I have lots of Yellow Mud stories! I've been wild collecting and releasing them for more than 25 years. I was very fortunate to grow up next to a drainage ditch/creek for a good portion of my youth. It was full of herps and other fauna, especially Yellow Muds. I have also collected them around a 3 county area for the last few years. They are a very tough and adaptable turtle. I used to catch them by the dozens in small roadside ditches in the late '70s and early '80s, in water 3 inches deep hiding underneath trash like cardboard boxes. I have also caught many of them wandering over land (possibly in search of water when their ditch or pond dried up). Some of the older literature on them says that they are at least semi-migratory and I agree with the aestivation/hibernation statement. Here in South Texas, the summers are brutal and can be very desert-like, but this does not stop the Yellow Mud from wandering. I just caught and released ( at a protected marsh) a little 2 incher crossing the road not far from where I live. The only water nearby is a couple of puddles in a very shallow ditch! I have witnessed mating which is very rough, but released the turtles before any eggs appeared.
A caution about them: they can be very rough on each other, especially males to females. I used to keep the females seperate because the males always wanted to mate and would not leave the females alone! They are also territorial amongst males, I have witnessed bullying and they don't care for other species of turtles either. I have seen one incident of canibalism; I was keeping a Yellow Mud and a Reeve's turtle of equal size together, came home one day to find that the mud had killed and partially eaten the Reeve's! They were both well fed. I have been considering getting back into Yellow Muds but I don't want to keep wc. It seems like they would be very easy to breed!
I agree with you about people's ignorance of what kind of turtle they have and herps in general. Around here most people call every turtle a "Snapping Turtle" even though they are not native to the area!

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