CaliforniaHerps.com

A Guide to the Amphibians
and Reptiles of California


Pond Slider - Trachemys scripta

Red-eared Slider - Trachemys scripta elegans

(Wied-Neuwied, 1838)
Click on a picture for a larger view

Description • Taxonomy • Species Description • Scientific Name • Alt. Names • Similar Herps • References • Conservation Status 
Red-eared Slider California Range Map
Red: Locations where this non-native species
has been observed and may be established.
More locations are likely to exist.


Click on the map for a topographical view

Map with California County Names


List of Non-Native Reptiles and Amphibians
Established in California



observation link






This species has been introduced into California. It is not a native species.
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Adult in city park lake,
San Francisco County		 Adult, El Dorado County © John Bailey Adult, El Dorado County © John Bailey Melanistic adult, El Dorado County, without red "ears" © John Bailey
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Adult, Los Angeles County Adults, El Dorado County © John Bailey Adult in city park lake,
San Francisco County
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Adult, Los Angeles County Adults, Los Angeles County Mud-covered adult,
Contra Costa County		 This adult slider is holding its legs out more parallel to the suns rays to warm them up more efficiently.
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Two Red-eared Sliders on each side of a Northwestern Pond Turtle, El Dorado County © John Bailey Adults, El Dorado County © John Bailey
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Adult and juvenile, Orange County © Jeff Ahrens Juvenile, Orange County © Jeff Ahrens Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Pacific Pond Turtle Pacific Pond Turtle
Red-eared sliders of all ages
© Jeff Ahrens
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.		 Adult in city park lake,
San Francisco County
 Adult and Juvenile, Sacramento County © Noah Morales Adults, Sacramento County
© Brandon Huntsberger
Pacific Pond Turtle Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Adult, Sacramento County
© Brandon Huntsberger		 Captive adult in an aquarium This adult in El Dorado County is shedding the scutes on its shell
© John Bailey		 This slider from Napa County has three large leeches on its shell. Leeches often attach themselves to the fleshy parts of turtles but they can also suck blood from the scutes on the shell.
© Hank Miller
Pacific Pond Turtle      
This adult female was photographed in early June laying eggs in a nest she dug near an urban lake in Alameda County..
© Janet Ellis		      
       
Red Markings on Head
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
The Red-eared Slider has a characteristic red stripe behind eye, which gives it the name "Red-eared."
The red stripe is not always prominent. Sometimes it is very thin or pale red or pink, and sometimes it is missing.
       
Red-eared Sliders From Outside California
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Adult, Travis County, Texas Adult, Travis County, Texas Adult, Miami-Dade County, Florida Adult, Bastrop County, Texas
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Carapace Plastron Adult, King County, Washington Adult, Travis County, Texas
Red-eared Sliders Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Adults, Cameron County, Texas Adult, Tennessee Captive adult swimming under water, Charlton County, Georgia
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider red-eared slider Red-eared Slider
Serrated rear edge of carapace of adult, Chambers County, Texas Adult, Fairfax County, Virginia Small adult swimming underwater,
Las Vegas, NV		 Adult, Harris County, Texas
     
Comparison of Normal and Melanistic Red-eared Sliders
red-eared slider red-eared slider red-eared slider red-eared slider
Shell of normal adult (left),
dark shell of melanistic adult (middle), shell of Juvenile (right.)
Orange County © Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.		 The same three turtles seen to the left: normal adult plastron (left),
juvenile plastron (middle),
melanistic adult plastron (right.)
© Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.		 Normal adult (top)
Melanistic adult (bottom)
Orange County © Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.		 Carapace of melanistic adult with dark edging and little color,
Orange County © Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.
red-eared slider red-eared slider red-eared slider red-eared slider
Dark head with no red "ear" marking and dark front legs of melanistic adult, Orange County. © Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.
 Head and front legs of normal adult with yellow markings, Orange County.
© Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.		 Dark tail of melanistic adult,
Orange County.
© Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.		 Tail of normal adult with yellow markings,, Orange County.
© Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.
red-eared slider red-eared slider red-eared slider red-eared slider
Melanistic Red-eared Sliders found in San Diego County. © Will Kohn
       
