Trachemys Scripta Scripta  

Biological Overview

Habitat  

Found in freshwater lakes, rivers, deepwater swamps, the Carolina bays, and coastal marshes in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina.   

Diet  

Omnivore: diet of worms, small fish, insects, plants, seeds, tadpoles, and crustaceans.  

Role in Ecosystem  

Their diet and basking behavior makes them competitors with other turtles   

Behavior  

Will quickly slide into water when frightened. Will extend neck to catch prey. 

Human Impact

Humans have positive and negative impacts on the slider. Some of the negative impacts include, habitat destruction, fragmentation and alteration; collecting for personal use and commercial use, road mortality, and incidental drowning/capture in fishing year. We as humans can help with this though. A few of the ways that we can help and prevent these things from happening include, protecting and restoring water bodies that turtles live in, putting warnings on roadsides to prevent mortality, and putting signs near fishing areas to prevent capture in fishing. All of these things that we can do to help the turtles can have huge impacts on them. 

Creative Exploration

Yellow and bold,  
Brown and old.  
Under a willow tree,   
so care-free.  

Submerged underwater   
to clear from the hotter.  
The aid from the shade,  
Makes the day better.  

Slowness makes trust,  
Fastness is abrupt.  
You wonder why,  
The turtle won. 

Violet Xiao, Grace Pruitt, Sophia Dao 

Book 2