Wednesday, April 16th
April's meeting will focus on how to safely handle and present your reptile to the public. Please feel free to bring your own animal to show off.
Meetings start promptly at 8pm in the Alumni Room of Medaille College.
Annual Banquet
PLEASE NOTE: The annual banquet and recognition dinner will be rescheduled due to conflicts. The new date will likely be a Saturday in May, please contact a board member for more information.
Common Map Turtle
(Graptemys geographica)
Photo Courtesy of World
Chelonia Trust
The Common Map Turtle is sexually dimorphic. Males are usually only 4 - 6 inches while females are 7 - 10 inches in length. The carapace is greenish to olive-brown in color and has a net-like pattern of yellow-orange lines. The pattern is usually more distinct in males. The plastron is yellowish. The skin is greenish with several yellow lines. There is also a yellow spot located behind the eye.
Females lay a clutch of 12 - 14 eggs from May to July and hatch in August or early September. The eggs are oblong and a little over 1 inch in length.
Map Turtles can most often be found in slow moving rivers and lakes with soft mud bottoms and dense aquatic vegetation. They feed on snails, slugs and other invertebrates. They can often be found basking with each other and stacked on top of each other.
Remember that in many places it is illegal to take wildlife out of the wild without the proper permits from local, state, or federal authorities. Please do not release any captive reptiles or amphibians into the wild as this will disrupt the natural order of our environment. See our amphibian and reptile adoptions page for more information on what to do with unwanted herps.
Every purchase from Wormman.com helps support the WNY Herp Society!
Help further herpetology research and education by donating to the Marvin R. Aures Herpetological Grant