Received a note the other day from Jeff Werner, an engineer with the Public Works Department in Elk Grove, describing a Western Pond turtle he saw while hiking along the Laguna Creek trail west of Elk Grove Florin Road. This turtle is listed as a species of special concern in California due to their rapidly declining population. The reason for this decline is a loss of habitat. They live in/near ponds and quiet streams with silty substrate (that description fits our watershed to a T). Unfortunately, 90% of these wetlands have been destroyed in California. This speaks to the value of protecting our streams and the corridors around them.
The female lays up to 13 eggs at a time within a few hundred feet of the stream. According to the California Dept. of Fish and Game, where they are still found, many populations no longer produce offspring, the result of disturbed nesting grounds and the predation of you turtles by non-native bullfrogs and black bass. With a life span of over 40 years, the presence of turtles may be a false indication that their populations are healthy.
We are really lucky to share the creeks with these turtles. We should do whatever we can to protect the water quality and creek habitat as well as the important nesting habitat within a few hundred feet of the creek. This will help keep these special reptiles in the Laguna Creek watershed.
Let us know if you have seen a western pond turtle or any other interesting critters durning your hikes on Laguna Creek. Leave a comment below or send us some pictures, we’d love to share what you’ve seen on our website!
Western Pond Turtle Facts
- The Western pond turtle is the only fresh water turtle native to the state of California, but its range is from the extreme western Washington and British Columbia to northern Baja California.
- Scientific Name: Emys marmorata
- Status: California species of special concern
- The home range size of the male western pond turtle averages approximately 2.5 acres, while female and juvenile home ranges are much smaller.
- Provided temperatures remain suitable, western pond turtles remain active all year. In cases of colder temperatures, western pond turtles hibernate in underwater mud.
- Western pond turtles reach reproductive maturity at eight to twelve years of age. Females lay their eggs between March and August in nest sites dug at least four inches (ten centimeters) deep, covering the site with soil and vegetation. Nests
- Females produce 5-13 eggs per clutch.
- Eggs can take up to 80 days to hatch.
- The western pond turtle inhabits a variety of aquatic habitats provided there is permanent, year-round water, some aquatic vegetation, adequate basking sites (vegetation mats, logs, debris, mud banks), and suitable upland habitat for egg laying.
For more information click here.
I’ve also seen non-native Red-Eared Sliders in the creek, probably pets that have been released. They adapt well, but compete for limited territory with native turtles.
We have seen many WPTs at Laguna Creek between Elk Grove Florin & Waterman. Towards to end of spring and early summer we noticed a handful leaving the lower pond area and coming towards the trail or dryer areas. Are they nesting?
Hi Soleil, You are correct. The turtles move upland a bit – usually within a few hundred feet of the water – to build their nest and lay their eggs. That’s one of the reasons that protecting the streamside buffer is SO important. It provides vital habitat for all kinds of critters, including the Western Pond turtle.
On 2/12/14 we stopped to look at green and ochre colored water plants that grow in the shallows on the waterway just to the west of the Laguna Springs bridge. On a large shelf of plants there appeared to be many perfectly shaped stepping stones, some in groups of three. They were pond turtles! There must have been twenty. They all faced the same way and when their heads were out they stretched towards the sun.
There is a pond on some private land in front of our deck near Gerber Road and Vineyard Road.It is a natural Vernal pool that we dug out and deepened nearly forty years ago when my family was leasing this land.It has been natural and untouched since then but we keep it filled with water year around from a water line we put in many years ago.Mosquito Abatement vector control in Elk Grove seeds it yearly with mosquito fish. In all the many years we’ve lived on this land ,the pond has attracted many forms of waterfowl and other wildlife but recently I was very surprised to see basking in the sun on a log from a fallen tree what appeared to be a turtle.Upon getting a closer look there was no question about it. A few weeks later my wife and I noticed not one ,but two turtles on the log basking in the Sun. At least one can be seen in the same spot on this log almost everyday during warm sunny daylight hours. Although the pond is located in a large wetlands area containing many vernal pools which held a large amount of water from this year’s heavy rains,I cannot imagine where these Turtles came from and how they ended up in this pond. Most of the year it is all dry Chaparral for miles around .I wonder if this is an unusual sighting.We no longer lease this property which was once used for hay production.It’s dormant now and I understand that a corridor through these wetlands including the pond in front of our deck has been set aside as wildlife habitat and if Developers ever obtained this land it cannot be developed. Does the presence of these Turtles (if they are indigenous and wild and not someone’s escaped pets) add more weight to protecting this wildlife habitat area as it was zoned to prevent development of it? We regularly see mallard ducks ,geese, cinnamon teal appearing ducks and merganzers. I hope this information is of interest for any conservation efforts in the future that may affect this wetland and it’s wildlife. The yellow and red markings on the head look like pictures we saw online at the Laguna Creek Council website.It looks like the picture there of the western Pond turtle or possibly a red slider if that is of interest.
Interesting! Turtles will travel a fair distance overland to find new habitat. It sounds like you probably have a non-native red-eared slider, unfortunately. The native western pond turtle won’t have those yellow and red markings on the head.