painted turtle

painted turtle, (Chrysemys picta), brightly marked North American turtle (family Emydidae) found from southern Canada to northern Mexico. The painted turtle is a smooth-shelled reptile with a shell about 14 to 18 cm (5.5 to 7 inches) long in adults. The upper shell, which is relatively flat, is either black or greenish brown with red and yellow markings along the margins.

The painted turtle usually lives in quiet, shallow bodies of fresh water, especially those with thickly planted mud bottoms. It feeds on plants, small animals, and some carrion. It often basks in large groups on logs and other objects, and in many areas it hibernates during the winter.

From mid-spring to mid-summer, the female painted turtle typically lays 2 to 20 eggs, depending upon her size, in a nest near the water. The eggs hatch in 60 to 80 days. Hatchlings that emerge from eggs laid during mid-summer remain in the nest until early spring.