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Randy's Turtles

Last Updated: 1/13/10

Randy sent me so many photos of turtles that I had to devote an entire page just to list them all! I have listed them in groups (from when they were sent) with text links to the actual photos. The photos are listed from oldest to newest (as far as when he sent them to me, not necessarily when they were taken).

This page should satiate anyone's appetite for photos of Eastern painted turtles, red-eared sliders, and Mississippi map turtles!

Important note: Joshua said on 1/3/10 that both of Randy's painted turtles are Midland painted turtles and not Eastern painted turtles. Instead of changing all of those below, I will just note it here. He says, "Their misaligned scutes, large plastron blotches, and the green carapace on the larger one (it's not algae, it's the natural color) are tell-tale signs. They only have small signs of integration with Easterns, and that is the yellow marks that begin to form dots on the head." Joshua also made some other corrections on identifications that I changed below. Thanks for the help!

Randy sent these first photos of his young Eastern painted turtle on 7/5/06. The turtle was about 3.5 inches at the time. Her name is Clowie. The turtle is too young to say if it is male or female.

Eastern painted turtle - top view
Eastern painted turtle - side view
Eastern painted turtle - top view
Eastern painted turtle - side view

He sent these photos on 7/6/06 of the same Eastern painted turtle.

Eastern painted turtle - top view
Eastern painted turtle - front view
Eastern painted turtle - side view
Eastern painted turtle in tank
Eastern painted turtle - front view
Eastern painted turtle - front view
Eastern painted turtle - side view
Eastern painted turtle - head view
Eastern painted turtle - plastron view

He sent these photos on 9/25/06 of a baby "yellow-bellied cooter" named Cooter. It may be a Peninsularis cooter. This turtle did not want to eat so Randy returned him/her to the store.

Cooter - top view
Cooter and Eastern painted turtle in the tank
One of the baby turtles climbing a fake plant?
Cooter - top view, basking with his little feet out!
Cooter - plastron view
Cooter and Eastern painted turtle in the tank. The painted turtle is in the front, and the cooter is basking.

Randy re-sent some of the above photos and these new ones of the two turtles on 9/27/06.

Cooter - swimming through the fake plants
Cooter - plastron view
Cooter - head view

Eastern painted turtle - side view
Eastern painted turtle - plastron view
Eastern painted turtle - top view
Eastern painted turtle - top view
Eastern painted turtle - swimming, bottom view
Eastern painted turtle - side view
Eastern painted turtle - top view

On 11/3/06, Randy informed me that he got three red-eared sliders and sent photos. He said there were two females and one male. The male was about 9 inches long and the females 7.5 inches and 5.5 to 6 inches. He put them in with his baby painted turtle, and not surprisingly, the male red-eared slider went after the painted turtle. The turtles were in a 60 gallon tank.

Two red-eared sliders - swimming
Red-eared sliders - top view
Two red-eared sliders and their tank
Red-eared slider and tank
Two red-eared sliders - top view
Red-eared slider and rockwork

On 11/19/06, Randy enquired if Clowie, the Eastern painted turtle had a problem. She was then in the 60 gallon tank with above-mentioned three turtles (now said to be male 9.5 to 10 inches long and two females 8 to 8.5 inches long and 5.5 to 6 inches long) plus a 6.5 inch male painted turtle that he found in a pond. That turtle he said had a dislocated leg and hole perhaps from a bird attack. These pictures were said to be from when Clowie was in a 10 gallon tank and yet I was supposed to diagnose a problem so I am a bit confused as to when they were taken or if some of them are duplicates from above (I removed some duplicates that I found but may have missed some). There are just too many photos to sort through which is why it took me months to finally do anything with all these photos.

Eastern painted turtle - plastron view
Eastern painted turtle - side view
Eastern painted turtle - top view - note that some algae seems to be growing on the turtle's carapace. I assume this is the larger painted turtle.
Eastern painted turtle - plastron view. Again, I think this must be the newer/larger painted turtle.

