Water Turtles

Red eared sliders:

Red eared sliders are water turtles that got their name by a red stripe behind their eye. The turtle is a medium turtle with a hard olive colored shell.

The "slider" part of the name comes from its habitat to bask on logs or rocks above the water. If basking places aren't enough for all turtles, the sliders would stand on each other in a pile. As the turtles are spooked easily, they'd slide quickly back to the water if someone comes.

The turtles live in calm and quiet sweet water. Mostly they are found in lakes and swamps.

Sliders live about 30 years, and some live more.

The turtles' natural habitat is in North America and they're common there in all parts except for the west.

At young ages the turtle eats mostly small fish, slowly switching to vegetarian diet at adult life.

At mating season, the males compete over a female and would try to impress her by different activities, including swimming backward.

The sliders can lay up to 23 eggs per a year. The female goes to the beach, dig a small hole and lays the eggs in it, then covers it up. The young turtles hatch after 60 to 75 days. When the young turtles get out of the hole they run to the sea and only the females would come back to this beach, to lay their eggs, when they'd be about 6 years old.

Indian Star Tortoise

The Indian Star Tortoise got its name from his "stars" patterned shell. Each star is placed on a top of a pyramidal bump on the shell.

The "Indian" part came from his original habitat- India.

The female of this species is bigger and has bigger bumps on the shell.

The size of the tortoise is between 15 cm. mostly at males, and 30 cm. mostly at females.

The Indian Star Tortoise is a land turtle and leaves on the ground and not in water, as most turtles live in water.

The tortoise eats mostly grass, but also eats flowers, cactus and fallen fruits.

The tortoise is found on forests in the south and center of India. It is also can be found in places that have monsoon seasons, since it has tolerance for water more than any other land tortoise.

The mating season is when monsoon season occurs. In the dry season their activity is reduced and they'd be active only in late evening or early morning.

When female laid eggs, it digs a small hole in the ground and lays 5-7 eggs, and then it covers the eggs with sand, and leaves.