06/18/2023
Yellow Bellied Slider Turtles are among the most conspicuous and abundant of all basking turtles. In spring or fall, or any time the weather is mild and the sun is out, individuals or groups of slider turtles may rest on logs, stumps or rocks.
IDENTIFICATION
They are brown or olive green, usually with a prominent patch of yellow on the side of the head. The lower jaw is rounded. The shells of yellow-bellied slider turtles average in size from 5 to 8 inches; the record is about one foot. The yellow blotch behind the eye is the most conspicuous marking and is most prominent in juveniles and females. The yellow underside of the turtle's shell sometimes is marked with round dusky smudges; these markings may be reduced in older turtles. Also, adult males may become very dark.
HABITAT
Slider turtles are abundant in the ponds and streams of the Southeast. The yellow-bellied slider turtle is found in a wide variety of habitats, including Carolina bays, sloughs, sinkholes, oxbow lakes, swamps, rivers, lakes and ponds. Sometimes they travel over land between bodies of water.
MOVEMENT
Yellow-bellied slider turtles are a semiaquatic species. Except for terrestrial excursions, the animals remain in water where submerged and floating vegetation is abundant. They move on land to lay their eggs in a terrestrial nest. The animals also move on land to and from hibernation sites or alternate feeding areas and to leave unsuitable aquatic habitats.
The periods of greatest overland and aquatic movement usually are in spring and fall. In the winter, slider turtles become dormant, but the animals sometimes are active on sunny winter days. Summer is a period of reduced basking activity, compared to spring and fall.
BREEDING
Mating occurs in the spring, although courtship behavior by males has been observed in both fall and winter. In early spring, females use their rear feet to dig nest cavities in which they lay eggs; the number of eggs depends on the size of the female. The young hatch in about three months. The hatchlings remain in the nest for the fall and winter. The next spring, the hatchlings emerge from the nest and enter the water to begin feeding.
FEEDING
Juveniles prefer a diet of insects, dead fish, tadpoles and other meat items. Adults also prefer a high- protein diet when it is available. But slider turtles can subsist on a vegetative diet, although their growth rates may be significantly lower than that of turtles whose diet is mostly meat. Plant materials in the slider turtle's diet include algae, leaves, stems, roots, fruits and seeds. They feed on larger invertebrates, such as water insects, and vertebrates such as small fish, tadpoles and frogs. Slider turtles are not normally able to capture healthy fish.