Red-eared slider - side view, out of water
Two red-eared sliders - side view, out of water
Red-eared slider - side view, out of water
Tank
Red-eared slider in tank

On 11/24/06, he sent me yet more photos of Clowie. She had lost some nails. Her scutes had become wrinkly. That usually means insufficient diet or lighting but he says those things are just fine.

Eastern painted turtle - view of the back and wrinkled scutes
Eastern painted turtle - top view; this must have been from a few months earlier
Eastern painted turtle - tiny in his hand; he must have taken this when he first got Clowie.
Eastern painted turtle - head view
Eastern painted turtle - tail and rear view

On 1/5/07, Randy sent me more photos. He got a new turtle - a male Mississippi map turtle named Cosmo. Joshua says that Cosmo is a False map turtle, not a Mississippi map turtle.

Map turtle - top view
Map turtle - bottom view
Map turtle - head view
Map turtle - top/side view
Map turtle - front view under water, so cute!
Three turtles in tank - map turtle, Eastern painted turtle, and red-eared slider left to right
Three turtles in tank - map turtle, Eastern painted turtle, and red-eared slider left to right
Eastern painted turtle - side view of injured Clowie (the larger red-eared sliders bit her)
Eastern painted turtle - side view of injured Clowie (the larger red-eared sliders bit her); her leg is gone
Eastern painted turtle - side view of injured Clowie (the larger red-eared sliders bit her); part of her shell is gone

Randy informed me a few days later that Clowie, his Eastern painted turtle, had died from her injuries. He was unable/unwilling to take her to a vet. It is important to keep small turtles away from larger turtles and to take injured and sick turtles to a qualified veterinarian.

Randy sent more photos on 1/21/07. He thinks the Mississippi map turtle is male; he is about 3.5 to 4 inches long in these photos. Cosmo the map turtle in now in the tank with Clover, a 4.5 inch presumed female red-eared slider. Randy's other RES is in another tank and had an ear infection that eventually ruptured on its own. His poor turtles need a vet!

Cosmo = Mississippi map turtle
Clover = Red-eared slider

Turtle Tank
Cosmo and Clover in the tank
Cosmo and Clover in the tank
Turtle Tank
Clover - front view, under water
Clover and the tank
Turtle Tank
Cosmo - plastron view, under water
Cosmo - plastron view, under water

Randy redid his tank with gravel and sent me these photos on 3/11/07. I told him gravel was not a good choice because turtles may eat it. Sure enough, he later reported that the turtle defecated gravel, and he removed the gravel.

Turtle tank
Turtle tank
Turtle tank
Map turtle
Map turtle
Turtle Tank with map turtle
Front view of red-eared slider

On 4/28/07, Randy let me know that he had gotten a 3.5" Peninsula cooter and a 4" male map turtle to add to his collection. He got rid of the painted turtle. It is like a game of musical turtles. Joshua informed me that the "Peninsula cooter" is in fact a yellow-bellied slider, "as you can tell by the small part of a rather large yellow mark on the sides of it's head, some call it an ''S'' or a ''Z." Joshua says this map turtles is probably a common or Northern map turtle.

Yellow-bellied slider - plastron
Map turtle - plastron
Map turtle - head
Yellow-bellied slider - back legs in water
Yellow-bellied slider - plastron and back legs in water
Yellow-bellied slider - carapace and back end
Yellow-bellied slider (left) and map turtle (right) - top view
Yellow-bellied slider - front view of head and front legs
Tank setup with gravel

Randy sent more photos on 4/30/07 because he wanted me to verify their sexes.

Yellow-bellied slider - front leg (appears to be female but too young to know for sure)
Yellow-bellied slider - back leg
Yellow-bellied slider - front view with head and legs
Map turtle - front leg (long nails so male)
Map turtle - tail
Map turtle - front view, swimming, beautiful
Map turtle - head

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