Mississippi Map Turtles
Range/Habitat: Mississippi Valley and surrounding states to Texas. They prefer heavily vegetative large moving bodies of water over small still moving ponds or creeks.
Diet: These turtles are omnivorous and will feed on aquatic plants as well as animals like snails, clams, insects, crustaceans, mollusks, and fish.
Expected Lifespan: In captivity, map turtles have been recorded living over 30 years
- Map turtles are sometimes referred to as “sawback” turtles due to the raised, saw-like appearance on their carapacial ridge.
- Their carapacial ridge is the first indication of shell development in the embryonic stage of turtle growth in the eggshell.
- Most of these turtles will not grow more than 10 inches in length. They are very skittish, in our nature center when you first walk through the door one of the first sounds you hear is our map turtles jumping off their platform to the safety of the water.
- These turtles have lines on their shells that resemble the paths on a map.