Arizona is known for its hot, dry, desert climate, but did you know there are over 100 different species of reptiles living in the state? That may surprise even native dwellers who haven’t seen any or very few of them.
Of that large number of reptiles, 11 species are turtles and tortoises. Some are aquatic, which may be difficult to comprehend because most of us think of Arizona as a very dry state. This desert state has 128 lakes and 5 major rivers throughout, so there are plenty of places for turtles to live.
Of these turtles, 7 are native, and the rest have been introduced in some way or another. With that being said, let’s get to it, shall we?
Table of Contents
Snapping Turtles in Arizona
1. Common Snapping Turtle
- Experience level: Intermediate to Expert
- Family: Chelydrida
- Scientific Name: Chelydra Serpentina
- Common Name: Common Snapping Turtle, Snapper, Eastern Snapping Turtle
- Average Adult Size: 8 to 20 inches
- Life Span: 30 – 50 years
- Average Price Range: Approximately $40 to $120
- Conservation Status: Least concern
The Common Snapping Turtle is one of the most common turtle species in North America. Its scientific name is a hint to their serpent-like neck. They can pull their heads close to the body and then shoot it forward fast as a striking snake.
Their long, muscular necks also have the ability to quickly make a 180-degree turn. Though these turtles are very shy and try to run away rather than fight, if they are cornered they will act aggressively.
Their jaws are extremely sharp and strong and have the ability to crush bone. Common Snapping turtles are omnivorous but prefer meat over vegetation.
Snapping turtles are active hunters that will feed on fish, insects, and any other aquatic dwellers they can get into their mouths. They also eat fish carcasses and forage on vegetation.
They aren’t native to Arizona and can be found in nearly any type of water. Some have even been found in brackish water. Snapping turtles prefer to stay submerged and rarely bask outside of the water.
2. Alligator Snapping Turtle
- Experience level: Expert
- Family: Chelydrida
- Scientific Name: Macrochelys temminckii
- Common Name: Loggerhead Snapper
- Average Adult Size: 13-30 inches
- Life Span: 30 – 50 years
- Average Price Range: Approximately $50 to $300
- Conservation Status: Least concern
The Alligator Snapping turtle is not a native Arizonan. It was introduced either by owners letting them loose or by escaping their enclosures.
Alligator Snappers are the largest and heaviest freshwater turtles in North America. There have been reports that these beasts can weigh more than 250 pounds, though that’s rare. Still, large adults average around 150 pounds and grow nearly 3 feet long.
They hunt by wiggling a worm-like protrusion on their tongues while sitting motionless. Whenever a fish, crustacean, another turtle, or amphibian swims close enough to inspect, the snapping turtle “snaps” out with wide jaws and swift neck. It will eat anything it can get into its mouth.
These giant turtles are instantly recognizable because of their thick, 3 keeled carapace, jagged shell edges, very long tail, and muscular, wide limbs. Most people will never see them because they rarely leave the water.
Because both alligator snappers and common snapping turtles often outcompete native turtle species, it’s illegal to own either of these turtles in the state of Arizona.
Painted Turtles in Arizona
3. Eastern Painted Turtle
- Experience level: Beginner
- Family: Emydidae
- Scientific Name: Chrysemys picta
- Common Name: Painted Turtle
- Average Adult Size: 4 – 10 inches
- Life Span: 30 – 50 years
- Average Price Range: Between $30 to $150
- Conservation Status: Least Concern
Painted turtles are both native and non-native to Arizona. At one time they were located only in Eastern Arizona, in the Lyman Lake area. They are now being noticed in Phoenix, Tucson, and Cottonwood.
Painted turtles could have expanded on their own to these areas, but because they are such a popular turtle in the pet trade, they could have had human help in their spread.
These turtles are a very aquatic species, preferring to stay in slow-moving rivers, lakes, and wetlands. In the water, they consume a varied diet. Painted turtles are omnivores that consume aquatic vegetation, fish, amphibians, insects, and carrion.
