Yellow-bellied sliders vs cooters!!

Yellow bellied sliders are a common species readily available in the pet trade, and so are Florida/peninsula cooters and river cooters. Why are they so easily confused? Here I’ll go over some identifying characteristics and give you a good look at these awesome turtles

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Please excuse the pollen and my stuffy sinus congestion!

[@A_ree_ta]

I think my YBS is actually an eastern river cooter 😂 SHE was sold to me as a male YBS at 6 months old. She’s 5 now! And this would have made a lot more sense during the growth phase!

[@xpr3yshark4x33]

How many gallon tank do you have for it

[@TheCross4All]

Wow thank you! My friend and i was driving the other day when we passed a turtle on the road. So we wanted to help her across the road so she would not get hit. Too late though, she had already been hit. Crushed a hole in her Carapace about 2 inches around, a crack from it down her right Bridge and running through her Plastron ending up right behind her right leg. So we took her to a vet who would not deal with her. Tried to call Wildlife and Fisheries but nothing there in our area. We kept her out of water and, the crack not being too wide, we went ahead and covered the crush and the crack with epoxy. Keeping her Dry-Docked now watching for signs of infection and the epoxy to cure. In the meantime we needed to find out what kind of turtle she is. I did think she was a Yellow Belly but wanted to be sure. Thanks to you we now know that she is a River Cooter. I have a pond, what i would like to know is if i release her in it will she be happy or will she try to go back to where we picked her up? I'd rather release her in a safer area like my pond away from roads if possible but will bring her back where she was found if it's best for her. Any advice will be appreciated.

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Depending on the injury, location of its natural habitat and your state laws, it could go either way. You can try letting her in your pond, just make sure its properly fenced, and hopefully she will bask and eat.please keep me updated

[@TheCross4All]

@@GregsTurtleHaven She (named her Margo a 9 1/2 inch female) was picked up off a highway only 3 miles from my home in Mississippi so there should be no problem as far as natural habitat. I have placed her in water just hours ago and she seems to have a buoyancy problem. One of my pet turtles, years ago, developed this after being Dry-Docked. But the issue resolved itself within 12 hours, so i'm hoping this will also clear up with this River Cooter. If all goes well with her i think i will release her in the pond and keep watch for her as best i can. I wish there was more information on how long to keep one that has been patched with epoxy. But for now she seems alert and active. Yes i will keep you updated, thank you for your reply and help.

[@awilson9722]

Awesome video thank you! We rescued a couple of what appeared to be newly hatched sliders 2 days ago, what we thought were what my dad called "yellow eared" sliders which I found out doing research these past 2 days are not a real name of anything. I was thinking maybe yellow bellied sliders yesterday as I have been researching, but the markings on their heads just didn't look right so I kept going. This video just answered my question completely! What we have are 2, I think hatchling as they are between the size of a quarter and a 50¢ piece, Eastern River Cooters, the 3rd one you showed. I live in Oklahoma, down the street from the creek that runs into the edge of town. I have been researching to find out how to take care of these 2 little guys for a month or 2 until they finish the construction of the bridge they are replacing over the creek. I think that a nest of hatchlings got dug up when they were digging out the sides to expand the original bridge and they have the water drained from the area right now. We were mowing the front yard when my son saw a tiny little turtle trying to make its way down the road in front of our house, we are 2 blocks from the bridge. The little guy was covered in dried mud and could barely move so my son (who is 12) came running and asked if we could help it... After I saw it I decided we would intervene as there was no way for the turtle to get off the road as it couldn't get up the curb anywhere and there is no where to release him right now. He worried that there were more and asked if he could look for more, I let him... We walked up towards the bridge and found one more that we thought was dead but wasn't, it just wasn't moving anymore, too much dried mud caked all over making it hard for it to move and 3 more that had been run over and squished all of them on the road. So now I am here researching to set them up properly just as a temporary thing until we can either find a good place to release them or until the bridge is finished and is safe again. Right now they are in an extra 10gal tank, half full of water with a DYI ramp/island area, I used to use as a quarentine tank before I upgraded to a 20 for that. It's still too cold at night for them by what I am reading I think they were supposed to stay in their nest area for a couple more weeks or so. At least new sliders do that if born before the nights warm up into the 70's around here.... Anyway, thank you for such a great video that finally gave me the right answer of what they are so that I can research for their temporary care specifically! Sorry this comment was so long lol, I'm not usually this bad about rambling!

