The United States is home to more turtle species than any other country in the world, almost 100 species, and subspecies. But those turtle species are not distributed evenly, so most states won’t always be home to the same turtle species, even if they are very close.
California is home to 8 turtle species. In this article I am going to take a closer look at each species and cover a few basic things about them, things like the appearance, lifespan, how big it can get, diet, where it lives, conservation status, and reproduction.
Quick list of the native turtles of California:
- Common Snapping Turtle Chelydra serpentina serpentina
- Desert Tortoise Gopherus agassizii
- Northern Pacific Pond Turtle Emys marmorata marmorata
- Red-eared Slider Trachemys scripta elegans
- Sonoran Mud Turtle Kinosternon sonoriense sonoriense
- Southern Pacific Pond Turtle Emys marmorata pallida
- Texas Spiny Softshell Apalone spinifera emoryi
- Western Painted Turtle Chrysemys picta bellii
Now let’s take a closer look at the native turtles of California.
The Native Turtles of California
Quick Note: Most turtle subspecies are very similar, so besides some few differences in color it’s possible that everything else about them to be the same.
Quick Note: In this list I am also going to tell you the conservation status of the species, meaning how close they are to extinction. I will give a more in depth explanation of this ranking works, at the end of the article, but until then I will add a picture that will let you know the basics.
Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
Description: Common Snapping Turtles can range in color from brown to black. They usually have very long legs, necks and tails. And they have a pronounced beak-like mouth.
How long it can live: Between 30 and 50 years.
How big it can get: Between 12 and 15 inches, in rare cases, some of them can reach even 19 inches.
Where it lives: A habitat generalist, the common snapping turtle can be found in almost any body of freshwater with a muddy bottom.
Diet: They are omnivorous, which means that they eat both meat and plants. When it comes to the meat they will scavenge, or actively hunt their prey in the water.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season is May to July. Incubation usually lasts between 70 and 100 days.
Desert Tortoise (Gopherus agassizii)
Description: The Desert Tortoise doesn’t stand out too much from the rest of the tortoises. It has a typical coloration, the shell is usually brown with a few lighter spots, and the skin is usually grey or brown.
How long it can live: Between 60 and 80 years.
How big it can get: In general Desert tortoises reach sizes between 10 and 15 inches.
Where it lives: As the name implies the desert tortoise can be found in the desert. While they are there they spend most of their time in burrows.
Diet: They are herbivores, and they will eat most plants that they can find.
Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Reproduction: Nesting season starts in early spring, and ends in late summer. On average, the incubation period of the eggs ranges from 80 to 90 days.
Northwestern Pond Turtle (Emys marmorata)
Description: The color of the Northwestern Pond Turtle usually ranges from brown to black. The lower side of the shell also contains some yellow coloring. The skin of the Northwestern Pond Turtle is usually brown or black with very small light-colored spots.
How long it can live: Between 30 and 50 years.
How big it can get: Most Pond Turtles reach sizes between 6 and 8 inches.
Where it lives: They usually live in ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers.
Diet: Pond turtles are omnivorous, which means that they eat a variety of insects, eggs, snails, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, and aquatic plants.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting occurs from late May until the middle of July, and the incubation period lasts between 90 and 130 days.
Yellow Belly Slider (Trachemys scripta scripta)
Description: The Yellow Belly Slider has a dark-colored upper part of the shell that doesn’t have any distinct pattern or any other type of coloration. The lower part of the shell is colored yellow, hence the name, and has different patterns of black spots on it. The color of the skin is usually black, and it has yellow stripes that cover it.
How long it can live: Between 50 to 100 years.
How big it can get: In general most Yellow Belly Sliders reach sizes between 8 and 12 inches.
Where it lives: Yellow Belly Sliders are often found in slow-moving streams, creeks, lakes, ponds, and marshes.
Diet: In general they are omnivores, but as juveniles, they tend to eat exclusively meat.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season starts in early spring, and ends in late summer. On average, the incubation period of the eggs ranges from 70 to 90 days.
Sonora Mud Turtle (Kinosternon sonoriense)
Description: The Sonora Mud Turtle has a dome-like shell. The top part color ranges from olive to dark brown. The top part of the shell also has three mild lengthwise keels. The lower part of the shell is usually colored yellow or yellow-brown. The color of the skin is usually brown or black and it’s covered with olive-colored spots.
How long it can live: Between 30 and 50 years.
How big it can get: They usually reach sizes between 5 and 7 inches.
Where it lives: As the name implies Mud turtles prefer to stay in water bodies that have a soft bottom, composed of either sand or mud. So they can be usually found in lakes, swamps, marshes, and rivers.
