Sternotherus oderatus, also known as the common musk turtle or "stinkpot" is a fascinating little turtle. Beyond it's unassuming carapace lies a interesting natural history, some behavioral traits that are anything but common, and a personality that both feisty - and completely engaging. Stinkpots are small turtles, with two distinguishing beige or yellow stripes that run from the top and bottom nares of their slightly pointed snout and across the side of their face. It has a domed carapace, a slightly hinged plastron, and under its chin and throat are small beard-like barbells.
Ten Facts about Common Musk Turtle
- They breathe from tongue, that's why they can remain in water for months.
- They grow to approximately 8 to 14 cm (about 3 to 5 inches).
- Musk turtles are almost entirely aquatic, spending the vast majority of their time in shallow, heavily vegetated waters of slow moving creeks, or in ponds.
- They are carnivorous, consuming a wide variety of aquatic invertebrates, including crayfish, freshwater clams, snails, and various insects.
- Breeding occurs in the spring.
- The eggs hatch in late summer or early fall. Hatchlings are usually less than one inch long.
- Life may be + 50 years.
- The Common Musk Turtle ranges in Canada in southern Ontario, southern Quebec, and in the Eastern United States from southern Maine in the north, south through to Florida, and west to central Texas, with a disjunct population located in central Wisconsin.
- Fishes, birds, frogs, snakes, cats, like to eat.
- Also known as Stinkpot.