Painted turtles look similar to red eared sliders except they don’t have the tell-tale red patches behind their eyes. The shells on painted turtles are flatter than red eared slider carapaces.
Box Turtles in Arizona
4. Desert Box Turtle
- Experience level: Intermediate to Expert
- Family: Emydidae
- Scientific Name: Terrapene ornata luteola
- Common Name: Ornate Box Turtle, Box turtle, Western box turtle
- Average Adult Size: 4 – 6 inches
- Life Span: 40 – 60 years
- Average Price Range: Approximately $50 – $250
- Conservation Status: Near Threatened
The desert box turtle is very similar to the ornate box turtle. They both have hinged shells and can completely close themselves in when threatened. Both the desert and ornate box turtles have high dome shells.
The markings on their shells are similar, except that the desert box turtle has more radiating, lighter colored lines on the carapace. Desert box turtles are also usually less colorful due to the desert environment. They need to blend in with the dull colors of the desert.
Adult desert box turtles experience color fading as they age, whereas the ornate box turtle does not.
The desert box turtle is a terrestrial turtle, meaning it either can’t swim, or lives most of its life on land.
Desert box turtles will dig burrows to escape excessive temperatures in the desert. To help battle midday heat, they will also forage for food in the early morning and evening hours.
These turtles are very shy and secretive, so not very much is known about them and their habits.
They are omnivores. Eating anything they come across from vegetation, the rare fruit, cacti, insects, small animals, and carrion.
Desert box turtles are protected in Arizona and considered near threatened.
Pond Sliders in Arizona
5. Red Eared Slider
- Experience level: Beginner
- Family: Emydidae
- Scientific Name: Trachemys scripta elegans
- Common Name: Pond slider, Red-eared terrapin, Water lider
- Average Adult Size: 6 – 8 inches
- Life Span: 20 to40 years
- Average Price Range: approximately $30 to $100
- Conservation Status: Least concern
Pond sliders are semi aquatic turtles and include the red eared slider, yellow belly slider, and Cumberland slider in the grouping. Red eared sliders are the most popular turtle pet in the United States because they are adaptable to nearly any aquatic environment. They are also very active and animated.
Though their natural native habitat extends from the South-central US to Northern and Central Mexico, they aren’t native to Arizona. Unfortunately because of their popularity, red eared sliders are popping up in waters across America.
These turtles are aquatic, and great swimmers, but they can get along on land very well. It may be one of the reasons they are spreading so quickly.
Red Eared sliders often outcompete native turtle species wherever they go. These turtles can eat nearly anything, are very active, and are prolific breeders. These traits make them a danger to natural turtle populations.
Though they resemble painted turtles and other sliders, the Red Eared slider has a prominent red patch behind its eyes and has a higher domed, more pronounced shell.
Population control of this species has been underway by the state of Arizona in order to protect native turtle species.
Mud Turtles in Arizona
6. Arizona Mud Turtle
- Experience level: Intermediate
- Family: Kinosternidae
- Scientific Name: Kinosternon stejnegeri
- Common Name: Mud Turtle, Arizona Mud Turtle
- Average Adult Size: 6 – 7 inches
- Life Span: 40 years
- Average Price Range: Approximately $70 – $120
- Conservation Status: Least concern
Mud turtles usually don’t reside in permanent bodies of water. Often they will find roadside ditches, stock tanks, and other temporary water sources.
Mud turtles have a pair of glands that excrete a foul smelling musk when they feel threatened. This adaptation also helps them escape predators.
The Arizona Mud turtle had a yellow plastron (bottom half of the shell) and a dingy yellow carapace and a light yellow or cream colored throat. They are small turtles, only growing to about 6 or 7 inches long. Males are smaller than females.
When the temps are dangerously hot, mud turtles can burrow into the mud or soft soil to escape the heat. They will also become nocturnal in the summer.
