Table of Contents 

What Are Painted Turtles?....................................3

What Do Painted Turtles Look Like?....................4

Where Do Painted Turtles Live?...........................7

What Do Painted Turtles Eat?...............................9

What Do Painted Turtles Do?.............................11

Baby Turtles..........................................................17

Fun Facts...............................................................20

Glossary.................................................................22

References............................................................25

What Are Painted Turtles?

Painted Turtles are a species of turtle. For an animal to be a turtle, it must be a reptile. The reptile's entire body must be enclosed by a shell, like this one!

What Do Painted Turtles Look Like?

Painted Turtles have a smooth, flat shell. Their shells are either brown or dark green. They are a medium sized turtle. They are usually 4-10 inches long. 

They are very colorful turtles! That is where they get their name. Their bodies are green, yellow, and orange.

The bottom of their shells are bright orange with a dark pattern in the middle. 

Where Do Painted Turtles Live?

Painted Turtles live all throughout North America. They live as northern as Canada and as southern as Mexico. 

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Painted Turtles make their habitats in areas with lots of water. Ponds, lakes, marshes, swamps, and slow-moving rivers are all places they can live. 

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What Do Painted Turtles Eat?

Small plants, leaves, small fish, crustaceans, algae, and water insects are all common food sources for Painted Turtles. 

What Do Painted Turtles Do?

Painted Turtles are very social. They stay together in groups called bales. 

Sometimes, you can see over 50 turtles together on a single log! That's a lot of turtles! 

Painted turtles like the sun. They bask in it during day. They get on top of logs or other objects so they can absorb the heat from the sunlight. 

Painted Turtles bask for several hours a day to stay warm. Once they are warm, they are ready for activity. They forage for food until they are too cold, and then they return to bask again.

At night, turtles return to the waters nearby and sleep. They can swim to the bottom of the water to sleep, or sleep on an object underwater.

In the winter, Painted Turtles hibernate. They bury themselves into the soil at the bottom of shallow water or on the shore in wooded areas. They do not breathe during hibernation, but get some oxygen through their skin.