Ouachita Map Turtle
Encyclopedia
The Ouachita Map Turtle or Sabine Map Turtle (Graptemys ouachitensis) is a species of turtle found in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. This species’ carapace features a row of low spines, and is serrated on the rim. The carapace is olive, dark brown, or black in coloration with light yellowish markings with dark borders. The plastron color varies from cream to yellow and is patterned with dark lines and swirls. The body color of the False Map Turtle is grayish brown to blackish and is marked with yellowish stripes. The males can grow to be as large as 5 inches. The females can grow to be up to 10 inches.

Diet

Ouachita Map Turtles feed mainly on small aquatic
Aquatic animal
An aquatic animal is an animal, either vertebrate or invertebrate, which lives in water for most or all of its life. It may breathe air or extract its oxygen from that dissolved in water through specialised organs called gills, or directly through its skin. Natural environments and the animals that...

 species such as Shrimp
Shrimp
Shrimp are swimming, decapod crustaceans classified in the infraorder Caridea, found widely around the world in both fresh and salt water. Adult shrimp are filter feeding benthic animals living close to the bottom. They can live in schools and can swim rapidly backwards. Shrimp are an important...

, Insects, Mollusks and fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...

. They also consume Algae
Algae
Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

 and aquatic plants.

Pet Trade

Due to their small size Ouachita Map Turtles are common amongst turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...

 keepers. They can be kept with most other species and can be raised on specialty pellets and dried shrimp. Although they need Heat and UVB they can generally be kept in average sized aquarium
Aquarium
An aquarium is a vivarium consisting of at least one transparent side in which water-dwelling plants or animals are kept. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, marine mammals, turtles, and aquatic plants...

s.
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