Range: Eastern and Southeast United States.

Habitat: Virtually any body of fresh water, prefers slow moving streams, ponds and lakes.

Natural Diet: Fish and invertebrates

Diet at Rain Forest: Fish and invertebrates, will occasionally eat vegetation.

Size: 4-8" carapace, females tend to be larger than males

Rain Forest Facts: This ubiquitous creature has been maintained by countless millions of children as the "dime store turtle".    Often sold with a small plastic pond outfitted with a bright green palm tree this species introduced more children to the hobby of reptiles as pets than any other animal.

Released into the wild in areas the red eared slider did not naturally occur, this turtle has become introduced around the world, (an Introduced Species) often to the detriment of native wildlife.   An aggressive, fast growing,  feeder the Red-ear slider will often out-compete native animals.

Dimorphic, the male red eared slider will grow long fingernails on the front two arms in an effort to "tickle" the females necks for a breeding courtship ritual.   Additionally the female red ear slider tends to be much larger as an adult than the males.  Both the male and the female red eared slider posses large flipper like rear limbs that allow the turtles to rapidly swim in their aquatic environment.

The female red eared slider will leave the safety of the water to deposit her eggs into the soft sandy soil found along the banks of many slow moving bodies of water.  The eggs require up to 75 days to hatch depending on the soil temperature.

 One very interesting fact about this and certain other reptile species is the fact fact that the sex of the baby turtle can be determined by temperature!!  Depending on the incubation temperature of the eggs all males or all females can be obtained from one clutch of eggs.

The baby turtles face a host of natural predators including skunks, raccoons, bob cats and even fish.  Many a large mouth bass has dined on the young of this species of turtle, predatory birds such as the heron also find the young turtles appetizing.   In the southern parts of it's range the Alligator will eat virtually all sizes of this species.

Status in Wild: Stable in most parts of natural range, any decline in native North American populations have been the result of loss of suitable habitat.  This species has been introduced to other parts of the world as escaped or unwanted pets.  

This species of turtle has been displacing some native species of turtles in China and Asia.