Common Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus)

County List:

Rule:

Mixed Forested/Nonforested or Nonforested Landscapes

      (Lake or Pond or River)

Habitat List:

view size class definitions

Literature:

Many musk turtle populations have been reduced or eliminated by lakeshore developments and aquatic weed control programs.

These turtles inhabit shallow, slow-moving or quiet waters with some aquatic vegetation. In Michigan they prefer the shallows of lakes with marl, sand, or gravel bottoms Poor swimmers, they usually crawl along the bottom, nosing under or around objects for food. Musk turtles rarely bask out of water but may occasionally climb out onto rocks or emergent branches to sun themselves. during the winter they are most active in the early morning and in the evening, and some populations are quite nocturnal.

Musk turtles eat a wide assortment of foods, always underwater. Included in their diet are insects, snails, crayfish, worms, tadpoles, and aquatic plants.

Female musk turtles nest from May to August. Some dig a normal nest cavity, but others simply deposit their eggs under shoreline debris or fallen logs, or in the sides of muskrat houses.

Habitat: Permanent bodies of water: still, shallow, clear lakes, ponds, and rivers, muddy bottoms preferred. Frequently found in reservoirs. Refrains from using temporary water sources. Formerly thought to refrain from using water with fluctuating levels. Not in streams at higher elevations in the East. Large populations found in areas with abundant aquatic vegetation. Scattered records for occurrence in marshes, swamps, bogs, sloughs. Usually gregarious when hibernating in bottom mud, debris, beneath rocks in river bottoms, or in river banks when the temperature falls below 50°F.

Special Habitat Requirements: Permanent water bodies. Exclusively aquatic except when laying eggs.

Eggs laid in muck, rotted logs, stumps, sandy soil, grass, or on the ground at lake margins.

Habitat: Musk turtles are strictly aquatic and prefer permanent bodies of water such as ponds, shallow lakes, and slow-moving, shallow streams and marshes They prefer a rather narrow range of temperatures and will move to deeper, cooler water if water temperatures rise much above 75°F. During the day they bask just below the water surface and spend their mornings and early evenings foraging for food and feeding. In the fall, when water temperatures drop below 50°F, musk turtles begin to search for a place to hibernate a few centimeters under the mud in shallow water.

Lay eggs in loamy sand, muskrat lodges, or in rotting stumps.