legs, and tail. They reach a size of 4-9 1/2 inches (10-25 cm), with the females getting larger than the males. There are a number of subspecies. Young Painted Turtles are carnivorous, but become more herbivorous as they mature. In captivity, adult Painted Turtles must be offered vegetables frequently. Because of the wide range of the Painted Turtle, it is a hardy, easy to keep species. Painted Turtles make good pets, and they can get quite tame. They can be kept outdoors in ponds within their range, or indoors. Refer to the Water Turtle Care sheets for information on how to keep water turtles. The instructions in there apply to painted turtles. Painted turtle eggs incubate an average of 10-11 weeks, but variation is considerable, depending on temperature. Note: At incubations temperatures of 24-28 CELSIUS only males are produced. At an incubation temperature of 30C, 96 percent of hatchlings are female. Some other reptiles also have temperature-dependent gender of hatchlings.