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The Sibley Guide to Birds contains marvelous illustrations originally drawn by the author using watercolors. This is a great identification guide, not only for adult birds, but juveniles, also. |
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Red-eared
Slider - Anahuac NWR
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Red-eared
Sliders are the most common aquatic turtles in Texas.
Red-eared
Sliders get their name from the broad red stripe behind
their eye and their habit of sliding into the water when
startled.
Red-eared
Sliders have very poor hearing but are very sensitive to
vibrations, which makes it very difficult to sneak up on
them.
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Physical
Description of Red-eared Slider:
Body
Length: 5 - 11 inches
Weight:
Varies
A
medium-sized turtle with a dark green oval shell, marked
with yellow in younger turtles, green legs with thin yellow
stripes and a green head with a red stripe behind the eye.
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Red-eared
Slider - Avery Island, Louisiana
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Red-eared
Slider - San Bernard NWR |
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A turtle's shell is made up of its ribs joined together and covered
with a thin layer of skin. Each of the ribs is made of jigsaw-like
sections called scutes which grow at the edges. This allows the
turtle to increase in size without outgrowing its shell.
Some
Red-eared Sliders live more than 30 years.
Red-eared
Sliders are found in most permanent slow-moving fresh-water sources
with mud bottoms.
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Red-eared Sliders are cold-blooded and spend much of the day sunning.
Red-eared
Sliders are commonly seen basking in the sun, on logs or masses
of vegetation. When basking sites are in short supply, they may
even pile on top of each other, up to three turtles deep!
Sliders
bury themselves in loose soil or mud during the winter to escape
the cold.
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Pile
of turtles sunning at Anahuac NWR
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Sexual
Maturity: 5 years
Mating Season: March through July*; young turtles hatch in 60
- 75 days
*Females
produce up to 3 clutches of eggs each year
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No.
of Young: 4 - 23 from oval, white eggs with leathery shells**
Young
turtles are mostly carnivorous, gradually switching to vegetation
as they age.
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male sliders have long toenails on their front feet that
they use when courting females. The males swim backwards
in front of females and flutter and fan water over the females'
faces. |
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**The
female will go on shore and dig a shallow hole that is
3 - 10 inches wide where she deposits her eggs and subsequently
covers them with soil and materials to seal the eggs for
protection from predators and the elements.
Young
turtles begin life having to take care of themselves!
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Red-eared
Slider - Algae-covered
Cameron Prairie NWR, Louisiana
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Older turtles are often covered with a thick coat of algae.
NOTE:
Baby
red-eared sliders were once very popular as children's pets
until it was discovered that some of them carried the disease,
salmonella.
It
is now illegal to sell sliders
less than 4 inches in diameter.
MOST
WILD ANIMALS MAKE VERY POOR PETS AND ARE BEST OBSERVED IN THEIR
NATIVE HABITAT.
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