Found this guy. He doesn't ring a bell for me. Not a cooter or red eared. Definitely old. He has no pattern on his skin front set eyes and very very long nails. Very pronounced gular. Map maybe? He has me boggled.
Identification?
- Thread starter tortadise
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He looks like a copper stained Rio Grande cooter to me.
He was walking accross the back yard. There is a huge lond about 400 feet behind our backyard. Very remote. I can try and clean him up and snap some better pictures if he is still in my fish pond.
How about a melanistic chicken turtle?
Its possible. Im wondering if maybe this is a natural morph he has no markings just black. Looks like a pacific pond turtle via google images but waaaaayyy out of its range.
No, male actinemys don't grow those long front claws.
Its possible. Im wondering if maybe this is a natural morph he has no markings just black. Looks like a pacific pond turtle via google images but waaaaayyy out of its range.
emysemys said:
A bit unlikely. Chicken turtles have very smooth marginal scutes.
NOT a map turtle, nor a Pacific Pond. Old melanistic male Cooter. Old males can get so melanistic that most markings are hard to see. The shape of the turtle is about right for a Cooter, and the cusp in the beak fits for Pseudemys gorzugi. This strong cusp is not present in Deirochelys. It is present in Pseudemys alabamensis, nelsoni, rubriventris, and gorzugi. With your location, gorzugi obviously makes the most sense.
I am about 10 hours north of the natural range for Pseudemys gorzugi. Hmmm well he obviously didnt stay in the fish pond so cant clean him up to see any possible markings. Cool guy though was very very old specimen.
My identification method of this guy was the setting of his eyes. They are quite big and round and set in more of forward location rather than a side to side like most the cooters or sliders. I dunno. I kinda wish I kept him but didn't have a 200 gallon tank set up.
My identification method of this guy was the setting of his eyes. They are quite big and round and set in more of forward location rather than a side to side like most the cooters or sliders. I dunno. I kinda wish I kept him but didn't have a 200 gallon tank set up.
tortadise said:
With how common nelsoni and rubriventris are/were in the hobby, one of them could have been released where you are, too. I figure its possible someone snagged a gorzugi hatchling on a "vacation" and eventually released it, too. Definitely looks like a member of the Red-Belly clade, though (which are the 4 species I mentioned above).
That kind of staining is prevalent in turtles living in ponds/lakes with high iron content.
Nice job fellas! ;-)
Well there is for sure a bunch of iron in that pond. Half of it is limestone bottom and walls. Theres a lot of iron deposits in the limestone around here. He was a cool little turtle. Wish i cleaned hi up for a better ID. But thank yall for the comments.
I've kept male gorzugi in the past, and he really does have that look to him.
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