Painted Turtle

Description:

The adult painted turtle female is 10–25 cm (4–10 in) long; the male is smaller. The turtle's top shell is dark and smooth, without a ridge. Its skin is olive to black with red, orange, or yellow stripes on its extremities. The subspecies can be distinguished by their shells: the eastern has straight-aligned top shell segments; the midland has a large gray mark on the bottom shell; the southern has a red line on the top shell; the western has a red pattern on the bottom shell

Habitat:

To thrive, painted turtles need fresh waters with soft bottoms, basking sites, and aquatic vegetation. They find their homes in shallow waters with slow-moving currents, such as creeks, marshes, ponds, and the shores of lakes. The subspecies have evolved different habitat preferences.[40] The eastern painted turtle is very aquatic, leaving the immediate vicinity of its water body only when forced by drought to migrate.[60] Along the Atlantic, painted turtles have appeared in brackish waters.

Notes:

I believe this is a female laying eggs. She was wedged in a hole, right beside my mothers grave. That was so weird. I will keep tabs to see if any little ones are born.