Where’s Wildlife · Turtle Field Guide
Chrysemys picta
Pronounced (approx.): KRIS-uh-mis PIK-tuh
A familiar basking turtle with a smooth dark shell and bright red and yellow markings.
Painted Turtle. Select the photo to browse the gallery. Photographs © Where’s Wildlife.
NATIVE TO NORTH AMERICA
Sizes refer to upper-shell length; age, sex and location affect size.
Smooth, relatively low upper shell
Red markings along the shell margins and limbs
Yellow head markings without a broad red ear patch
Compare views, markings and body shapes in the photographs below.
Compare the red shell-edge markings with the yellow head stripes. The underside pattern varies geographically, so this guide keeps the broad Painted Turtle identification rather than assigning a subspecies from these views.
Red-eared Sliders usually show a broad red patch behind each eye and a more sculpted rear shell edge. Older sliders may become dark, making a clear side view of the head useful.
Shallow ponds, marshes and slow waters with vegetation and basking places. Adults feed on aquatic plants, insects and other small animals. Day-active; often basks on logs or rocks.
Painted Turtles feed and bask by day. Females bury eggs in terrestrial nests and may produce more than one clutch. In northern areas, hatchlings can remain in the nest through winter before emerging.
Several turtles may crowd onto the same convenient log.
Shell edges and legs can show red even when the back looks plain.
Some young do not emerge until the spring after hatching.
Widespread across much of temperate North America. Regional forms differ in shell and underside markings. In Illinois, Painted Turtles occur statewide where aquatic habitat is suitable.
Explore reported sightings on iNaturalist. Observation records are not a complete range map.
Photographs © Where’s Wildlife.