General Introduction of Red Eared Slider

Background

Red-eared slider (scientific name: Trachemys scripta elegans), which is also known as red-eraed terrapin, is one of the most distributed turtle in the world. It is a subspecies of pond slider and belonging to family Emydidae. It is the most popular pet turtle in United Stated and also popular in rest of the world. Its originally came from Southern United States and Nothern Mexico, and now has available in many other places due to the pet release. Figure 1 shows the red-eared slider our group adapted. 

Figure 1: Red Eared Slider adpated by us

General Description

The turtle is a freshwater semi-aquatic turtle with a fairly flat, oval shell and a weakly keeled carapace. Soft waters with muddy bottoms, aquatic vegetation and suitable sites for basking are their prefer habitats. Their colors are range from bright greens and yellow to more muted olives, brown, and some even blacks. Small red stripe can be seen around their ears and this has become the origin of their name. The average length ranges of this species is around 15 to 20 cm (6 to 8 inch) and the longest length it can reach is 40 cm (16 inch). The female species is often larger than male. On the other hand, their lifetime is fall between 20 to 50 years and it has greatly influenced by their living environment.

Sexual Dimorphism

There is some dimorphism between male and females of this species. It is difficult to identify the sex of young red-eared slider because their looks similar. However, the sex of its adults are easier to differentiate as the shells of males are smaller than of females. Male species reached sex maturity when their carapaces reach 90 to 110 mm and females reach maturity when their carapaces reach 160 mm to 200 mm. Besides that, the claws of males are longer than females, which makes them easier to hold on to female for mating. The male tails is usually thicker and longer. Figure 2 has clearly illustrated the differences between male and female species. 

Figure 2: Male and Female Red-Eared Slider

Habitat and Behaviour

The red-eared slider is very adaptable to the environment, even has the ability to hibernate in the winter. It can inhabit in a source of stagnant, warm water, for example lakes, ponds, swamps, creeks, streams or rivers. They can tolerate brackish water, thus they also can be found in coastal waterways. They stay in calm water area where there are some rocks or tree trunks for them to climb on it and rest in the sun. On the other hand, they eat everything, from fish, frogs, insects, vegetation to ducks. Figure 3 shows that the turtles are sun-bathing on the root. 

Figure 3: The turtles are sun-bathing on root

Threats and Control

Due to pet released and their high adaptable ability, their population has been increase in several areas. This turtles are aggressive and bold, and they will compete for foods and habitats with native turtle species. Besides that, they may interbreeding with other similar species and diluted their gene pool. They also can carry some unusual pathogens to their new environment, which will have some great damage apart from turtle themselves. In order to control these turtles, hunting, trapping and collecting eggs is encouraged in some areas. However, these methods have caused overhunting and decline of the species. A better solution in urban areas would be capture-sterilization-release, which would take a long time to work and be an ongoing one. 


References

1. J. Burger, “Red-eared slider turtles ( Trachemys scripta elegans ),” no. December, 2009.
2. www.bcreptiles.com, “Red-eared Slider Scientific name : Trachemys scripta,” pp. 3–5. [online] Available at: http://www.bcreptiles.ca/docs/76E182A811776B7B.pdf [Accessed: 30 April 2016]