General Care Discussion :: Is Serra really a YBS?

[Tenodera]

I've been looking at Yellow-bellied Slider hatchling pictures, and I've noticed some differences between Serra and other YBS...

Most hatchlings are green. Serra's shell is the same, but her skin is more of a greyish brown. Her yShe's almost 2 inches, So that's still a hatchling, right?

Her face markings, are not the same at all with ANY pics of YBS I've seen... The markings on a normal YBS are yellow and black/green and like large yellow blotches

Serra's face is brownish grey with tan stripes running across it

Could she be a hybrid? Or is it just the colour fading? Her nose is also very pointy for a YBS.



Serra's face is more like a Cooter's....

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I think serra is a YBS IMO, she looks looks nothing like a RES. She looks alot more similar to the picture at the bottom. The one on the bottom just happens to be lighter.

Either way, she's a beauty!

[kikicool]

She definitely looks like that bottom picture. Not knowing much about different turtle breeds, is that picture a cooter of a YBS? Either way, I agree with xxssxx. She is SO cute. That little pugnacious face!!!

[Breigh]

Neither of those photos is a YBS, a YBS has an S shaped yellow marking on the sides of their head with a very pronounced vertical portion. There's no mistaking it.

I'm not sure what kind of turtles they are in those photos, sorry.

[adam85491]

My turtle looks like that, but his swirly markings on his shell are becomming less noticeable as he gets bigger (almost two inches now). My turtle has a red/orange shell on the bottom. My guess (belive me, I'm no expert): a Western Painted Turtle.

[scripta_elegans]

I'll add yet another opinion, which is that she is part YBS, and part Cooter. I think that might be Tenodera's guess as well. She looks like both a Cooter and a YBS to me. She is lacking the traditional YBS marking, but that could result from a dominant trait in a different type of turtle. If she gets over 13 inches, I'll put money on a Cooter having slipped into the YBS tank.

[Tenodera]

Yup the seconf picture is a picture of a baby cooter.

Oooh half Cooter and half Yellow-Bellied! I'll let you guys know how big she is when she grows up!

[adam85491]

Does the turtle have a yellow or a red/orange belly?
Mine looks like that, but it has a red/orange belly, unlike a cooter or a yellow belly slider.

[Tenodera]

She has a Yellow belly with black spotches on it.

I found a picture of a Peninsula Cooter hatchling and she looks a bit like it....


So...half Yellow-Bellied Slider and half Peninsula Cooter? Strange mix...lol

[SpotsMama]

Maybe she's 100% Cooter.

[Tenodera]

I don't really think she's 100% Cooter since she has those "striped pants" that YBS have but Cooters don't have...

[Turtle addict]

She does look like a mix, ybs and cooter the nose SCREAMS cooter, those faces are hard to miss. But the cooters are so interbred in the wild and captive it's hard to tell which is which. And which you have mixed with.

Adam the red orange belly but it looks like that is yours a red belly? Those are cooters also.

I have a Penn/red belly mix and he's been having a great time with the res and ybs females so it's kinda cool to see what I'm going to get later. I did get him a red belly female to breed with but he likes the sliders better.

[grey goose]

I can't figure out what you have there, except that you have a rare and truly beautiful little baby, Good luck!

[Tenodera]

lol Serra's one of a kind! I'm pretty sure she's a Peninula Cooter hybrid now, since I saw a pic of a Peninsula Cooter hatchling somewhere that looked nearly IDENTICAL to Serra.

[kikicool]

Adding nothing to this discussion, I must say anyhoo, that I love that picture of the turt's belly. SO cute. LOVE THOSE LITTLE BELLIES! AAAAHHH!! Now I have to go pick my guys up and give lovin'. Which of course, they'll hate.