Comparison With Pacific Pond Turtle - Actinemys marmorata   
Pacific Pond Turtle head and neck Pacific Pond Turtle head and neck Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
The head, neck, and throat of the female Western Pond Turtle is mottled, with no red stripe behind the eye. The head of the male Western Pond Turtle is dark with no red stripe behind the eye, and the throat is white.
© Grayson B. Sandy		 There is usually a prominent red stripe behind the eye of the Red-eared Slider. Some older or melanistic adult Red-eared Sliders do not have a red stripe behind the eye. © Will Kohn
(See Below)
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
A useful way to differentiate Western Pond Turtles from Red-eared Sliders, according to wildlife biologist Brandon Stidum, is to "...look at the marginal scutes 8-12 (...the scutes above the tail, or back scutes). Sliders have bifid or slightly forked scutes, where Western Pond Turtles do not; theirs are all smooth and do not split (except for traumatic injuries, but it’s usually only one or a few, not all scutes). The forking in the tail gives red-eared sliders the appearance that the tail is serrated or split in appearance. While looking for the presence and size of inguinal and axillary scutes is the best way to differentiate between the 2 once you have them in hand, a good way to do it from a distance is to look at the back scutes of the turtles."  Two adult Red-eared Sliders (left) compared with a much smaller adult Western Pond Turtle (right).
© Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.

Ventral view of four adult Red-eared Sliders, with a much smaller adult Western Pond Turtle in the middle.
© Jeff Ahrens.
Animal capture and handling authorized under SCP or specific authorization from CDFW.
     
Identification Confusion with Melanistic Red-eared Sliders and Pacific Pond Turtles
red-eared slider red-eared slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider
Melanistic adult Red-eared slider Riverside County © Bob Parkard Melanistic adult Red-eared slider, (without red on the head)
Riverside County © Bob Parkard		 Melanistic adult Red-eared with no red marks behind the eyes © Will Kohn
Pacific Pond Turtle Pacific Pond Turtle Pacific Pond Turtle Pacific Pond Turtle
Adult Pond Turtle, Mendocino county Adult female Pond Turtle
© Grayson Sandy		 Adult male Pond Turtle
red-eared slider
Click to enlarge 		Introduced melanistic sliders and old sliders whose red "ears" have faded, are often difficult to distinguish from the California native Western Pond Turtle, especially at a distance in the field, and even in hand. According to Bob Packard, with the Western Riverside County MSHCP Biological Monitoring Program, his organization confirms the identification of these turtles based on the presence of large inguinal and axillary scutes on the sliders, which are absent on the pond turtles (see illustration to the left) and by an interesting behavioral clue: the majority of sliders tend to be aggressive, biting readily, while pond turtles are far more reluctant to bite.

You can also use the information illustrated above about differentiating the two species from a distance by observing the rear marginal scutes, or back scutes, (scutes above the tail).

More pictures of melanistic sliders can be seen above.
       
Identifying Red-eared Sliders and Western Painted Turtles    (More Here)
  
     
Red-eared Slider Western Painted Turtle
Red-eared Slider turtle turtle turtle
Red stripes occur behind the eyes
(sometimes missing on older individuals)		 Yellow stripes occur on the head with no red markings.
Red-eared Slider turtle turtle Western Painted Turtle
The large scales on the rear edge of the shell are serrated.

The shell is not marked with red. 		The large scales on the rear edge of the shell are smooth, not serrated.

The shell is usually marked with red.
       
Habitat
Red-eared Slider Habitat Red-eared Slider Habitat Red-eared Slider Habitat Red-eared Slider Habitat
Habitat, Contra Costa County reservoir Habitat, irrigation canal,
Sacramento County 		Habitat, park pond, Contra Costa County Habitat, Los Angeles County
Red-eared Slider Habitat Red-eared Slider Habitat Red-eared Slider Habitat Red-eared Sliders
Habitat, city park lake,
San Francisco County		 Habitat, large lake, Sacramento County Habitat, river, Sacramento County
© Noah Morales		 Adults in city park pond habitat,
Los Angeles County
Snapping Turtle Habitat      
Urban park lake habitat,
Alameda County
© King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons		      

Short Videos
Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider Red-eared Slider  
Red-eared Sliders basking, swimming, and sliding into a pond in LA County. Red-eared Sliders basking at a small lake in Contra Costa County. A Red-eared Slider swims in a small lake in Contra Costa County then hauls out onto a log.  
     
