The Painted Turtle

The Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) is a true turtle, common in Canada, the US and the northern parts of Mexico.
It lives in ponds, lakes, marshes and is common to see along the roadside sunning itself in the summer months in the United States.

The shell length for adult turtles is about 10 inches long, so the turtle is not large in size.

chrysemys picta painted turtle plastron The Painted Turtle

Shell of the painted Turtle

The shell on the turtle is used for protection from other predators.The bottom of the shell of the Painted Turtle has a lovely design that looks as though it has been hand painted.
It is orange or yellow in color, and may vary in the pattern.The skin of the painted turtle can vary from deep green to black in color, or a lighter olive green.

Painted turtles hibernate in the winter time and are among the animals that have been known to survive longer than any other vertebrate without oxygen, sometimes surviving up to five months.

When they emerge from their hibernation, they mate, while the water temperature is very low. (At times they may also mate in the late fall.) The Painted Turtle

The male Painted Turtle does not mate for the first time until it is about five years old, while the female waits a bit longer, usually from six to ten years.
Painted Turtles lay their eggs ons softer sandy soils, and dig close to the water, usually about 100-200 feet.The female will then lay between 5 and 15 eggs, which are soft and off white in color. She does not tend to the nest, nor care for the babies. They are born after about 75 days and are independent.

alan
how long do painted turtles live 4 and how much water would u put in a 3ft tank and do they also need fresh water to drink as i need all the help i can get as this is the first turtle iv had so any information i can get would help me thanks
Katie
hey I found a painted turtle in my yard and was planning on keeping it in a small fish aquarium, but my mom wasn’t absolutly sure about keeping it in the house because of the desise (sorry I spelled that wrong). alos if you kept it inside I was wondering if you’d have to keep a lamp on it or somthing?!?!?!?!
christina
I have a painted turtle of my own. We found it when it was just a baby at my dads job in a trench it fell in to. If you know what you are doing they make wonderful pets but as they get older they do not being handled much.
idk
Well i find that people who dont know how to spell should not post comments
Amie
Well I have a painted turtle of my own, and I’ve had him for about 2 years maybe now, and yes you have to keep cleaning their aquarium like once a week, cause the water gets dirty really quick, lol.
Painted turtles live for about maybe 20 years, it depends on how good of care you take of them though, and yes you do need a light for them because they like to bask in the light, sorta like sun tanning lmao. :)
hope that helps a bit.
dalton
I have had a western painted turtle for 4 days and i want to know how
much water to put in a 5gals. and how do you tell the diffrence in a boy and
a girl
by :
Dalton
Trish
I have a baby turtle and I just recently moved him to a bigger tank. I have a light on him and in his smaller tank her would get on his log and bask. We did away with his log and got him a turtle ramp. But, now he wont use his ramp. Should I move him back? Or will he use it eventually?
upfront
i have 2 that i got outa the delaware river 6 yrs ago they r in a 45 gal tank they will dirty your tank if u over feed them stick to pellits and dont over feed and u should be able to clean tank every 2 mounts with a good filter mine r 12 inches now they wer the size of a dime wen i gotum i giveum a trat every now and then small gold fish or hot dogs
Kris
I just rescued a snapper and a paint turtle, they were in a bad situation and have not ate in days, I cleaned the aquarium and the rocks that are in there. The thing is there is a egg in there as well, it is tanish yellow and soft! I could use any advice I can get so I can keep these guys alive till spring/ summer an i can release them back to the world! If that is a good idea i don’t know either! Please help I am so new to this and I am doing it for them! I have a heart for animals and don’t wish to kill these little guys! Please help!
Hi
You can tell if its a boy by felling the bottom of its shell and see if you feel a slight dent thats how you know its a boy
Jess
You should make sure that you don’t clean the tank with any harmful chemicals, because turtles are very sensitive. I’m not sure exactly what to feed a snapping turtle because I’ve never had one, but painted turtles will eat the pellets that you can buy at your local animal store… or even Wal-Mart :) If that won’t work you could always go to a fish store and buy some feeder goldfish. They would probably like that. Always try worms too. They love worms!
I hope this helps! Anymore questions, just ask. Or find a reliable website with answers :)
felicia
with the egg remove the egg from the water very carefully it will be very soft get a tupper ware dish and put some loose dirt or sand in the container then burry the egg and get a heat lamp over the container for the egg needs to be kept warm. reason for this is if you have your turtle in a tank where there is no dirt is canot burry its eggs and that is what turtles do but after laying there eggs they do not take care of them untill they hatch so it will be up to you to take care of this egg until it hatches then put the baby turtle in with its mother and she will show it what to do try not to bother the egg as much as possible but make sure you do check on it now and then.
noah
first of all none of you know a thing about turtles ive had three of them for eight years and they can go up to a month without eating hopefully they never have to though and you can tell if they are a boy or girl if when you pull their tail out from hiding in their shell if the opening is out farther than the shell is a boy if not you get the picture and snappers will eat the same thing a regular painted turtle will eat give them a few feeder guppies to keep their health up though they will also live up to forty years if taken care of a small ten gallon tank will hold up to two baby turtles for about two years and treat the tank water every time you clean it by getting a repto-min and a baby turtle is completly independant once it is born the mother wont even recognize it
Pooja
heyy katie. I’ve had my painted turtle for 4-5 years and he lives in a plastic tank with attached stairs. n painted turtles need land and water in their tank, so if u get a big enough tank, you can use it. You need to be sure to have land on it too thought, but petco sells stuff like that :
http://www.petco.com/product/12389/Zoo-Med-Turtle-Docks.aspx?cm_mmc=bazaarvoice-_-RLP-_-12389-_-productname_link
And about the disease (salmonella) if u wash ur hand after touching it, you’ll be fine. You’ll only get it if you decide to randomly like lick ur turtle…
Pooja
Umm if I were you, I wouldn’t be calling people stupid because you didn’t use one period in that whole paragraph of yours
alan
well iv had my painted turtle just over 3 yr now and he will eat most things like all veg, salad,but his fav is lamb and beef but not to much of it
Tania
what other pets can be kept with turtles in a tank? Any ideas/suggestions please?
Tania
what other pets can be kept with turtles in a tank? Any ideas/suggestions please?
Sniper50
It’s rather ironic that you didn’t place the apostrophe in the word don’t in your lame attempt at making fun of poor spellers.