Eastern Painted Turtle

Chrysemys picta picta (Schneider)

This is the most common and most colourful turtle in Nova Scotia. The carapace is basically green with a yellow stripe down the middle and yellow edges around the shell plates. The edge is marked with red. The plastron is yellow. The head is streaked with yellow, and neck and legs and tail are streaked with red.

The head

On the alert

Painted Turtles are common in southwestern Nova Scotia, becoming less common or absent in the northeast. There are no records from Cape Breton. Look for them in plant-filled ponds, lakes and streams. They are often seen in groups basking on logs and rocks. They seem to be most common where lily pads and pickerel weed grow, eating insects, snails and bits of lily pad.

Shows yellow plastron

Hatchlings

Painted Turtles dig nests along roadsides or in cultivated fields, as well as in sand or gravel beaches. The hatchlings may dig their way out in the fall of the same year. If the nest surface temperature becomes lower than the nest bottom temperature, overwintering is possible. Adults hibernate at the bottom of ponds.