Turtle mommy, hope you see this.....

[moby]

Hi, just wondering if you would take a look at these pics of my sisters 'terrapin' for possible ID purposes? He is 53 yrs old approx, huge

and the sole survivor if 5 that me and my sis' had when we were errr, younger! We think he could be a yellow bellied slider, but could you advise as she has always referred to him as a terrapin and would like to find out his true species.
They were all about 2inches in diameter when we got them. There were two red eared sliders, two like this one and the fifth one which was brown shelled, with brown and yellow stripey skin, and down the centre back was a single ridge not unlike one of those that run down a croc or alligators tail. It also had some very serrated edges to its scutes. The serrations began maybe in front of the back leg area and got progressively bigger as far as I recall around the back end. Have never seen an image of one like it despite searching. Sadly no pics of them as youngsters have survived, if indeed we ever had any! Thanks for your time

 

[cas]

Wow is he big. Maybe @Marshall can help. He rescues turtles.

 

[Big Lou]

Beautiful!

 

[Lisak1]

@Mmathis youre being paged! Although I think she has land turtles she may know what this is.

 

[Mmathis]

@Mmathis youre being paged! Although I think she has land turtles she may know what this is.

@Marshall will probably know, as my knowledge of semi-aquatics is nil. I have sent the pics to a friend who might know, as well.

@moby Were they acquired in the UK?

 

[HARO]

You're probably right on the Yellow-bellied Slider. The last one sounds like a False Map Turtle.
John

 

[moby]

Hi, just got back home, thanks to those who have replied and are trying to help us in our quest!
Yes, they were all bought at the same time here in the UK, this was around 1963 ish when Terrapins as we knew them were often offered for sale here as ideal pets. No one told us at the time they could live for over half a decade and grow to the size of a plate fit to serve a family dinner for four people on!
I assumed Turtlemommy had turtles, ie water dwelling species such as Terrapins as here in the UK land based species are called tortoises! Just another one of those over the pond language anomalies!
Hoping Marshall sees this...thanks everyone, off to google a false map turtle now, I'll let you know if that was him

 

[moby]

Yes, it was a false map turtle! Thanks! I took this one to school after it died and it was placed into a jar of formaldehyde in the science lab, it was still looking at me from the specimen shelf when I left school several years later :-(

 

[Marshall]

Hi, just wondering if you would take a look at these pics of my sisters 'terrapin' for possible ID purposes? He is 53 yrs old approx, huge View attachment 94187 View attachment 94188 and the sole survivor if 5 that me and my sis' had when we were errr, younger! We think he could be a yellow bellied slider, but could you advise as she has always referred to him as a terrapin and would like to find out his true species.
They were all about 2inches in diameter when we got them. There were two red eared sliders, two like this one and the fifth one which was brown shelled, with brown and yellow stripey skin, and down the centre back was a single ridge not unlike one of those that run down a croc or alligators tail. It also had some very serrated edges to its scutes. The serrations began maybe in front of the back leg area and got progressively bigger as far as I recall around the back end. Have never seen an image of one like it despite searching. Sadly no pics of them as youngsters have survived, if indeed we ever had any! Thanks for your time

That is a Yellow Bellied Slider. But I think your "HE" might be a lady... Get a picture of the plastron from an angle but it does not look concave so may be a female.

 

[Marshall]

Here a humongous yellow bellied slider from the rescue

 

[Marshall]

Hi, just got back home, thanks to those who have replied and are trying to help us in our quest!
Yes, they were all bought at the same time here in the UK, this was around 1963 ish when Terrapins as we knew them were often offered for sale here as ideal pets. No one told us at the time they could live for over half a decade and grow to the size of a plate fit to serve a family dinner for four people on!
I assumed Turtlemommy had turtles, ie water dwelling species such as Terrapins as here in the UK land based species are called tortoises! Just another one of those over the pond language anomalies!
Hoping Marshall sees this...thanks everyone, off to google a false map turtle now, I'll let you know if that was him

The one you think is a map turtle, do his ridges/spikes point up or point towards the back at an angle and also is the rim of his carapace/top shell have spikes or is more of a smooth edge ?

 

[gliebig]

You've had him that long? That's so cool!

 

[Nepen]

Here a humongous yellow bellied slider from the rescue View attachment 94219

so cute!!!!

 

[moby]

Thanks for the further replies.
@Marshall. Thanks for the YBS confirmation. The brown shelled one is long since dead along with the other three as mentioned above so sadly the question should say 'did' his ridges point backwards! The answer is, yes, as far as I can recall, and the serrations were around his back end like I said.
We kept them in an indoor aquarium with a light bulb for warmth, they all used to pile up on top of the rocks, the bottom one would decide to go for a swim....and the rest just had to follow as the pile of five collapsed! No one told us of the salmonella dangers either, but we all survived
It's plastron is only slightly concave...but the reason my sister has always thought it to be a male is the long claws. Maybe this could be due to it living in a preformed pool with no access to rocks that would naturally wear its claws down. Does the thickness or length of the tail tell us anything please? The baby one you show is marginally larger than when we bought the five of them 53 years ago. My sister says her son is going to inherit it...however, he doesn't seem amused at that prospect. Thanks for looking in, it's appreciated.

 

[cas]

My sister says her son is going to inherit it...however, he doesn't seem amused at that prospect.