Picolio - Spotted Turtle Info Sheet

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Spotted Turtle Info Sheet

Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)
Click here for photos of our Spotted Turtles

Clemmys is the Greek word for tortoise and guttata is the Latin word for "spotted". My favorite reference placed toward the spotties is The itsy bitsy yellow polka dot turtle. Spotted turtles have shiny black carapaces (top shells) usually littered with yellow polka dots, however, as shown with our male spotty, occasionally there are no visible spots on the carapace. Hatchlings also tend to have less spots than adults. Unlike many aquatics these turtles become more vibrant with age.

Spotted turtles are omnivorous scavengers which feed in the water or on land. The vegetation they consume includes aquatic grasses and filamentous green algae but they also eat aquatic insect larvae, small crustaceans, snails, tadpoles, salamanders and fish.

The carapace of the spotted turtle reaches between 9 and 12.7 cm, making it the smallest turtle found in Canada. This species is frequently seen basking in the cooler Northern spring months (places such as Canada & Michigan), when the air temperature is about 15 C (59 F). Their activity declines when air temperatures exceed 20 C (68 F) and they become dormant at 32 C (89.6 F). About 1.1 in. at hatching

Females:
Can be distinguished by her thin elongated tail, the opening of her cloaca near the base of her tail, and her flat plastron. Horny portion of both jaws yellowish and virtually unmarked. Females have orange eyes.

Males:
Can be distinguished by his extremely thick tail, a concave plastron, and his cloacal opening is nearer the tip of the tail than the base of the tail. Horny portion of both jaws almost completely covered with dark pigment. Males have brown eyes.

This sexual dichromatism is seen in both hatchlings and adults. Meaning, there is usually 'no waiting' to find out the sex of these turtles.

Spotted turtles reach sexual maturity at 7 to 14 years of age, when their carapace is about 8.0 cm to 9 cm (3.15 to 3.5 in) long. It is believed that northern spotties probably take longer to mature than those living farther south.

Courtship and mating activity begins soon after emergence from winter dormancy; in Pennsylvania, Ernst (1982) recorded Spotted Turtle courtship at a water temperature of 8.5°C, while Ontario turtles were courting at a temperature of 2°C (Litzgus and Brooks, 2000). The mating season for spotted turtles in southern Ontario occurs in May and June.

Courtship takes place in shallow water or adjacent land, and involves several males pursuing one female. Male Spotted Turtles may fight each other, presumably over access to females. Courtship involves the male chasing the female under water while nipping and biting her legs and carapace; he then mounts her shell and bites at her head and neck. Copulation occurs in shallow water and may last for an hour (Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997). It is important to note, especially with captive housing, that the males often drown the females during this aggressive mating process. Close observation is required to prevent such a tragedy.

After a successful mate, nesting females seek open, sunny locations that offer moist, but well-drained, soils. If better sites are lacking, nests may also be placed in the tops of sedge hummocks or in accumulations of vegetation (such as decaying leaf litter). Nesting females travel up to 50 m from water in search of a suitable nesting site. Once a suitable location is found, females subsequently dig shallow flask-shaped nests, with their hind feet, in sunny areas to deposit the eggs.

The eggs, 2.5 to 3.4 cm (1 in avg) long, are elliptical and have thin, flexible shells. Incubation requires from 44 to 83 days, with faster development at higher temperatures. Most young emerge from their nests in August or September, but overwintering in the nest has been reported (Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, 1994; Harding, 1997).

Females typically lay only one clutch of from 1 to 8 eggs per year, though a few may lay a second, smaller clutch a few days after the first. Captive females have been reported to lay multiple clutches and far more eggs in a year's time. One captive female from New York produced eight clutches in a thirteen month period, for a total of 42 eggs (J. Czech, pers. comm.). Such reports suggest that female Spotted Turtles are capable of a greater production of eggs than is normally seen in the wild, but are constrained by unknown environmental factors (such as a limited food supply or short activity season).

Spotted turtles have type I temperature-dependent sex determination. The sex of the hatchlings is determined by nest temperature during the middle third of the incubation period; in the lab, cooler experimental temperatures ( 22.5° to 27°C) produced mostly males, and warmer temperatures (30°C) produced only females (Ewert and Nelson, 1991).

The Spotted Turtle can live for up to 40 years.

Last Updated Monday, August 02 2004 @ 12:08 EDT

Do you enjoy scenic drives?

Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata) Click here for photos of our Spotted Turtles

Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)
Click here for photos of our Spotted Turtles