Reptile & Amphibian Forums

here are a pair of yellows from northeastern new mexico. the overflow from the stocktanks visible in the picture feeds a small pool in the dirt. just by staring at the dirt pool you could see head after head popping up. i'd estimate maybe 20-30 muds were in that pool. the first time i checked out this area, there were about 8 or 9 muds stuck in one of the stock tanks, which i removed and put in the dirt pool. a few weeks later i went back and there were a handful of new muds stuck in the stock tank, this pair included. in the picture you can see the dirt built up between the 2 tanks, i think that is how they were climbing in, so i removed all that dirt.
-ian

The specimen I've seen were completely yellow, including carapace and plastron. Could I just have been seeing immatures?
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1.1.0 Red Eared Slider
3.2.0 Eastern Painted
1.0.0 Western Painted
1.1.0 African Sideneck

the range of flavescens is large and there is considerable variation of the individuals. i 've seen em pretty yellow too.

Maybe to keep bugs out or something?
I can't imagine them trying to get in there on their own.

i hadnt actually thought of that, thats entirely possible. of course it was also possible for them to climb in on their own, via that ramp of collected soil between the 2 tanks. i put a turtle at the bottom of that and watched it climb in. there was also the remains of a large great plains toad in the tank, which had been demolished by the turtles, so if a toad could climb in, definitely a turtle.(i doubt ranchers would put toads in there)
-ian

I was reading the book Turtles of the US and Canada by Ernst and Barbour, and they talk about mud turtles found in Cattle tanks. Here in Nebraska, we have cattle tanks, but I've never found a yellow mud in one. I thought they must have been talking about a completely different thing, more like a pond. But your picture seems to indicate they actually did mean the same thing by cattle tank as I did. Fascinating.

great pics!
around here(michigan)your lucky to see a painter,let alone any muds!& definately no 'gators!