Ringed Map Turtle

1 Overview

The Ringed Map Turtle is a member of the map-turtle family. Its looks are vivid but its numbers are small, and the price is relatively high — usually around 5000 RMB. It is rather nervous and needs a quiet environment; it is a strong swimmer and adapts to deep water.

Chinese Name: Ringed Map Turtle

Binomial: Graptemys oculifera

Distribution: the Pearl River of Mississippi and Louisiana, USA.

Appearance: carapace deep olive-green with prominent black spine-like projections on the keel. Each costal scute carries a yellow or orange ring with a black border.

Reproduction: little is known. Females lay on sandy banks in early June and may lay a second clutch later.

Habitat: it mostly lives in narrow, fast-flowing rivers with sandy/muddy bottoms and abundant snags and logs.

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Emydidae

Genus: Graptemys

2 Physical Characteristics

It has the typical map-turtle shell; the shell colour is its biggest feature, with yellow ringed patterns — circle after circle, very distinctive.

Map-turtle traits: map turtles resemble the more common sliders and painted turtles in body shape, but differ in having a clear central keel, which in many species is more like large spines or knobs reaching up and back — giving them the other common name ‘sawback turtle’. Most also have rear marginal scutes that project backward, making the shell rear edge clearly serrated. The most striking difference is the fine lines on skin and scutes that give the ‘map’ name, looking like contour lines and road maps.

The Ringed Map Turtle’s carapace has a large yellow or orange ring on each scute, black-bordered. The plastron is yellow to orange with olive patterning along the seams. Both sides behind the eyes carry large yellow spots of variable shape; two broad neck stripes extend to behind the eyes.

3 General Care

Its wild survival is worrying, and human capture further reduces numbers. Beginners who keep it without understanding may drive the population ever lower.

Status: because their range is limited, map turtles are constantly at risk. Habitat degradation can strongly affect these small populations. Agricultural competition, waste from upstream industrial and urban areas, and large-scale riverside development all hit local map turtles. Collecting wildlife, especially rare species, also drives declines. Protecting only the places where map turtles appear is not enough — because they live in rivers, not ponds or lakes, what happens upstream, beyond the reserve, also affects them greatly. This is not unique to map turtles, but it must be solved so the next generation can enjoy observing these shy, rare and vivid turtles in nature.

Captive difficulty: map turtles are less commonly kept than sliders and painted turtles; even then often single individuals, usually males (perhaps because males are smaller). They can do well in captivity if cared for correctly — in most cases their care resembles that of sliders and painted turtles. Compared with other water turtles, map turtles tolerate poor water quality poorly, so water must be kept clean for their health.

4 Captive Habitat

Its native environment is like most map turtles, so setup can follow other map turtles — water quality, temperature control, space and so on.

Native environment: map-turtle habitat varies by species. Compared with ponds and lakes, many seem to prefer rivers. In fact some species are limited to a single river system. Whatever the habitat, ample basking sites are essential.

Captive environment: the size and number of turtles decide the setup. For large females or several turtles, a large tub or pool is best, with many sizes and shapes available. In most regions map turtles can be kept outdoors with proper escape-proofing and winter preparation. Outdoors, bury a fibreglass tank or pool in the ground, fence it around to prevent escape and protect from predators. Outdoor setups are closest to nature and help captive breeding. Indoor setups work too, but because the animals are large the space must be big.

5 Feeding

It is a typical omnivore; in captivity keep food varied and nutritious. There are many choices — do not feed only pellets, which is bad for it. It is carnivore-leaning, so offer more meat.

In nature most map-turtle species are omnivorous, but the percentage of food groups varies by species and sometimes even between sexes of the same species. In wide-jawed species, molluscs and snails make up a large share — especially in females, which have larger heads and jaws. Other foods include insects, crayfish, worms, aquatic plants and sometimes fish and carrion. In captivity they are known to eat fish, crustaceans and shellfish, chicken, liver, some lettuce, insects and other items.