Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have never seen any before in ohio, and I looked in some books and it says there in the ohio range, has anyone ever seen one before? I have seen one eastern once crossing the road and that is it.

You'd have to take walks near swamp land in the spring when they are mating in the water to see a large number of them. They move rather fast when crossing the road, so you have to do a lot of driving to see many of them. I usually see 2 to six crossing the roads in the spring(May and June). Many more stay back from the roads. They are rather smart, and usually avoid heavy populated ares. A decade ago, I would go out and dig their eggs up for incubation studies. I would find on average 10 nests in a quarter mile stretch of land near the wetlands in my area. I see on these boards that everyone else only sees the rather small 6-8 inch specimens. In my area, I have seen them much larger than this. I had one big female that I microchipped and released that was 14 inches. 10 to 12 inches seems to be the average around my area. I tried keeping them before, but they would climb my 6 foot chain link fences in a matter of minutes.

can i ask where you are at in ohio? are they very active during the months now? i would like to see one in the wild, i don't collect or anything, i would just like to see them

In spite of seemingly perfect habitat in Notheastern Ohio, this species has not been confirmed from the state - a great mystery, as it occurs further north in northern Michigan and west in Wisconsin. (Unless there have been confirmed sitings in the last year or so). I am a resident of Ohio and a member of several regional herp societies and this question comes up from time to time.

Possibly too warm there. They seem to like the cooler areas higher in the mountains

I would have thought this, also, as they are a cold-adapted turtle, but they are abundant in south-central Pennsylvania (personal observation)where the climate is milder than northeastern Ohio.