| Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans (Wied, 1839)) |
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Scientific name: Trachemys scripta elegans (Wied, 1839) Common name: Red-eared Slider Other names: Red-eared Terrapin French name: Tortue de Floride Order: Testudines Suborder: Cryptodira Family: Emydidae Size: Weight: from 1,5 to 2,5 kg. Size: males 20 to 24 cm, females 22 to 26 cm. Habitat : Lakes and ponds with stagnant water and silty bottoms. Food: Water plants, small fishes, insects, amphibians and dead animals. Reproduction : Mating takes place under water. Females lay 10 to 20 eggs in June. Geographic area: South of the United States. Introduced in many worldwide locations. Specimens observed in Europe are pets which have been released and which reproduce. |
You can easily identify the Red-eared Slider by its single reddish marks located on each side of the head. It lives in water and is used to climbing on rocks or logs near water to bask until dry and warm. It over winters from October to March in the mud bottom of ponds. Young red-eared Sliders are a green or yellowish-green colour. |
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Red-eared Terrapins enjoy sun bathes by climbing on trunks lying on water. |
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I think that Forest Guards are controlling and reducing Red-eared Slider populations because they are important predators to many other local species. |
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It is rather easy to approach red-eared Terrapins during the hottest hours of the day. However you must take care no to move too fast, the Terrapin would dive under water immediately. This Terrapin has some kind of metallic part hooked in the mouth. |
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Shooting nice pictures under the hard mid-day sunlight is a very difficult task. I have been able to take better pictures on this cloudy day. |
André Bon January 2010