How to Raise Painted Turtles? Detailed Guide to Care Methods and Precautions

There are quite a few species of painted turtles, and some subspecies even have red markings, making them look endearingly clumsy and charming, so many people keep painted turtles at home. So how do you raise a painted turtle?

Painted turtles like ponds, swamps, streams and lakes, places with slow-moving currents, a bottom covered in soft mud, and suitable basking sites and abundant aquatic plants. Painted turtles are diurnal, sleeping at night on the bottom of the pond or on partly submerged objects. When the sun rises they become active, bask for a few more hours, and then forage in the late morning. Toward evening they may forage again.

Painted turtles love to bask. As many as fifty painted turtles have been seen piled on top of one another on a single log. Even hatchlings have been observed basking. Basking in the sun serves many important purposes. The heat helps the turtle maintain a suitable body temperature. Ultraviolet light removes parasites from the skin and is also essential for synthesizing vitamin D3. The courtship of painted turtles is quite graceful, occurring from March to mid-June. The male slowly chases the female, passes her, then turns around to face her. He vibrates his long front claws and taps her head and neck. If the female accepts the male's courtship, she taps his outstretched limbs with her front claws in response. The male then swims away and tries to entice the female to follow. Eventually the female sinks to the bottom of the pond to mate.

Nesting behavior occurs from May to mid-July. The female builds her nest in a sunny spot by the water, requiring slightly moist loamy or sandy soil, and the nest is shaped like a long-necked bottle. The number of eggs laid ranges from 2-20, varying among subspecies. Under natural conditions and in captivity, the incubation period averages 76 days.

The effect of incubation temperature on the sex of hatchlings is very pronounced in painted turtles. At relatively high temperatures (87°F, 30.5°C), the eggs hatch into females. At lower temperatures (77°F, 25°C), males are produced. At the intermediate temperature of 84°F (29°C), both females and males hatch.

Hatchlings break out of the egg with the help of an egg tooth. The egg tooth falls off within a few days after hatching. Hatchlings have a keel on their back and wrinkles on their belly, both of which disappear as they grow up. The colors and markings on their shells are brighter and more prominent than those of adults. They reach maturity within five years of hatching, and their lifespan is generally considered to reach 20 years.

Hatchlings in the wild may overwinter in the nest. These little one-inch-long (2.5cm) lives can survive even when frozen. Adults are also quite cold-tolerant, and some have been seen swimming under ice. Most painted turtles hibernate through the cold winter. They dig burrows in the mud at the bottom of ponds, or seek out muskrat burrows or other hiding places. During hibernation, their need for oxygen is greatly reduced. They can absorb oxygen from the water through their skin, the lining of their throat, and thin-walled air sacs near the cloaca, and this is enough for their needs.

Because painted turtles are extremely widely distributed, they are found in both the coldest and the warmest places in the United States in winter. The northernmost subspecies hibernate regularly, and for longer periods than the southern subspecies. The southern painted turtle and western painted turtle, which live at the southern end of the range, may not hibernate at all.

Painted turtles are fairly easy to keep, and are also quite simple to raise at home. The care method is rather similar to that of red-eared sliders, so if you are interested, you might try keeping one.