Painted Turtle

The Painted Turtle is common in North America. This turtle lives in ponds, lakes, marshes, and slow-moving rivers that have soft, muddy bottoms.

In the wild, this turtle lives from five to ten years; in captivity it can live over twenty years. It spends most of its time in the water but often suns itself while lying on a log, a rock, or the shore. During very cold weather, painted turtles hibernate, burying themselves for months in the mud beneath streams and ponds.