Description
 
Size
3.5 - 14.5 inches in shell length (8.9 - 36.8 cm). (Stebbins 2003)
Appearance
A medium to large freshwater turtle with a weekly-keeled oval carapace.
Color and Pattern
The skin is green to olive brown with yellow stripes, including many narrow yellow stripes on the limbs.
The carapace is olive, brown, or black with streaks and bars of yellow or eye-like spots. The carapace lacks red coloring.
Sometimes the yellow markings are obscured and the shell appears black.
The rear of the carapace has a jagged, saw-toothed edge.
A prominent broad reddish stripe behind the eye gives this species it's common name. (Occasionally this stripe is missing, especially on large old individuals.)
The unhinged plastron is yellow with dark markings.
Differences Between Males and Females
Males

Size: males are smaller than females
Color and Markings: more colorful with more distinct markings than on females
Head: smaller, longer, and thinner than females
Nose: more pointed than females
Plastron: more concave than females
Tail: thicker at the base and longer than females
Cloaca: closer to the tip of the tail than to the shell
Claws: longer on the front feet than on females

Females

Size: females are larger than males
Head: larger, shortear, and wider than males
Nose: more rounded than males
Color and Markings: less colorful with less distinct markings than on males
Plastron: flatter than males
Tail: thinner at the base and shorter than males
Cloaca: closer to the shell than to the tip of the tail
Claws: shorter on the front feet than on males
Young
Young turtles are green with yellow streaks and many eye-like spots.
Life History and Behavior

Activity
Diurnal.
Highly aquatic. Tolerant of fairly dirty and even brackish water.
Basks out of the water on banks, rocks, logs, or other exposed objects, often in large groups, and sometimes stacked one upon another.

Brumation

Able to survive moderate winters.
Does not hibernate but becomes dormant during the cold of winter when it brumates.
Can remain active throughout the year in warmer parts of the state on sunny winter days.
During cold winters, overwinters at the bottom of a pond or lake, remaining motionless, not eating or defecating, and breathing less frequently.
Can survive for weeks without taking in oxygen.
Turtles Walking on Land Do Not Always Need to be Picked Up and Rescued
Turtles sometimes leave the water to search for food, a better place to live, a mate, or to lay their eggs in the spring - typically from March to June. If you see a turtle walking on the land, it is probably not sick or lost, so the best thing you can do for the turtle is to leave it alone. Some people want to help a turtle they think is in danger by picking it up and bringing it home or to a wildlife rehabilitation center, but most of the time this harms the turtle by removing it from the wild without reason. Sometimes turtles do get lost or stranded in yards or on busy roads or somewhere where they may be in danger. If you find one in such a situation, it's ok to move it out of danger, but it's best to leave it in a safe place as close to where you found it as possible.
Longevity
Captives can live to be more than 20 years old, and the longevity record is 41 years.
Predators
Predators include raccoons, foxes, skunks, and alligators. Large wading birds will also prey on hatchling juveniles. Sometimes as food for humans.
Diet and Feeding
Eats a wide variety, including invertebrates, crustaceans, mollusks, fish, insects, snails, frogs, tadpoles, and aquatic plants. Also eats bread thrown to ducks in park ponds.
Young are primarily carnivorous, but consume progressively larger amounts of vegetation as they mature.

