Please help identify this baby turtle.
Posted by DarJadon Brock on May 9, 2008
Q: I saw this baby turtle roaming along the edge of my shed.I noticed a movement in the grass and thought it was a fence lizard. I was shocked to discover this quarter size, dark green, with whitish-yellow lines on the skin. There is red patch on the neck area. It had no dirt on it and no injuries. I think it might be a painted or red ear slider BUT..the closest water body is a lake a mile away. How did it get in my suburban backyard? Seems too far for a water turtle to travel to lay eggs..I have three box turtles as pets.sooo this little guy was a bonus find.
Habitat: suburban/yard
State: Arkansas
Habitat: suburban/yard
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A: Nice description of your turtle and great photos too - thanks! It's a Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta) as you suspected. I agree that a mile seems a long way from a lake but turtles can and do crawl some impressive distances at times. Females look for appropriate soil in which to deposit their eggs and my understanding is that they can go fairly large distances in that effort. Keep in mind too that any young that hatched may have moved some distance from the site and may have gone in the "wrong" direction thus making it seem even farther from the lake than it was. If you plan on keeping this turtle, hope you'll be sure to give it a varied diet to insure good nutrition. Thanks for writing.
John Wiessinger ( May 10, 2008)