Alternate name: Red-eared Slider, Pond Slider, Yellow-bellied Slider
Family: Emydidae, Pond and Box Turtles view all from this family
Description 5-11 3/8" (12.7-28.9 cm). The "dime store" turtle. Prominent yellow, orange, or red blotch or stripe behind eyes. Carapace oval, weakly keeled, olive to brown, with pattern ranging from yellow bars and stripes to reticulations and eyelike spots. Plastron yellow, plain to intricately patterned. Undersurface of chin rounded. V-shaped notch at front of upper jaw not flanked by cusps. With age, pattern and head blotch may become masked by black pigment, making identification difficult.
Subspecies Yellow-bellied (T. s. scripta), with conspicuous vertical yellow blotch behind eye, vertical yellowish bar on each costal scute, and dark round smudges on forward part of plastron; se. Virginia to n. Florida.
Red-eared (T. s. elegans), with wide red stripe behind eye, dark smudge on each plastron scute; Maryland; West Virginia to Mississippi Valley from n. Illinois to Gulf and west across most of Texas and into New Mexico.
Cumberland (T. s. troostii), upper portions of Cumberland and Tennessee River valleys from se. Kentucky and sw. Virginia to ne. Alabama.
Breeding Mates March to June. Nests June to July. Lays 1-3 clutches of 4-23 oval eggs, 1 3/8" (37 mm) long, in nest cavity 1-4" (2.5-10.2 cm) deep, which may be located some distance from water. Hatchlings emerge in 2-2 1/2 months, but often overwinter in nest. Males mature in 2-5 years.
Similar Species The Big Bend Slider (T. gaigeae), formerly considered a subspecies of T. scripta, is similar but has a large black-bordered orange spot on each side of the head, a small orange spot behind each eye, and a netlike pattern on the carapace; it lives in the Big Bend region of Texas and adjacent Mexico and in the Rio Grande Valley in southern New Mexico.
Habitat Sluggish rivers, shallow streams, swamps, ponds, and lakes with soft bottoms and dense vegetation.
Range Se. Virginia to n. Florida west to New Mexico, south into Mexico.
Discussion Fond of basking, Sliders are often seen stacked one upon another on a favorite log. The young eat water insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and tadpoles, then turn to a plant diet as they mature. Millions have been raised on turtle farms and sold as pets. Few have survived to adulthood.
