Reptile & Amphibian Forums

here is one found last october just across the new mexico border, in arizona.
-ian

the "spring" that this turtle was netted from. These springs used to be natural, but now they are concreted in like you see in the picture. In addition to this one, there were 3 other cemented in troughs, for lack of a better word. i guess when there is plenty of rain, there is water in the stream bed outside of these springs, but when i was there, the only water was in the troughs.
-ian

What a cool looking mud turtle! Ever since I got my first copy of Conant's Field Guide (back in 1975) I have wanted to find the Sonoran mud turtle in the wild. Never been in their range though.
So this guy was found in that little artificial pool??

They are definitely interesting turtles. i have a friend in tucson who lives near the base of the mts. he says that when the monsoons arrive, you can find hatchling and juvenile mud turtles that get washed down from the mts. i think it is generally a dead end for them, as there is no permanent water where they end up, and many houses, cars, development, etc. i visited him a few summers ago, and had never seen a sonoran mud, so he took me up to a pool in the mts where he said they were common. we got up to this small pool, and our first sight was a bunch of muds basking on a branch in the pool, in the middle of the day, probably over 100 degrees! that small pool probably had to have over 100 turtles in it. just by wading around, you could step on turtles in the muck, and actually feel other turtles brushing against your legs.

this is a picture of that pool.
-ian

this is the largest mud turtle i caught in that pool. she was gravid too. further down the mt, i saw my first ever wild desert tortoises, it was a great trip!
-ian

Fantastic! I really envy you.
I guess you don't have to worry about 'gators there. Normally in the places I look for muds/musks I have to watch out for them.

Did any of them have really well marked heads?

its all about perspective i guess. i havent seen many of the species i'm sure you encounter regularly in the field. i dont remember any having really nicely marked heads, but most were covered in varying degrees of slime and muck, including the skin.
-ian

I know this thread has been around a while, but I enjoyed reading it. I too hike around looking for sonoran mud turtles. I am fascinated to read about a pool of them. I usually find them in dry stream beds, not far from little pools/puddles of water. They are said to dig into the soil and estivate in the heat of summer. This is probably true, but I don't go around digging for them. I am currently visiting a pool that is supposed to have large numbers during breeding season, but currently that is not the case.
Unfortunately, the pictures that were posted are no longer available(?) Perhaps you can re-post them sometime. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who would like to see them!

I love finding pools and ponds and exploreing for herps. Did you see any frogs? If so, what species?

actually Stebbins is the author of my old western field guide not Conant.