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Posted by draybar on April 24, 2003 at 21:27:01:
In Reply to: Identification question posted by checker on April 23, 2003 at 20:38:58:
:In South Philadelphia, where I work. There is a group of lakes in a picnic park. There is always a lot of turtles basking at the end of one of the lakes, where all kinds of debris piles up. There is one turtle I can't identify.
:The shell is black and smooth just like a painted, but thicker and more boxy like a mud turtle, there is a very prominent red ear slash just like an RES, but has the yellow pinstriping on the neck like a painted. Many times I'll see many varities basking. RES, Eastern painteds, Muds, I even saw a Diamondback Terrapin once(obviously very blind but apparently quite healthy), and the turtle I just described. And there is not just one of them. There's a couple of them of different sizes.
:Any ideas?
:Checker.
There are many different appearances in Red-Eared Sliders or any of the Trachemys. Just like there are many different appearances in... say.. blondes.
So, first off I would be most inclined to say Red-Eared. Now, when you consider that many sliders loose the colors of the shells as they age then you can most definitely be seeing old specimens or just a dark group. Sometimes you will find some with excellent green shells while some will just have rather dull shells.
They could, in a sense, be selective breeding themselves. A couple of dark specimens could have bred creating a few more dark specimens in their clutch and then these could have produced a few more...etc ..etc....lol
So, with the red ears I would just have to lean towards Red-Eared Sliders.
There is also another possibility. They could even be South American or Jamaican or any number of non locals that were released in the ponds and have interbred with the locals.
But all and all it still leads us back to Trachemys.
Sorry to ramble
Jimmy
