The pond slider is a common turtle of the south-central and southeastern US and northern Mexico, and its red-eared form is a pet-store favorite that now lives wild around the world. There are three : the red-eared, yellow-bellied, and Cumberland sliders.
Appearance
- Appearance
- Males reach about 8 in (20 cm) and females up to about 11 in (28 cm). The head, neck, and legs have thin yellow stripes, and the yellow belly shell has dark blotches. Red-eared sliders have a broad red or orange stripe behind each eye, and yellow-bellied sliders have a yellow blotch there instead. Old males can turn almost black.
Look-alikes
River cooterPseudemys concinna
Look at the head: the stripe behind the eye is much bolder on a slider. Cooters have a flat chin (sliders' is rounded), a notched upper jaw, and a flatter shell that flares out at the back.
Why they get mixed upBoth bask together on the same logs and look alike from a distance.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Ponds
- Lakes
- Slow rivers
- Swamps
- Marshes
- Range
- Native to the south-central and southeastern US and northern Mexico, north to Illinois. The red-eared slider ranges from the Midwest to northern Mexico, the yellow-bellied slider from Florida to southeastern Virginia, and the Cumberland slider lives in parts of the Southeast. Released pets have set up populations well outside the native range.
- Preferred conditions
- Prefers quiet water with a soft, muddy bottom, plenty of plants, and logs or rocks for basking.
- Seasons
In Alabama
Breeding May–Jul
Behavior
- Diet
- Young sliders eat mostly small animals such as insects, snails, and tadpoles; adults switch to a diet that's around 90% plants.
- Activity
- Active by day, feeding mostly in early morning and late afternoon. They spend a lot of time basking, often in groups. Males have much longer front claws than females.
Life cycle
- Breeding season
- Mating runs from about March to June. Females nest on land from May through July.
- Nest
- A hole the female digs in soil on land.
- Clutch size
- Usually about 5–18 eggs (up to 24), with up to three clutches a season.
- Incubation
- About two months. The temperature of the nest decides whether the hatchlings are male or female.
- Lifespan
- Most live 20 to 30 years, and a few reach about 40.
Conservation
- IUCN Red List
- LCLeast ConcernLow risk of extinction
- Status
- Common across its native range, but escaped pets are a problem elsewhere. Many states regulate keeping or releasing sliders, and the EU bans their import and sale.
Culture and stories
- Culture and stories
- The red-eared slider is the most commonly traded reptile in the world, and pets that were released or escaped now live wild across Europe and Asia.
- Since 1975, US federal rules have banned selling turtles with shells under 4 in (10 cm) long, because small pet turtles often spread Salmonella to young children.
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