A Red-eared Slider was observed preying on a Red-winged Blackbird that had fallen into a pond in Oklahoma.
(Herpetological Review 38(2), 2007)
Reproduction
Females become sexually mature in 2 - 5 years.
Females can retain viable sperm until needed. Eggs are fertilized when they are laid.
In its native habitat, mating takes place from March to June.
Females use their hind legs to dig a nest in open unshaded areas on land in soil that is not muddy and lay clutches of 2 - 25 eggs between April and July.
Lays up to 5 clutches of eggs per year.
Females may move a considerable distance from the water to find a suitable nest site and can sometimes be seen crossing roads in the breeding season.
Hatchlings emerge in 2-3 months and sometimes spend the winter in the nest.
Hatchling break open their egg with an egg tooth which falls out shortly after they use it.
Hatchlings take about 3 weeks to absorb their yolk sac and heal the split on the plastron where the sac was attached. After that, they can enter the water.
Habitat
Lives mostly in calm fresh water areas with abundant aquatic vegetation, such as sluggish rivers, ponds, shallow streams, marshes, lakes, and reservoirs.
They have also been known to tolerate the brackish waters and survive in coastal waterways.
Geographical Range

Trachemys scripta elegans - Red-eared Slider occurs naturally from New Mexico northeast to Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia, south through Kentucky and Tennessee into Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and into northeast Mexico.

This turtle has been introduced in many areas across the United States and around the world over a long period of time which has helped it to become established outside of its native range. According to the Global Invasive Species Database list accessed 1/15, this turtle has been introduced to and still occurs in the following places around the world:

Asia, Australia, Austria, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Belgium, Bermuda, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Cambodia, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Europe, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Germany, Gibraltar, Guadeloupe, Guam, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Democratic People's Republic of, Korea, Republic of, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Martinique, Micronesia, Federated States of, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Northern Mariana Islands, Panama, Philippines, Poland, Puerto Rico, Reunion, Saint Lucia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, United Kingdom, and Viet Nam.

The range map below shows some of the locations where this turtle has been established in the United States.

It has been introduced throughout California, especially in populated areas, mostly as a result of the release of pets by negligent owners. (This is a good example of the importance of carefully considering the long term care of a pet before acquiring it.) Intentional release of sliders and other non-native species of turtles as a part of some Asian religious and cultural ceremonies is another reason for their continued spread.

Most field guide range maps show these sliders to be present in only a few areas in California, mostly around interior Southern California and the Bay Area, but I have seen them in several other areas of the state. Brian Hubbs has documented them from many locations in the state and was kind enough to give me the locations where he has seen them, all of which I have put on my range map. James Buskirk has also given me some more locations where he has observed them, and I have found more from survey documents found online.  Red-eared sliders may not be established and breeding at all of the locations shown on my map, but they do appear to be established in more areas than is traditionally illustrated on most range maps for the state.
Full Species Range Map
Notes on Taxonomy
Three subspecies occur in the United States. Several more occur to the south.

Formerly Chrysemys picta elegans.


Alternate and Previous Names (Synonyms)

Trachemys scripta - Pond Slider (Stebbins & McGinnis 2012)
Trachemys scripta elegans - Red-eared Slider (Stebbins 2003)
Pseudemys scripta elegans - Red-eared Slider (Stebbins 1985)
Pseudemys scripta - Pond Slider (Stebbins 1966)
Pseudemys scripta - Pond Terrapin (Stebbins 1954)

The "dime store" turtle.
Conservation Issues  (Conservation Status)
This is the most commonly kept pet turtle and the most commonly traded turtle species in the world. Hatchling Red-eared sliders have been popular in the pet trade for many years, but few ever live to adulthood. Those that do are often released by owners who cannot provide a large enough enclosure for them or satisfy their other needs or who did not know that they can live up to 20 years in captivity and get tired of keeping them.

Turtle farms have been established to produce enough turtles to satisfy the demand after wild stocks were depleted from collection, but even today, native stocks of this species are still being depleted by collection for sale around the world, including many for Asian food markets.

Exported turtles have become established around the world where they have become an invasive species that is more aggressive than native turtle species and outcompetes them.

