Native Turtles of Oregon (with Pictures)

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.

Oregon is home to 2 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 Oregon:

Northern Pacific Pond Turtle Emys marmorata marmorata

Western Painted Turtle Chrysemys picta bellii

Now let’s take a closer look at the native turtles of Oregon.

The Native Turtles of Oregon

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.

Northern Pacific Pond Turtle (Emys marmorata marmorata)

Description: The Northern Pacific Pond Turtle usually has a dark brown or black upper shell, with no distinctive markings or colors. The lower part is usually yellow with a very little black. The skin of the Northern Pacific Pond Turtle is usually brown and is covered with small yellow 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.

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 Oregon

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.

Oregon 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. Oregon 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 visit this interactive map that will point you to an article on this site that explains as simply as possible the state laws in Oregon 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 Oregon, have laws that protect wild native turtles. You can check out the laws of Oregon 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 Oregon. 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.