Spotted Turtle (Clemmys guttata)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      (Pond or River)
   adjacent to:
      (Any Emergent Wetland or Sedge Meadow or Bog)

Habitat List:

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Literature:

This species inhabits small ponds, bogs, sphagnum seepages, and grassy marshes. The primary requirements are clean, shallow water with a mud bottom and ample aquatic and emergent vegetation. Spotted turtles become active quite early in spring and often bask on logs or grass clumps. If disturbed, they dive into the water and hide in mud or aquatic vegetation. Overland movement is common. These turtles are not often seen in summer.

Spotted turtles eat a variety of small animals and plants, including insects, snails, worms, slugs, crayfish, tadpoles, duckweed, algae, and fruit. Most food is taken and eaten underwater.

In June, females move to elevated, open places to nest.

Habitat: In unpolluted, small shallow bodies of water such as woodland streams, wet meadows, bog holes, small ponds, marshes, swamps, roadside ditches, and brackish tidal creeks. In Rhode Island, found in salt marshes and small bogs or ponds with adjacent dry upland oak-pine forest. Prefers areas with aquatic vegetation. Hides in mud and detritus at bottom. Wanders over land. Basks along water's edge on brush piles in water and on logs or vegetation clumps. Often found in cranberry bogs. Hibernates in muddy bottoms during the coldest winter months. May aestivate during hottest periods of summer.

Eggs generally laid in well-drained soil of marshy pastures or tussocks.

Special Habitat Requirements: Unpolluted shallow water.

Habitat: Spotted turtles are generally characterized as aquatic, although they are frequently found wandering over land. In Maine, they have been found in unpolluted, small, shallow wetlands surrounded by dense vegetation such as slow streams, ponds, vernal pools, bog ponds, roadside ditches, and wet meadows. They often cryptically bask along the water's edge, in brush piles, overhanging vegetation, and sphagnum mats and hide in mud and detritus when disturbed. In the north, they hibernate on the bottoms of wetlands during the coldest winter months. In Maine, radio-tagged individuals traveled as much as a half a km overland between wetlands to take advantage of ephemeral food sources. Habitat requirements for the young are unknown and few young spotted turtles have been observed in Maine. Haskins observed Maine spotted turtles nesting in sandy roadsides and dried sphagnum on the margin of a fen, although in nearby New Hampshire they also nest in sandy-loam soils in agricultural fields and disturbed areas.

Eggs laid in sunny well-drained soil.

Development and habitat fragmentation is likely the greatest threat to Maine's population. The great increase in residential development in recent decades has contributed to the construction of many new roads, altering of wetlands, and destruction of upland habitats. Skunks, raccoons, and fox, all efficient predators of spotted turtle nests, have undoubtedly increased as a result of suburbanization. Protecting wetlands, upland corridors between wetlands, and potential nesting areas will be vital to the continued existence of one of Maine's most charming reptiles.