Diet: Mud turtles are omnivorous, which means that they will eat meat, snails, fish, insects, as well as fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of vegetation.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: The nesting period starts in May, and ends around the end of July. The incubation period is longer than that of most turtles, lasting around 100 to 110 days.
Northwestern Pond Turtle (Emys marmorata)
Description: The color of the Northwestern Pond Turtle usually ranges from brown to black. The lower side of the shell also contains some yellow coloring. The skin of the Northwestern Pond Turtle is usually brown or black with very small light-colored spots.
How long it can live: Between 30 and 50 years.
How big it can get: Most Pond Turtles reach sizes between 6 and 8 inches.
Where it lives: They usually live in ponds, lakes, streams, and rivers.
Diet: Pond turtles are omnivorous, which means that they eat a variety of insects, eggs, snails, fish, meat, fruits, vegetables, and aquatic plants.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting occurs from late May until the middle of July, and the incubation period lasts between 90 and 130 days.
Texas Spiny Softshell (Apalone spinifera emoryi)
Description: Like most softshell turtles the TexasCoast Spiny Softshell Turtle has a very flat appearance. The color of the shell and skin is usually is olive-colored or dark green with multiple small white spots. It also has bumpy projections beginning at the front edge of the carapace and going partway down the center of its shell. Located along the bottom edge of the carapace are three lines that follow the edge of the shell going back towards its’ head.
How long it can live: Between 40 and 60 years.
How big it can get: In general males are considerably smaller than females. Males reach sizes between 5 and 10 inches, while females reach sizes between 9 and 20 inches.
Where it lives: Spiny Softshell turtles can be found in any aquatic habitat: lakes, rivers, reservoirs, wetlands, and marshes.
Diet: They are carnivores, so they mainly eat insects, snails and small aquatic animals.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season starts in early spring and ends during the summer. The incubation period of the eggs is 80 days.
Western Painted Turtle (Chrysemys picta bellii)
Description: The color of the Western Painted Turtles usually ranges from dark olive to black. The shell also has some distinct markings on the edges that can range in color from red, orange or yellow, and any combination of them. The lower side of the shell is usually red and has one or multiple dark markings in the center. The skin is usually covered with yellow stripes.
How long it can live: Between 20 and 30 years.
How big it can get: Most Painted turtles reach sizes between 5 and 7 inches.
Where it lives: All Painted turtles subspecies prefer to live in freshwater, and they can be usually found in slow-moving rivers, ponds, and lakes.
Diet: Painted turtles are omnivorous, which means that they will eat fruits, vegetables as well as meat, and insects.
Conservation Status: Least Concern
Reproduction: Nesting season starts in March and ends in June. The amount of time it takes the eggs to hatch is around 80 days.
The Conservation Status
The conservation status of a species shows how close a species is to extinction. When a species gets its status there are a lot of factors taken into consideration, not only the number of individuals still leaving.
Even if at the moment there are a lot of individuals of a species, there can be some changes in their environment that will drastically affect the species. For example, the plastic in the water is greatly impacting sea turtles in a negative way.
There are a lot of systems that track the conservation status of a species, but the most well-known and used is the one I used in this article, the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. With this system species are classified into nine groups set through criteria such as rate of decline, population size, area of geographic distribution, and degree of population and distribution fragmentation. Out of the nine classifications, two of them basically mean that there is not enough data on the species, so you will usually see only seven possible statuses instead of nine.
Here is a list that explains what every status means:
- Extinct (EX) – No known living individuals
- Extinct in the wild (EW) – Known only to survive in captivity, or as a naturalized population outside its historic range
- Critically endangered (CR) – Extremely high risk of extinction in the wild
- Endangered (EN) – High risk of extinction in the wild
- Vulnerable (VU) – High risk of endangerment in the wild
- Near threatened (NT) – Likely to become endangered in the near future
- Least concern (LC) – Lowest risk; does not qualify for a higher risk category. Widespread and abundant taxa are included in this category.
- Data deficient (DD) – Not enough data to make an assessment of its risk of extinction
- Not evaluated (NE) – Has not yet been evaluated against the criteria.
Alien Species of California
The turtle species that I listed above are known as native species, but there can be other turtle species that live in that area that are not native, those species are called alien species.
Alien species are species that are not native to an area, but they still live there. Those species are usually brought to that region by humans. So a certain state might be home to 10 turtle species, but only 5 of them can be native.
Alien species can be added to an area to help with certain ecological problems, or by mistake. Turtles can do a lot of good things to an area, they can keep certain insect populations under control, they can eat the overwhelming vegetation, of a lake, that got out of control, and there are a lot of other beneficial things that they can do.
