the species tend to be generally larger than the males (Janzen, 1994). This is a common characteristic among reptiles.The diet of all painted turtles varies according to their place in their life cycle. They are carnivores, omnivores and even herbivores during different stages of their lives. A hatchling is almost exclusively a carnivore, with insect larvae and beetles for an average meal. As they mature they begin to dine on plants, while still retaining the carnivorous appetite of their youth. Finally in the latter stages of their lives they give up meat almost entirely and feed primarily on duckweed, algae and lily pads (Dawson, 1998). The animals spend much of the day basking in the sun. They share basking sights. It is not uncommon to see thirty of them on the same log. They prefer to live in soft bottom muddy lakes, swamps, slow moving streams and rivers (Dawson, 1998).Turtles in general have fairly long life cycles. Captive Painted turtles have been known to live well over twenty years. In the wild life expectancy is closer to eight to ten years. For females it takes four to eight years to mature. Males mature much faster reaching reproductive size within two to five years. The age is less important than the size of the actual turtles. When a turtle reaches a certain size it becomes able to reproduce. The time between the expected death and maturation of the females there are only one or two years of reproduction. Courting takes place in April and May, in colder regions the time can be delayed almost all of the way to early autumn. The male swims backward in front of the female while vibrating his claws on her cheeks. Once the sperm has been transmitted to the female she has the ability to postpone fertilization of the eggs, if needs be, for months, even years. This type of adaptation allows the mother to choose when it is safe to lay her eggs (Dawson, 1998). This is a very important item in a creature whos body temperat...