This turtle was included on the 2014 Global Invasive Species Database list of the 100 worst invasive alien species.
Taxonomy
Family Emydidae Box and Water or Pond Turtles Gray, 1825
Genus Trachemys Sliders Agassiz, 1857
Species scripta Pond Slider (Schoepff, 1792)
Subspecies

 elegans Red-eared Slider (Wied-Neuwied, 1838)
Original Description
Trachemys scripta - (Schoepf, 1792) - Hist. Testud., Pts. 1-2, p. 16, pl. 3, figs. 4 and 5
Trachemys scripta elegans - (Wied, 1838) - Reise Nort-Amer., Vol. 1, Pt. 4, p. 213

from Original Description Citations for the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America © Ellin Beltz

Meaning of the Scientific Name
Trachemys - Greek - trachys - rough, and emys -turtle
scripta - Latin - written, marked
elegans - Latin - fine or elegant- refers to the red stripe behind eye on each side of head

from Scientific and Common Names of the Reptiles and Amphibians of North America - Explained © Ellin Beltz
Related or Similar California Turtles
A. m. marmorata - Northern Pacific Pond Turtle

A. m. pallida - Southern Pacific Pond Turtle

C. p. bellii - Western Painted Turtle
More Information and References
California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Stebbins, Robert C., and McGinnis, Samuel M.  Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Revised Edition (California Natural History Guides) University of California Press, 2012.

Stebbins, Robert C. California Amphibians and Reptiles. The University of California Press, 1972.

Flaxington, William C. Amphibians and Reptiles of California: Field Observations, Distribution, and Natural History. Fieldnotes Press, Anaheim, California, 2021.

Samuel M. McGinnis and Robert C. Stebbins. Peterson Field Guide to Western Reptiles & Amphibians. 4th Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2018.

Stebbins, Robert C. A Field Guide to Western Reptiles and Amphibians. 3rd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.

Behler, John L., and F. Wayne King. The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Reptiles and Amphibians. Alfred A. Knopf, 1992.

Powell, Robert., Joseph T. Collins, and Errol D. Hooper Jr. A Key to Amphibians and Reptiles of the Continental United States and Canada. The University Press of Kansas, 1998.

Bartlett, R. D. & Patricia P. Bartlett. Guide and Reference to the Turtles and Lizards of Western North America (North of Mexico) and Hawaii. University Press of Florida, 2009.

Carr, Archie. Handbook of Turtles: The Turtles of the United States, Canada, and Baja California. Cornell University Press, 1969.

Ernst, Carl H., Roger W. Barbour, & Jeffrey E. Lovich. Turtles of the United States and Canada. Smithsonian Institution 1994. (2nd Edition published 2009)

Lemm, Jeffrey. Field Guide to Amphibians and Reptiles of the San Diego Region (California Natural History Guides). University of California Press, 2006.

Conant, Roger, & Joseph T. Collins. A Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians Eastern and Central North America. Third Edition, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1998.

Conservation Status

The following conservation status listings for this animal are taken from the April 2024 State of California Special Animals List and the April 2024 Federally Listed Endangered and Threatened Animals of California list (unless indicated otherwise below.) Both lists are produced by multiple agencies every year, and sometimes more than once per year, so the conservation status listing information found below might not be from the most recent lists. To make sure you are seeing the most recent listings, go to this California Department of Fish and Wildlife web page where you can search for and download both lists:
https://www.wildlife.ca.gov/Data/CNDDB/Plants-and-Animals.

A detailed explanation of the meaning of the status listing symbols can be found at the beginning of the two lists. For quick reference, I have included them on my Special Status Information page.

If no status is listed here, the animal is not included on either list. This most likely indicates that there are no serious conservation concerns for the animal. To find out more about an animal's status you can also go to the NatureServe and IUCN websites to check their rankings.

Check the current California Department of Fish and Wildlife sport fishing regulations to find out if this animal can be legally pursued and handled or collected with possession of a current fishing license. You can also look at the summary of the sport fishing regulations as they apply only to reptiles and amphibians that has been made for this website.

This animal is not included on the Special Animals List, which indicates that there are no significant conservation concerns for it in California.
Organization Status Listing  Notes
NatureServe Global Ranking
NatureServe State Ranking
U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA) None
California Endangered Species Act (CESA) None
California Department of Fish and Wildlife None
Bureau of Land Management None
USDA Forest Service None
IUCN


 

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