Interesting find

[Pine]

Don't know if this is the right place for this.
My wife and I were on a back country road today near a swamp pond area here in Michigan.
I saw in the road a small turtle so I turned around and went back so I could get it out of the road.
I thought it was a eastern painted but when I picked it up, it didn't look right.
So we brought it home to look closer and research online.
It has red stripes on the neck and legs with a faint red strip down the center of the carapace.
The plastron is a burnt yellow to orange with no other marking such as the black mark like a painted turtle.
It looks like a Southern Painted Turtle.
It's about 2" across the carapace and didn't retract at all when I picked it up. Telling me it has been handled.
My wife thinks someone didn't want it and left it near the pond.
It wouldn't survive here in Michigan.
Guess my wife has another turtle in her colection.

[Bogertophis]

Hmm, I'm not that familiar with turtles but I'd agree that if it's not a native species in Michigan then you did the right thing to take it in. Many states show native species
for identification purposes on their websites for the Dept. of Game & Fish.

If you post some pics of it here, others can give you a second opinion as to it's origins.

[Zincubus]

This kinda thread definitely calls for a photo or two


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[bns]

A couple of things...

Not all wild turtles will retract from fear and some that have eaten a large meal cannot do so even if they want too...

Midland painted turtles in your area match the description and it is not uncommon for them to not have any markings on the plastron.


https://www.bing.com/images/search?v...=77&ajaxhist=0