How long does a Eastern painted turtle live?
25 to 30 years
Painted Turtle Life Span Painted turtles have been known to live as long as 50 years in captivity, so they can truly be (nearly) lifelong companions. Given proper diet, housing, and care, you can reasonably expect a painted turtle to live for 25 to 30 years.
How old is my Midland painted turtle?
You can count the rings on a painted turtle to see its age, just like a tree. The shell of a painted turtle is made up of 13 bone plates, called scutes. When the turtle grows, it sheds the outside layer of its scutes and grows new plates underneath. Count the rings on the scutes and you’ll know the age of your turtle!
How old does an eastern painted turtle get?
Overall Description. Also, the plastron will be hingeless and a bit shorter than the carapace. Juvenile Eastern Painted Turtles will look like adults, but their carapace will be more round until they are 2 years old.
Where does the painted turtle live in the world?
It lives in slow-moving fresh waters, from southern Canada to northern Mexico, and from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The turtle is the only species of the genus Chrysemys, which is part of the pond turtle family Emydidae. Fossils show that the painted turtle existed 15 million years ago.
How to tell what painted turtle species you have?
A sub-species on the other hand is a group of similar-looking turtles within a species. In our case, the species we are trying to identify are painted turtles. There are 4 sub-species of painted turtle. The scientific name for this animal is Chrysemys picta. Eastern Painted Turtle ( C. P. picta ). Midland Painted Turtle ( C. P. marginata ).
What was the original name of the painted turtle?
Originally described in 1783 by Johann Gottlob Schneider as Testudo picta, the painted turtle was called Chrysemys picta first by John Edward Gray in 1855. The four subspecies were then recognized: the eastern by Schneider in 1783, the western by Gray in 1831, and the midland and southern by Louis Agassiz in 1857.
Overall Description. Also, the plastron will be hingeless and a bit shorter than the carapace. Juvenile Eastern Painted Turtles will look like adults, but their carapace will be more round until they are 2 years old.
What kind of turtle has black spots on its plastron?
That means it’s not a Southern painted turtle. Western painted turtles usually have colored markings. More importantly, they have lots of black blotches and colors on their plastron. The next 2 sub-species, the Eastern and Midland Turtles, are both very very similar.
Where does the midland painted turtle live in the US?
The range of the Midland painted turtle: Eastern Tennessee, Western Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, Western Illinois, Michigan, Eastern Pennsylvania and most of New York state. Places where the Southern painted turtle lives: Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana]
What’s the growth rate of a painted turtle?
The growth rate of a Painted turtle is influenced by a lot of things like genetics, diet, and environmental conditions. But in general they will grow around 3 inches during its first year, and then around 0.5 inch per year.
