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Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Pond Slider (Trachemys scripta)
Turtles Around Las Vegas, Wildlife Around Las Vegas
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)

General Description: Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) are dark colored pond turtles with a domed shell and a bright red ear-patch. The skin in the face and legs are heavily streaked with yellow.

Taxonomy: Pond Sliders (Emydidae).

Technical Description: Shell size to 14 inches. Shell black with faint yellow lines that disappear with age. Legs and neck streaked with yellow. Red patch behind the eye (ear patch). Underside of shell yellow with symmetrical dark blotches. Sawtooth margin on rear of carapace. Shell of young turtles green with yellow streaks.

Diet: Preys on crayfish, aquatic insects, worms, tadpoles, and hopefully non-native aquarium fish.

Habitat: Aquatic habitats such as ponds and slow-moving rivers with aquatic vegetation. Rarely leaves the water, choosing to bask on logs and floating vegetation.

Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)

Range: Red-ears are native to the eastern United States, but individuals are widely kept as pets and often discarded in local ponds when no longer wanted. In our area, they can be found in ponds at city parks (e.g., Sunset Park, the Henderson Bird Viewing Preserve, Clark County Wetlands Park, and Floyd Lamb Park) and in Rogers Spring at Lake Mead NRA.

Breeding: Lays up to 3 clutches of up to 25 eggs during spring to mid-summer.

Similar Species: Several species of pond turtles have been introduced into ponds around southern Nevada, but none of them have the bright red ear patch.

Comments: If you have a pet turtle, don’t release it in a National Wildlife Refuge or National Park.

Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider male; note the long fingernails
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider female; note short fingernails
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans) Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider; notice the large, red ear patch
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Typical view -- Red-eared Slider hiding in the pond weeds
Red-eared Sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Typical view: a Red-eared Slider hiding in the reeds
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
With huge hind feet, these turtles are strong swimmers
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Slider basking on a bed of Southern Cattails
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Red-eared Sliders and Mallard Ducks
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Notice the range of variation in marks on these turtles
Red-eared Slider (Trachemys scripta elegans)
Turtles basking on a tree branch

Note: All distances, elevations, and other facts are approximate.
copyright; Last updated 231231

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