[@carolyn9824]

Love you turtles. I love their name "Cooters." They are just beautiful.

[@patrickpatrick3321]

Keep up the channel Greg love your shows.

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Thank you for watching!

[@DalmaJones]

Thanks so much! Think I just found out after having my girl for 15years that she's not a yellow bellies at all!

[@kimberlybrown5257]

Thanks so much for this. Sliders vs Cooters has been a struggle for years

[@dianakezia869]

this is very helpful!!! thank you so much. 💚

[@markjosephescamillas4903]

Definitely helped me out! Thanks! :)

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Mark Joseph Escamillas glad I could help, thanks for watching!!

[@markjosephescamillas4903]

@@GregsTurtleHaven absolutely! Waiting for more videos! :)

[@vaiterius]

Very helpful thank you

[@apsaquatics4402]

Great info! I’m still trying to tell the difference on mine lol.

[@WeekendsOutsideFL]

We have what I thought was a yellow bellied until now.... it has the shell shape in the rear more even, not jagged and closer to that of the cooter. But, the belly is Orange-ish and the sides of the under shell and feet and tail has lots of red and red stripes but the head is yellow and green like all these.

[@akacyndi4318]

I have a river cooter myself and my sister too and they r babies I personally think they r adorable and happy! Best turtles ever, but I can’t say that certainly since we have two other turtles! A softshell and Box turtle.. we love turtles! We also have a pup I don’t wanna exclude her!

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Sounds like a fun crew!

[@akacyndi4318]

Gregs Turtle Haven It is very fun but they are mischievous

[@modestalchemist]

omg thank you! i have 2 yellow belly sliders and i thought the sawtooth bits on the shell was something wrong with them because all the videos i saw showed turtles that didn't have that. i'm over here freaking out about bone disease, and they're fine.

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Glad to help

[@madginger3634]

My cooter looked a little like the eastern river cooter. it was difficult to identify. Could you keep cooters with fish? Mine ignored fish but ate insects, turtle chow and fish food and loved it.

[@xpr3yshark4x33]

I have a florida cooter and I am getting a eastern musk

[@MrJDadBlack]

Do you ever get any hybrid hatchlings besides your snapping turtle hybrid? If so which species tend to hybrid breed the most?

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

I don’t produce hybrids

[@Blackratsnake]

How can you tell if your yellow belly slider is 100 percent pure and not hybridized with a red ear slider?

[@logimoe]

so cute

[@jeraca8463]

Is there such a thing as a yellow bellied cooter hybrid?? My kid brought home a turtle, saying it's a "peninsular river cooter" but it has 3 dark spots on its belly. ,could it be hybrid or wrongly identified?

[@kapytanhook]

I don't think you can look at hatchings and make the determination. I think they shed those, same with the wild vibrant patterns on their backs. I say that because I also have a peninsula cooter with markings on the belly. My older yellowbelly had them too but lost them a few years in. The yellowbelly was sold so I can't confirm it 100% I could also be the victim of bad identification or hybridization

[@rexb5007]

Do you brumate the yellow belly slider outside in the winter?

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Yep, every year

[@rexb5007]

@@GregsTurtleHaven oke thanks, witch state do you live, because here in the netherlands we have a sea climate so there are no freezing cold winter and not extreme long summers so i think they could brumate here?

[@que_bta880]

Ur da best bcuz Google wasn't no help

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Glad I could help!

[@treywaves679]

So all of them stay in the same pond?

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Yes, all the cooters and sliders

[@treywaves679]

Kool thanks!

[@guerrerodejesucristo5687]

@@GregsTurtleHaven gta vice city

[@TREAL406]

Hello. Do Cooters get larger Than Sliders.

[@GregsTurtleHaven]

Yes, generally in North America cooters get larger than sliders. Average adult female slider shell lengths are 8-10”, while cooters can be 14” or more

[@TREAL406]

@GregsTurtleHaven Hello. Thank you I have a question Can Two Female Cooters Live in the Same Enclosure and As long as The Encloser is Very Large?

[@elevate_23]

Can those two mate?

[@giggleshappytreefriends6635]

I have a baby one

[@mydude8731]

Can they crossbreed

[@heykinzu]

Yes