Yellow-Bellied Slider
Trachemys scripta scripta
Beginner
Identification
The carapace (upper shell) is typically brown and black, often with yellow stripes. The skin is olive green with prominent patches of yellow down the neck and legs. As the name implies, the plastron (bottom shell) is mostly yellow with black spots along the edges. Its most distinctive features are a large yellow vertical blotch behind the eye and broad vertical bands (when viewed from the side) are often present on the carapace.
Range
This subspecies of pond slider is native to the southeastern United States, specifically from Florida to southeastern Virginia and is the most common turtle species in its range.
Diet
Yellow bellied sliders are omnivorous, eating aquatic plants, fish, insects and carrion, although adult females are largely herbivorous and young and adult males are more carnivorous. In captivity, you can use small feeder fish as well as commercially bred insects such as meal worms, wax worms and crickets as treats. Commercial turtle food and chopped vegetables round out a nutritionally complete diet along with the treats.
Notes
Yellow Bellied Sliders are mostly aquatic and love to bask. They make excellent starter turtles, and adults will add color to outdoor ponds in all but the coldest temperature zones. They do well in tanks, with primarily water setups, and get along very well when kept with most other species.
They bask frequently, and often pile on top of each other for the highest possible sunning position. In community set ups, Yellow Bellied Sliders are usually the first turtle that will become tame - setting the example for other species.
Trachemys scripta scripta is considered a diurnal turtle; it feeds mainly in the morning and frequently basks on shore, on logs, or while floating, during the rest of the day. At night, it sleeps on the bottom or on the surface near brush piles.
Yellow belly slider
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