Type of Shell: Hard & Flattened

Reproduction: 4-20 eggs per clutch, 2-3 clutches per year.

Painted Turtles are arguably the prettiest of all North American turtles. Western Painted Turtles are considered the most colorful of all the three subspecies. Their colorful plastrons resemble an white oak tree's left, its surrounded by the red background color.

Western Painted Turtles' range consists of north central states, with a couple of isolated populations in New Mexico's portion of the Rio Grande and Pecos River. They barely extend into the northern part of West Texas at the Pecos & Rio Grande rivers. This species live in slow moving waters, such as lakes, ponds & creeks.

Adults are omnivorous, while the young primary eats animal matter. Their genus name, "Chrysemys," means golden turtle and the species name "picta," means painted. The subspecies name "bellii," is in honor of Thomas Bell who wrote "A Monograph of the Testudinata," which summarizes all of the world's turtles, living and extinct in 1832. In the northern parts of its range, they are often the first reptiles to come out of hibernation. Great numbers of them can be seen basking on half submerged logs during the first warms days of spring.

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