These are beautiful animals.
When kept in clear water conditions the dark, muddy old skin sheds to fresh, colorful skin.
If I may, some FYI on turtles.
To tell male from female, look at front claws on adults. Males have long, straight claws, used to tickle the females in courtship. An adult male will generally have a somewhat concave plastron. The female a flat one. Her front claws are usually shorter and curved.
A Male's tail tends to be longer and much thinner.
As adults females may be four or five times larger than male.
Enclosed are shots of a probably mating pair early last spring. The shells are stained from iron in the sandstone rocks.
The male is the smaller of the two. Thru 10X binocs showed the differences clearly.
I am in Maryland. They are widely and deeply spread here. I see no signs of them replacing our natives.
In the late 50's till early 70's these were in all the five and dime store pet sections. Along with anoles, Horned Lizards, alligators, and at Easter, in the shell dyed chicks and dyed white rabbits.
The turtles had colored enamel painted carapaces.
Few lived, many that did were released into the wild.
Now a pet shop turtle must be 4 inches or larger. Not likely to be put in a child's mouth, thereby preventing Salmonella. Turtles are a carrier.
Thanks for your post. Male and female size comparison follows.
Bill

Aww, thanks. Here's a little something that I bet not many people have experienced: years ago, before she was outside, Amy was in a large plastic container in my bedroom (she'd outgrown anything glass). As I was getting ready to tuck in I saw that she was on top of her floating basking "log," watching me intently. I very slowly lowered my face to her level, eyes shut so as not to intimidate her (or get bitten!) and after a moment it registered that I was feeling her turtly BREATH on my eyelids. They are as curious as any other animal, and as responsive.

I would like your son I'm sure since he has some of the same pets as me. I wouldn't go so far as to say Amy is excited to see me, but she trusts me and likes to put her front feet on my hand and investigate it. I'm sure that magically appearing turtle enjoyed his Koi roe! I would occasionally get baby goldfish so that Amy could hunt live food, but she was lazy and two of them grew to be large adults. A raccoon entered my yard and caught one of the fish, leaving behind one scale, and Amy was too terrified to show herself for days.

Is your son in NC? Do you and he know they are illegal in NC. A lot of people have them because they pick them up off the road and pet stores sell turtle supplies. Somewhere online are 16 pages of NC law on what you can and can't do with turtles. I use to work in a pet store and we sold them up to the point they were declared illegal. Just be careful who you let know about the turtle. I think the Wildlife people have more important things to do than bust people for having a turtle but they can. Just an FYI!!!

Dodie

Is your son in NC? Do you and he know they are illegal in NC. A lot of people have them because they pick them up off the road and pet stores sell turtle supplies. Somewhere online are 16 pages of NC law on what you can and can't do with turtles. I use to work in a pet store and we sold them up to the point they were declared illegal. Just be careful who you let know about the turtle. I think the Wildlife people have more important things to do than bust people for having a turtle but they can. Just an FYI!!!

Dodie