It’s also possible that some unknowing person decided to release a few turtles into the wild. If those turtles manage to reproduce, they can easily start a new alien species in a new area. Overall I strongly suggest you not do this, it can be very dangerous for the ecosystem and for the turtles as well. If you want to know more reasons why you shouldn’t do this, you should read my article: Can Pet Turtle Survive in the Wild? In this article I explore all the possible outcomes of this situation.
California State Laws Regarding Turtles
Every state in the US has different laws regarding native turtles and turtles in general. Most of those rules are generally designed to protect turtles, so even if they seem a little restrictive, they are there for a good reason. California has its own set of laws that are different from any other state. Since a lot of those laws are about the native species I strongly suggest you to visit this interactive map that will point you to an article on this site that explains as simply as possible the state laws in California regarding turtles, tortoises and terrapins.
What to Do If You Find a Wild Native Turtle
What you can do if you find a native wild turtle really depends on your intentions. If you want to take a few photos from a distance, you can definitely do that. If you want to touch the turtle you can usually do that, but you have to take a few cautionary measures.
You have to remember that most wild animals can carry bacteria, and since turtles spend a lot of time in water those bacteria can be a little more dangerous. So if you touch a turtle make sure that you have some wet wipes near you, if you don’t you should probably avoid touching it. But if you still want to, at least try not to put your hands near your face after you touched the turtle.
The most important thing that you have to watch out for when interacting with a wild turtle is the turtle trying to bite you. Generally, turtles are peaceful creatures, but if they think that they are in danger and they have no way of escaping, then they will definitely try to bite you. To prevent this make sure that you don’t let it too close to your toes (if they are exposed), or to your fingers. If you want to pick up a turtle you should catch it by the sides and keep your hands above or below it, never in front of its mouth.
If you want to feed the turtle, you can definitely do that, that would actually be great, but make sure that you are feeding it the right thing, some foods can be very dangerous to turtles, to find out which food items are good and which are bad you can always check out this article where you will also find a few food items lists: What Do Turtles Eat? ( Including Food Lists )
If you want to take the turtle home as a pet, you first have to make sure that it’s legal to do so. Most states, including California, have laws that protect wild native turtles. You can check out the laws of California on this page: Turtle State Laws.
If it’s winter or close to winter there is a chance that you can find a hibernating turtle. When turtles hibernate, they enter a very profound sleep which allows them to conserve energy. They generally do this because during cold seasons there is little to no food available to them, and because there is no heat to allow them to heat up their body ( turtles are unable to produce their own body heat). If during a cold season you find a turtle that is hibernating, usually the best thing that you can do is to leave it to hibernate peacefully. Usually, turtles know how to choose a good spot to hibernate, so they are probably just fine. If you want to know more about turtle hibernation, I’ve written a more in-depth article that covers the subject, In this article, I cover why turtles hibernate, how hibernation takes place, how aquatic turtles hibernate, how land turtles hibernate, how sea turtles hibernate, what is brumation, and many other important and interesting things about hibernation: Do Turtles Hibernate?
Conclusion
This article should cover every basic thing about the native turtles of California. But if you have a question about something that you couldn’t find in the article you should leave a comment, I will do my best to answer it as soon as possible.
If you want to know more facts about turtles you can always check out the category: Turtle Facts. Or if you are a turtle owner and you want to know more about how to properly take care of a turtle or a tortoise you can always check the Care Guides Section or the Recommended Products Section.
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Hello, I found a desert tortoise literally walking down an alley in the hood. Where should I take this little feller?
It’s great that you want to help the desert tortoise you found. However, it’s important to note that desert tortoises are a protected species, and taking them from their natural habitat or relocating them can be illegal without proper permits and authorization.
Here are some steps you should consider:
Observe the Tortoise: If it’s not in immediate danger and is in a safe location, you may simply want to observe it for a while. It might just be moving through the area.
Contact Local Authorities: In many areas, there are specific agencies or organizations responsible for dealing with displaced desert tortoises. Check with your local wildlife or conservation department or a local herpetological society. They can provide guidance on how to proceed and may even come to relocate the tortoise if necessary.
Do Not Relocate Without Authorization: It’s essential to resist the urge to relocate the tortoise yourself. Desert tortoises have specific habitat and dietary requirements, and moving them can disrupt their natural behaviors and possibly spread diseases. Relocation must be carried out by trained professionals.
Ensure Safety: While waiting for assistance, make sure the tortoise is safe from potential hazards, such as vehicles and predators.
Remember that desert tortoises are a threatened species and are protected under state and federal laws. Therefore, it’s important to follow the proper procedures for dealing with them. Your local wildlife authorities can provide the best guidance on how to proceed.