Florida tortoise
Trachemys scripta
Distribution
North America: Mississippi Valley, Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico and to Kansas and Oklahoma
Habitat
freshwater, marsh, swamp
Incubation
60 to 80 days
Number of eggs
2 to 20 (15 on average)
Longevity
30 years
Weight
2-3 kg
Size
20 cm (male) 28 cm (female)
Diet
omnivorous in adulthood (80-90% herbivore, 10-20% carnivore)
Conservation status
:
Not Threatened
Invasive of our regions…
This turtle is easily recognized by the red or yellow stripes it wears on its temples. While the young are mostly carnivores, the adults eat a greater proportion of plants.
Successful pets, Florida tortoises were imported by the millions to France. But often abandoned in the wild by their owners (they live for about thirty years!), they do not encounter any natural predators in France, proliferate, and threaten the European pond turtle, a local turtle.
You can observe them in the summer in the macaw aviary. Indeed, from October to April, they hibernate, buried in the earth!
