Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I live in NW Ma. we have alot of aquatic turtles here, a few months ago I found a little tiny what I thought was an eastern painted turtle, but I just saw a pic of one and it didn't have the red colour on the plastron, I dont have the turtle anymore I let him go where I found him
maybe a hybrid or one of the other subspecies?
(I posted this on the painted turtle board but it seems pretty dead there..)
Thanks

Its hard to tell from the picture, but it maybe a midland painted turtle

I'm going with midland also given the color on the plastron. Most easterns are more pale on the plastron, but I really can't tell from that pic.

That must have taken some real will power to let him go!

Matthew

he was awefully cute but we dont have a good filtration system and he would have ended up smemlling like a sewer,
are midland painted native to massachusetts?
Thanks

Painteds from NW Massachusetts are Hybrids of Easterns and Midland. Their shells can be very variable. The red coloration is most likely due to mud stain deposits on the shell. Can be scraped away or wait till it sheds.

Many midlands have a darker "RED" plastron that is not due to mud. It all depends on the locality of the turtle. There is great variance even in subspecies.

Matthew

What's up matt..

my midland painted has no red on the plastron. It does however have a blackish grey oval pattern in the centre, which is typical to that species. I was under the impression it was the southern painteds with the red plastron.

K!LOS

Hey man...

Actually they all differ even the subspecies. My southern has a real light colored shell.

Matthew

so was it a midland or an eastern?
it didn't have any black on it's plastron, just the rich tomato red
Thanks

Although eastern and midland painted turtles generally have a pale yellow plastron, local populations often show varying degress of coloration depending upon the iron content of the water, trending from slightly red to almost black. I recall a population in Pennsylvania (in an iron-rich clay soil area)characterized by a beautiful irridescent ruby coloration. Of course the Western painted has a naturally orange plastron.

Eastern painted turtles of this size do have this striking coloration. And...Midland hatchlings have a dark spot in the middle of the plastron.
-Mike