Red-Eared Sliders

Photo © Copyright 2003 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Red-Eared Sliders, also known as Red-Eared Turtles, enter hibernation as the leaves are falling. These large (up to nine inch shell length), wary turtles are most often seen basking in groups on logs in lakes and other large bodies of water where the slightest disturbance will cause whole shoals of turtles to slide off their logs and disappear under water.

Red-Eared Sliders are named for the large (usually) red marking on the sides of their heads making identification - even from a distance - easy. When active Red-Eared Sliders apparently feed with equal relish on both aquatic plants and ailing fish but at this time of year with falling temperatures and shortening day length the turtles grow sluggish and retreat to lake bottoms where they burrow into the mud and sleep the winter away.

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