The Arizona Mud turtle feeds on tadpoles, frogs, and invertebrates as well as some vegetation.
7. Yellow Mud Turtle
- Experience level: Intermediate
- Family: Kinosternidae
- Scientific Name: Kinosternon flavescens
- Common Name: Mud Turtle, Yellow Mud Turtle
- Average Adult Size: 4 – 6 inches
- Life Span: 40 years
- Average Price Range: Approximately $80 to $300
- Conservation Status: Least concern
The Yellow Mud turtle is another semi-aquatic mud turtle that will spend as much time on land as it will in the water. Their habitats are sandy bottomed water bodies such as lakes, rivers, and ponds.
Their diet consists of many aquatic animals and vegetation. They will eat leeches, crayfish, tadpoles, snails, insects, dead fish carcasses, and plants. Mud turtles help to clean their waters of carrion.
The upper part of their shell is flattened compared to other mud turtles. The carapace coloring varies from brown to brownish yellow, with a yellow colored plastron. They have dark brown edges around their scutes.
8. Sonora Mud Turtle
- Experience level: Beginner – Intermediate
- Family: Kinosternidae
- Scientific Name: Kinosternon sonoriense
- Common Name: Sonora Mud Turtle, Mud Turtle
- Average Adult Size: 7 inches
- Life Span: 40 years
- Average Price Range: Approximately $200 and up
- Conservation Status: Endangered
The Sonora Mud turtle is the one mud turtle in Arizona that prefers to stay in permanent bodies of water. Streams, lakes, and ponds are their preferred places of residence.
These turtles have a ridge, or keel, running along their shell. They are mostly olive green, and brown with a brown throat and yellow stripes or spots. This coloration makes them easier to recognize compared to the other two species of mud turtles found in Arizona.
Due to their loss of natural habitats and human intervention, they have become a more threatened species. Mud turtles depend on naturally occurring water sources and yearly rains to survive.
As more groundwater is pumped out and used commercially, coupled with a continued drought in the West, the mud turtle’s numbers become more threatened. In 2017 the Sonora Mud Turtle was listed as endangered.
9. Texas Spiny Softshell
- Experience level: Intermediate to Expert
- Family: Trionychidae
- Scientific Name: Apalone spinifera emoryi
- Common Name: Spiny Softshell Turtle
- Average Adult Size: 5 – 17 inches
- Life Span: 40 – 60 years
- Average Price Range: Approximately $50 – 280
- Conservation Status: Least Concern
The Spiny Softshell is a flat aquatic turtle with a soft shell and smooth skin. They have no scutes on the carapace and no scales on their limbs. Softshell turtles are accomplished swimmers and fast on land.
Often they have an aggressive stance out of water because of their vulnerability. Spiny softshell turtles will hiss, snap, and scratch when handled or cornered. They have very sharp beaks and long sharp claws they use to defend themselves.
Spiny Softshell turtles are one of the largest freshwater turtles, but only the females grow very large. Male softshell turtles only get around 10 inches long.
These “pancake” turtles are usually olive-green, brown, tan, or grey in color throughout. They can have black or white spots or blotches across the carapace. They have bumps or ridges on their shell, hence the name, spiny softshell.
Nearly any body of water will do for spiny softshell turtles, though they prefer bottoms of soft sand or mud where they can hide. They will hang out and ambush prey, or actively hunt when they are hungry. Being omnivores, these turtles will eat both plants and small aquatic animals.
The Texas Spiny Softshell turtle’s native habitat includes the Rio Grande and Pecos River in Texas. They have been introduced into the Colorado River Basin area possibly as early as the 1900s.
In Arizona, the Spiny Softshell turtle is considered an invasive species.
