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Hello all!

I'm a first-time turtler, after having watched what I believe to be a baby RES dropped by a seagull on the pavement to crack his shell at my office yesterday afternoon. The little guy was a bit dazed and fortunately didn't get picked up for a second pass by the gull. Instead, I brought him home and immediately set out to do some turtle research.

My turtle's shell is approximately 1.25" long along the dorsal ridge (no idea if that's what it's called, I'm a horse person...) - I'm guessing he hatched this spring?

Over the last 24 hours, his color has changed dramatically:

At time of pick up from Gull Attack, he was very dark olive all over, with the yellow lines on his skin, and minimal red anywhere except the tips of his shell, on the underside.

After I got him home and into some water (I have a temporary 2 gallon tank, until I go to the pet store later today), he has lightened and I can now see olive rings around his top-shell scales

As of this morning, after a night in 65 degree water (I put a stone he was able to climb up on, but never saw him get out of the water), he now has beautiful reds on the upper parts of his limbs, and a vibrant red all around the underside of his shell's edge.

His belly is yellow, and two black kidney bean shaped scales(??) at the very center are dark.


In general, he is fairly fearless (didn't hide once, except when my kitten got very very close to his face), and quite friendly - ever time I picked him up, his head would stretch way out and he'd watch with interest. He enjoys speed crawling across my hands and up my arms. I had him in the bathtub with a small bit of water while I made up his temporary tank last night, and he zoomed all over the place, seeming to be quite pleased. After I got him into his temporary tank, he floated as close to the light as he could, but didn't appear distressed of scared.

This morning, I found two quarter inch floating "skin" type residues - I assumed they were shedding material from his shell?


I offered him some fresh red and green lettuce (half a leaf of each), though haven't seen him interested in either.


After work today, I plan on going to find a tank, UVA/B light, better basking platform, and proper food.

Any helpful hints, tricks, or general health information would be great! In particular, I'm curious about the color differences I've been seeing, and what might be causing his general disinterest in lettuce (though I'm not too too concerned, as I figure this is more to do with being in a new and strange environment).
** I have been washing my hands after each handling, as I read that young turtles have a salmonella risk.

Any photos of your little girl/guy? If you can take photos also of the red marks. Wow it has been through a trama period with the seagull. I would recommend to get it started feeding really well, to go buy some frozen blood worms to start and you may want after that to get your choice of turtle pellets first before introducing veggie pieces. Other things, at least a 10 gallon tank being that he is alone, uva and uvb lights. UVB is very important for their bones growth and healing and a floating dock positioned several inches below the lights. But before you decide on the height of the dock under the lights, please post the tank size and make sure you don't get lights to powerful that the turtle would fry. The water is a bit colder that can slow down its feeding a bit too. The lighting will help warm it. But yes, try frozen blood worms from a fish store, thaw them and he should eat like a buffet. I never seen a baby refuse them to get one started. I would place them on his floating dock near the turtles ramp that they climb up on to begin.

Good luck with him or her. I would love to see some photos please to help identify.

I'll get pictures when I'm home again today -

I got the 10 gal tank set up last night, and he's an only-turtle. So far, I've got it a little over 1/2 filled with water, and I have a basking rock in one corner that he can get up on. The light I have (waiting for a UVA/UVB combo to arrive from amazon today) is an old reptile light (UVA) to at least keep him warm for now.

Today we have healthy looking reds and yellows, although the spots behind his eyes/ears still are yellow - I read that's more typical with males?

Is the wattage of the UVA / UVB combo ok for a ten gallon? Some are more powerful and some are perfect.. But congratulations on your new turtle regardless. You are doing outstanding as a first time turtle owner and I wanted to point that out. Joining these forums asking all the right questions doing your homework and just doing just a great job on providing. Many people do not do their research on the requirements leading to the animals death or improper care and some do their research prior to buying or obtaining one. You however due to the seagull attack, did not have the time to research and went straight into rescue mode which in itself is admirable but then shortly after you begun your research and doing all the right things a proper owner of these animals should do.

Congratulations again and welcome to these forums.

A picture from Tuesday, probably an hour after rescue.

Looks like it is doing very well overall and active. My first look visually indicated that it was a baby ouachita map turtle or in the map turtle family in general. Basically from the gulf coast region of Louisiana and texas up North to the Mid West is where ouachita are commonly found. Not sure its locality but I see it confirmed as a map turtle. Long slender tail also is a good indicator on this species. It looks active though as it is interested in exploring. Though similar to red ears, females average in maturity to be about 10 inches to the males around 5 inches. It is a really nice looking turtle overall and appears to be in good health despite the gull attack.

I need a few more pics from different angles to help you ID him/her, though I'm usually terrible at it

steve wrote:I need a few more pics from different angles to help you ID him/her, though I'm usually terrible at it

lololol to funny but understandable. Its kinda hard without more photos. I went by what she reported was the " dorsal ridge " and I took it as the spinal line above the carapax which looks like tiny spikes point backwards but not sure with the angle. Hard to see with the carapax being dark but it looks like indications of it and then the positioning of what appears to be the positioning of the yellowish / white spots around the head is typical locations of a lot of ouachita map turtles. I will see if I can get a photo of one to compare in a moment.

Here is one, nice one at that and compare it to above. This is a ouachita map turtle

Ah, sorry -- with horses, a dorsal stripe refers to a stripe that starts at the wither (base of neck, top of back) and goes all the way down the spine to the tail. He definitely doesn't have ridges in the center of his shell, but the edges are that same "jagged" style - not smooth/flat at the ends.

Some of these have better lighting than others...











This last photo I took this morning in better light, trying to get what I think looks like shell trauma in better focus? If you look at the right side of the image, same line of scales with the dark ones at the center of his belly, you'll see what looks like a little pre-crack stress line. I'm wondering if that maybe showed up from how he hit the earth when he was dropped? Should I be concerned about this, or just monitor? (sorry if the picture isn't great...he was squirming haha)

Ahhhh much better photos overall in detail and like the map turtles on the first photo you posted, the splotches on its markings do match that but now that you described it well and the new photos with the redish areas around the bottom shell standing out and the belly markings as well as its heads striping places it as the species of a baby eastern painted turtle. Its been about 7 years since I worked with this species . Some of the eastern painted turtles have gorgeous red patterns on their legs as well but not all. They are very unique overall. I seen some very large wild ones and not sure how large they get but that is some basic research.

Cool! This guy has red legs, at the top, but they become yellow.

kelimation wrote:Cool! This guy has red legs, at the top, but they become yellow.

There is eastern , western and southern painted turtles and some of the painted species have red bottom shells as well. In many of the images you see with alligators in the wild on logs, you will see the painted turtles as their hangout buddies lol. I went on and looked at their average size and it seems to be between 7 to 8 inches depending on locality with the males being a tad bit smaller. It is without question a painted turtle however and a cute turtle as well...... Enjoy !