Painted Turtle

Photo: "Painted Turtle" by Vlad Podvorny is licensed under CC by 2.0.
Photo: "Painted Turtle" by Vlad Podvorny is licensed under CC by 2.0.
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Chrysemys picta

What they look like

  • Painted turtles are medium-sized turtles with a shell length of 4 to 10 inches.
  • Females tend to be larger than males, but males have longer foreclaws and longer thicker tails than females do.
  • As suggested by their name, painted turtles are ornately colored throughout their body; they have black to olive skin with red and yellow stripes.
  • Their lower shells are mostly yellow with varying shapes and sizes of other colors, like red, black, and/or reddish-brown. They have smooth, flattened, and oval upper shells ranging from green to black.

All About Amphibians

Name: Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta) 
Order: Turtles (Testudines)
Family: Pond Turtles (Emydidae)

A painted turtle on a branch above water
Photo: "Painted Turtle" by Vlad Podvorny is licensed under CC by 2.0.
Photo: "Painted Turtle" by Vlad Podvorny is licensed under CC by 2.0.

Photo: "Painted Turtle" by Vlad Podvorny is licensed under CC by 2.0.

Fast Facts

Where they live

  • View a map of where they live
  • Can be found throughout the entire United States and are the most widely distributed North American turtle
  • Spend most of their time either basking during the day or sleeping on pond bottoms during the night
  • Most often live in slow-moving shallow waters of ponds, marshes, creeks, and lakes with soft muddy vegetative bottoms and suitable basking sites

What they eat

  • Younger painted turtles feed on a wide range of small animals, including crayfish, tadpoles, snails, slugs, insects, small fish, and dead animals.
  • Older painted turtles tend to feed more so on aquatic plants.

Breeding

  • Sometime between late May to mid-July, females dig a flask-shaped nest near water in slightly moist or sandy soil at sunny spots.
  • Around 2 to 20 eggs are laid and, after around 76 days, the young hatch out of their eggs using a small egg tooth atop their beaks.
  • Young are born with more vibrant markings than adults.

Cool Biology Facts

  • When young painted turtles are captured by largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), they can oftentimes thrash and claw inside its mouth to the point of being released by the fish.
  • As many as 50 painted turtles have been seen basking on a single log!

Threats

  • Painted turtle populations are healthy and common in Washington state. One of their main threats is vehicle collisions, especially females when they move to and from nesting sites.
small brown salamander on bright green vegetation

Amphibians & Reptiles of Washington

Do you know where rattlesnakes live in our state? Or which salamander breathes through its skin? Explore the fascinating diversity of the 26 species of amphibians and 28 reptiles found in Washington state.

Learn More