Eastern Mud Turtle

Description:

Kinosternon are typically small turtles and to me they all look alike (lol). This one was small, with an all dark carapace and a lighter yellowish plastron. Had some lighter skin on its neck with some dark flecks.

Habitat:

Mud turtles like freshwater habitats. On Matagorda Island we have very few of these habitats, but there are some low-laying areas that fill with rainwater, and we have some artificial dugouts that stay wet throughout most of the year. I suppose that these guys must spend a lot of time in torpor buried in the soil during drought years. They do pop up quickly whenever we get some rain though.

Notes:

I'm not 100% on the ID, so if anybody says different, I'll change it. I've never actually seen a Kinosternon in the wild before, so finding this one was exciting. It took me 3 years before we got enough rain and I was in the right place at the right time.