North GroundHuntNorth Ground Hunt — return to North Ground
Species authority page

Painted turtle

Chrysemys picta · Turtles · Reptiles

Painted turtle (Chrysemys picta): Smooth, relatively flat, unkeeled shell, 4-8 in (about 9-25 cm), with a non-serrated rear edge; olive-green to brown or black with thin red or orange lines and red edges on the marginals. Skin olive to black with yellow stripes on the head, neck, limbs and tail; yellow eyes with a dark bar through the pupil. This profile does not establish whether taking it is legal anywhere.

Check rules for a place and date

Certified rules currently represented in Hunt: coverage in development. This is coverage, not a legal answer.

Painted turtle on a log
Photo by Mark Valentine on Unsplash
Scientific name
Chrysemys picta
Family
Emydidae
In North America
Native
Range
Only turtle spanning North America coast to coast: from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick across southern Canada to Vancouver Island, and through most of the eastern and central US to the Gulf Coast in Louisiana; a few isolated populations occur in the southwest US and Mexico.
Biology

How to identify it

Smooth, relatively flat, unkeeled shell, 4-8 in (about 9-25 cm), with a non-serrated rear edge; olive-green to brown or black with thin red or orange lines and red edges on the marginals. [1][2][3][4]

Skin olive to black with yellow stripes on the head, neck, limbs and tail; yellow eyes with a dark bar through the pupil. [1][2][3][4]

Plastron is red or orange with dark markings that fade with age (a large grey 'oak leaf' blotch in the western form). [1][2][3][4]

Males are smaller than females, with thicker tails and elongated foreclaws. [1][2][3][4]

Field knowledge

Where it lives

Slow-moving, shallow fresh water with soft bottoms and dense aquatic vegetation: marshes, ponds, shallow lake bays, slow rivers and backwaters. [1][2][3][4]

Needs basking sites; nests in soft soil up to several hundred metres from water. [1][2][3][4]

Field knowledge

How it behaves

Diurnal; basks in large groups on logs and rocks (sometimes 50 stacked on one log) and dives quickly at danger. [1][2][3][4]

Active about March (late April-May in the far north) to October; overwinters buried in mud at the bottom of wetlands. [1][2][3][4]

Omnivore eating plants, algae, aquatic insects, fish and crustaceans, feeding only in water. [1][2][3][4]

Regulatory handoff

Limited legal take

Legal take of this species exists only under narrow conditions — a quota, a draw, a permit, a small area, or animals released or held on private land — set by the authorities below. Nowhere else is a legal opportunity implied, and Hunt shows one only where a certified rule establishes it.

Where legal take is listed

Being listed is not an open season. Seasons, zones, licences, methods and limits decide whether this animal may be taken on a given day and place — check Hunt or the authority before you go. Listings read 2026-09-30.

Geospatial intelligence

Where it is found

Only turtle spanning North America coast to coast: from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick across southern Canada to Vancouver Island, and through most of the eastern and central US to the Gulf Coast in Louisiana; a few isolated populations occur in the southwest US and Mexico.

Biology

Sources

Every claim above is attributed to one of these published sources.

  1. NatureServe · reviewed 2026-09-30

    NatureServe

  2. Amphibians and Reptiles of South Dakota (online atlas) · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Amphibians and Reptiles of South Dakota (online atlas)

  3. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources · reviewed 2026-09-30

    Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources

  4. University of Michigan Museum of Zoology · reviewed 2026-09-30

    University of Michigan Museum of Zoology