Reptiles

Painted Turtle

Chrysemys picta

Red-trimmed native basker with a glass-smooth shell · Intermediate

Lifespan: 30-40+ years (can reach 50)
Adult size: 10-25 cm / 4-10 in (males much smaller)
Min. habitat: Aquarium 285 L+ / 75 gal+ (100 gal+ for a female) with basking dock
Social needs: Solitary; best kept one per tank
Diet: Omnivore (pellets, insects/worms, aquatic greens)
Time: Medium-High; near-daily feed, heavy filtration
Cost: Medium-High

Overview

The painted turtle is North America's most widespread native turtle, named for the red and yellow markings that edge its smooth, flat, dark olive shell.
It lacks the red ear patch of the red-eared slider and stays noticeably smaller, with males topping out around 10-15 cm (4-6 in) and females around 15-25 cm (6-10 in) depending on subspecies.
Of the four subspecies, the western painted turtle is the largest and the southern the smallest, so ask which one you are buying.

Among the common basking turtles it is the most manageable, but it is still a fully aquatic animal that needs a large filtered tank, heat, UVB and 30 to 40 years of commitment.
Buy only captive-bred stock, because wild collection is restricted or prohibited in many US states, and US federal law bans the sale of any turtle under 4 inches (10 cm) of shell length.
Never release an unwanted painted turtle, and never collect one from a local pond.

A single adult male needs an aquarium of at least 285 litres (75 gallons), while an adult female needs 380 litres (100 gallons) or more, with water at least twice as deep as the shell is long.
Provide a completely dry basking dock under a heat lamp reaching 32-35C (90-95F), with a UVB tube mounted over it and replaced on the manufacturer's schedule.
Hold the water at 24-27C (75-80F) with a guarded submersible heater, keeping juveniles at the warmer end.

Painted turtles are messy, so fit a canister filter rated for at least twice the tank volume and do regular partial water changes.
Their natural range reaches well into Canada, so in much of the US a secure, filtered outdoor pond with a predator-proof perimeter is an excellent adult home.
The classic mistake is buying a coin-sized hatchling a 20-gallon tank and never upgrading, which guarantees stunting, poor water and illness.

Painted turtles are omnivores that can only swallow underwater, so all food must be offered in the water.
Base the diet on a quality aquatic turtle pellet, adding earthworms, crickets, snails and the occasional feeder shrimp for protein, plus aquatic plants such as anacharis and duckweed and dark leafy greens.
Juveniles are strongly carnivorous, while healthy adults should take roughly half their diet as plant matter.

Feed juveniles a small portion daily and adults every two to three days, removing whatever is uneaten within a few minutes.
Float a cuttlebone in the tank for self-serve calcium.
Feeding in a separate tub of tank-temperature water keeps the main tank far cleaner, and resisting the constant begging is essential because obesity is common in painted turtles.

A healthy painted turtle has a hard, smooth shell, clear open eyes, a strong dive and an eager appetite.
The common problems are the standard aquatic-turtle set, namely shell rot from dirty water, soft shell and metabolic bone disease from missing UVB or calcium, respiratory infection shown by gaping, bubbling or lopsided swimming in cold water, and swollen eyes or ear abscesses linked to vitamin A deficiency.
Almost all of these trace back to poor water quality, a failed UVB bulb or an unheated tank, so check equipment before anything else.

Like all turtles they can carry Salmonella, so wash hands after tank work and supervise children closely.
A turtle that floats crookedly, refuses food or basks constantly without entering the water needs a reptile-capable exotics vet promptly.
Find that vet before you buy the turtle, because aquatic-turtle medicine is a specialist skill.

The painted turtle is a devoted basker, and in the wild whole rows of them stack up on logs, so expect yours to spend hours flat out under the lamp.
They are alert and quick, splashing off the dock at any disturbance, but most settle fast in captivity and will swim to the glass begging the moment they associate you with food.
Courting males flutter their unusually long front claws in the female's face, a display you may see aimed at your fingers through the glass.

This is a watching animal, not a handling one, and being picked up is stressful even though painted turtles rarely bite.
Keep one per tank, because they do not need company, and cohabiting turtles multiply the waste load, compete for the dock and often harass each other.
One well-housed painted turtle in a big, clean, sunny-looking tank is the whole point of the species.