My Eastern Painted Turtle

[james ungehajer]

By request i have posted the following four pics of my Eastern Painted Turtle found by my daughter on a sidewalk on my street over 11 years ago. Of course we named him Sidewalk. He's shy.

The second pic. An underneath view.

The third pic. On the move.

The fourth and final pic. A little water and sunshine on my backyard pool cover.

Jim

 

[Sue Gremlin]

How big was he 11 years ago?

 

[james ungehajer]

How big was he 11 years ago?

Sue

To be perfectly honest i do not remember, i was hoping one of the herpers on the site could tell me his age.


Jim

 

[dragoncjo]

If the turtle was that size 11 years ago I would say it is around 16-18 years old. Some species of turtles you can count growth rings, such as box turtles, painteds you can't though. It is hard to determine water turtles age. The best way in the wild is by seeing how big it is. A painted that size in the wild would be around 6-10 years old. In captivity though they have a tendency to have there growth stunted due to lack of vitamins, calcium, sun, etc. He is a pretty turtle though and his shell appears to be free of shell rot. Nice turtle.

 

[james ungehajer]

If the turtle was that size 11 years ago I would say it is around 16-18 years old. Some species of turtles you can count growth rings, such as box turtles, painteds you can't though. It is hard to determine water turtles age. The best way in the wild is by seeing how big it is. A painted that size in the wild would be around 6-10 years old. In captivity though they have a tendency to have there growth stunted due to lack of vitamins, calcium, sun, etc. He is a pretty turtle though and his shell appears to be free of shell rot. Nice turtle.

Thanks Chris for your expertise. Correct if am am wrong but would tank size be a major factor in growth, has he reached maximum growth ?

He has not shed or molted yet this year, if i am using the correct terminology.

Jim

 

[Furball1]

Nice

Thanks for the photos, my wife is a turtle-lover.

 

[davensj]

What do you feed him/her?

 

[woodjin]

That is a fine looking turtle there, Jim

 

[andy1015]

cool, and i don't know if it is completly true but they grow to their environment, small tank small turtle, painters i thought only reached about 7-8 inches