Like several other species of turtles, Spotted Turtles are native to Southern Canada and the Eastern United States. Spotted Turtles consist of a single species. There aren’t any subspecies as with other turtles native to the same region.Even though they are only semi-aquatic, spotted turtles only consume their food in the water. They may hunt or forage for their meals in the water on land but they will not eat what they find until they get it into the water. They are omnivorous, so they will eat both meat and plants. As baby turtles, they are carnivorous though. This is normal for baby turtles of all species.
Spotted Turtles are considered a small species. The females will only grow to be 3 to 5 inches (8-12 cm). Males are traditionally a little smaller than the females.
Spotted Turtles are distinguishable by their top shells, which are wide, smooth, low and dark. They range in color from black to bluish black. In most instances, the entire turtle is covered with spots. Head, tails, limbs and shell are usually full of small, round yellow spots.
The fact that not all Spotted Turtles are actually spotted is an interesting one. There is no known reason for why the number of spots on each turtle can vary so widely. One may be liberally covered in yellow dots and another may be completely void of any spots. There are theories about size, sex, habitat and diet, but nothing that has been able to be confirmed.
A fascinating bit of trivia about Spotted Turtles is that the left side of the upper shell always has more spots than the right side. The reason why is not known for this either. The bottom shell on a Spotted Turtle is either yellow or orange-yellow. It is almost the reverse of the top shell since each section of the bottom shell has a black dot on it. Over time, the spots spread and the bottom shell turns completely black with age.
Spotted Turtles prefer to inhabit areas with shallow fresh water. Some examples of their favorites include flooded forests, marshes, wet meadows, bogs and woodland streams. Find out if Spotted Turtles are native to your area and then try to find them. Since they are smaller, they will probably be harder to see. You probably won’t get close enough to count the spots, but you may be able to get a good picture. You can count the spots that way and see if the left-side spots outnumber the right-side spots. Seeing a group of Spotted Turtles would make the trip well worth it.