Characteristics of the Yellow-Bellied Slider Turtle

Sometimes referred to as dime store turtles, yellow-bellied slider turtles, along with their close relatives, the red-eared sliders, are popular in the pet trade. In fact, collection as pets is the primary threat to the species, although they are still abundant throughout the U.S. and Central and South America, particularly in the east. They are medium-sized turtles, with a mature male's shell reaching a length of 6 inches and the female's shell growing to 10 inches.

  1. Shells

    • A yellow-bellied slider's shell is composed of a series of interlocking modified scales called scutes. The upper shell has about 38 scutes, and the plate that covers the underbelly has 16. As the turtle grows, the scutes enlarge, adding bands of color. The bands, like the rings of a tree, indicate the turtle's age, its health, and the health of its habitat. Scutes are made of keratin -- the same substance that forms human hair and nails, the horns of a rhinoceros and bird feathers.

    Habitat and food

    • Yellow-bellied sliders live in ponds and streams with muddy bottoms where they spend most of the day basking on banks and logs. Females spend more time basking than males because of the extra warmth needed to produce a clutch of eggs. Males spend their time hunting for a mate. Yellow-bellied sliders eat a mix of foods including algae, plant seeds and stems, wild grapes, insects, tadpoles, fish, mollusks and carrion.

    Reproduction

    • When a yellow-bellied slider is ready to mate, its first task is to eliminate the competition. The fight is really just a shoving match where the largest turtle wins and the rivals are seldom seriously injured. Once the competition is out of the way, the male mounts the female and fertilizes the eggs. The female lays six to 15 eggs which hatch in late summer. The female can lay as many as two clutches a year. The eggs hatch in 60 to 80 days.

    Young

    • The young are active until winter. They lean toward a carnivorous diet and gravitate toward vegetation as they age. They spend their first summer and fall feeding and hibernate over winter in their nest where they generally survive freezing temperatures. Juvenile yellow-bellied sliders have a good survival rate, with 81 to 86 percent surviving to adulthood.