Tortoises in Arizona
10. Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise
- Experience level: Beginner
- Family: Testudinidae
- Scientific Name: Gopherus agassizii
- Common Name: Mojave Desert Tortoise
- Average Adult Size: 9-15 inches
- Life Span: 50 – 80 years
- Average Price Range: Illegal to purchase a desert tortoise–Must be adopted
- Conservation Status: Vulnerable
The Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise has become a vulnerable species and was named after the Zoologist Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz. It was once thought that Agassiz’s and Morafka’s Tortoises were the same species, but in 2011 the Desert Tortoise was separated into two distinct tortoise species.
Agassiz’s Desert tortoise is identified by its high domed shell, thick scutes, and prominent scales on its forelimbs. These slow-moving tortoises are usually muted and bland colors so they can blend in with the desert environment.
The Desert tortoise likes to live in areas with soft soil so they can dig burrows to escape the heat and brumate during the winters. The burrows are essential to many desert animals such as snakes, owls, and small mammals.
Because of habitat destruction, the introduction of roads, off road vehicles, and a population explosion of ravens, the desert tortoise is becoming critically endangered.
Vehicles, especially off roading vehicles contribute to many tortoise deaths. Ravens have also taken their toll on tortoise populations. These birds will feed on baby tortoises because they are so small and their shells are soft and pliable.
Ravens have been known to remember where the tortoise has laid her eggs, then they show up about the time the babies hatch. The ravens will then devour the entire clutch.
Tortoises are generally herbivores, and Agassiz’s Desert tortoise is no exception. They feed on flowers, grasses, cacti, and cactus fruits.
11. Morafka’s Desert Tortoise
- Experience level: Beginner
- Family: Testudinidae
- Scientific Name: Gopherus morafkai
- Common Name: Sonoran Desert Tortoise, Desert Tortoise
- Average Adult Size: 14 inches
- Life Span: 50 – 80 years
- Average Price Range: Illegal to purchase a desert tortoise–Must be adopted
- Conservation Status: Vulnerable
Morafka’s Desert tortoise is found on the east side of the Colorado River, whereas Agassiz’s lives on the opposite side. Morafka’s tortoise also lives on steep, rocky hillsides, instead of the flat desert lands of its closest relative.
Much like Agassiz’s Desert Tortoise, Morafka’s tortoise digs burrows to protect itself from temperature extremes. They can dig up to 6 feet deep.
These tortoises are not listed nationally as threatened or endangered, but they are a protected species in Arizona.
There are several adoption programs located in Arizona to take care of desert tortoises whose owners can no longer take care of them. These tortoises can live upwards of 80 years, and often owners pass away before the tortoise does.
Captive desert tortoises should not be released into the wild for several reasons. One reason is they will have a hard time surviving on their own as they are unfamiliar with life in the wild and used to having someone take care of them.
Also, captive turtles and tortoises are immune to certain illnesses that can infect native species. Captive tortoises can often pass on respiratory infections that can cause pneumonia and eventually prove fatal for wild animals.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many tortoise species can be found in Arizona?
There are actually just two tortoise species within Arizona. These are the Mojave desert tortoise (Gopherus agassizii) and the Sonoran desert tortoise (Gopherus morafkai). However, there are several other species kept as pets. Two common nonnative species you can find within Arizona include leopard tortoises and sulcatas.
How do you adopt an Arizonan tortoise?
Since it is illegal to take wild tortoises from Arizona or sell them, the only way to acquire one is through adoption. To adopt a Desert tortoise, you can start here – Tortoise Adoption Program (https://www.azgfd.com/wildlife/nongamemanagement/tortoise/captivecare/).
Wrapping up
We hope this has helped you to identify the 11 species of turtles found in the Grand Canyon State. There are 7 native turtles and tortoises, and 4 introduced, non-native species throughout the numerous waterways.
If you are interested in owning any of these turtles or tortoises as pets, we encourage you to do ample research into the proper care and lifespan. And if you decide to get a very long lived animal, be sure you know what to do with it if it outlives you.
If you enjoyed this article, drop us a comment. We love to hear from you and the turtles you may have come across in the wild.
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