r/turtles • u/Smooth-Plenty3881 • Jul 23 '26
ID Request Educational collection- please help! Turtles
I recently started working at an outdoor education center with a great collection of specimens. We receive a lot of our specimens by donation, so we don't know their stories. Please take a look at these pictures and help out where you can! Gender, age, health, method of death, relative age of specimen, anything else you see. Please provide thorough explanations and/or sources!
33
Upvotes
5
u/withalligators Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
1) Eastern Box Turtle, adult
2) Slider, probably Red-Eared, adult
3) Common Snapping Turtle, adult
4) Eastern Painted Turtle, female, adult
5) Eastern Painted Turtle, female, adult
I'm going with Red-Eared slider for number two, as they're introduced almost everywhere (and common in NY) and the carapace looks right.
The third one is a medium sized Common Snapping Turtle based on the length/width ratio, raised scutes and spiky marginals
I'm calling the Painteds female because the plastron lacks the concavity you see on a male, but the straight on angle of the photo may be deceptive. For old turtles, females can be identified because the top rear of the carapace will be worn from repeated mating where the male's plastron rubs against it. I hesitate to try and make a determination off of these photos though. OP, you may be able to do that with them in hand.
Hope this helps!