Western Pond Turtle Biology

Western pond Turtles are named for the marbled pattern on their carapace and skin.  They range in color from brown to olive and tend to darken as they age.
They are usually 4 to 8 inches in length and generally live as long as 40 to 45 years in the wild.

Western Pond Turtles are omnivores with a varied diet. They are foragers; they will eat insects, insect larvae, small fish, frogs, and plants.  They cannot swallow in the air, so they only eat under water.

Western Pond Turtles live in ponds, lakes, slow-moving streams, marshes, irrigation ditches and ephemeral pools. 
While their name implies that they are aquatic, they also spend a good amount of their life on land and are well-adapted to terrestrial conditions.
 Turtles are ectotherms and need to bask in the sunlight to regulate their body temperatures. They will use basking structures such a logs and rocks rising out of the water to sun themselves and thermoregulate.
In the winter they hibernate either on land or in the muddy bottoms of ponds or lakes. When they hibernate on land, they prefer wooded areas where they can bury themselves in decomposing vegetation and soil, or they will hide under logs.
They will also sometimes spend some of the hot summer months in aestivation out of the water.

Females reach sexual maturity between 8 and 12 years of age, generally not until they are at least 6 inches in size.   Turtles mate in the spring, and females then lay their eggs in a nesting site upland from the water.  This upland habitat is critical for Western Pond Turtle breeding. Upland nesting habitat must be within 1/4 mile from aquatic habitat and should consist of shortgrass patches or meadows with a south-facing aspect. The south-facing aspect and absence of canopy cover ensure that the nesting site will recieve optimal sun exposure over the winter incubation period. The eggs will hatch in the fall and the baby turtles will overwinter in the nest before emerging in the spring.