A strange find...

[Patrika]

My daughter found this little turtle on our farm a couple of months ago. I have never seen anything like it around here before...box turtles are all too common here, but this is new. It was very small, a shell length of maybe 5 inches from front to back. I know the photos arent great, but does anyone know what it is?

 

[Lena]

Looks like a musk turtle, though I'm no expert.

 

[Select Gex]

What state do you live in?

 

[StinaKSU]

It's some sort of mud or musk turtle...they mainly stay at the bottom of shallow water areas...which is why you wouldn't see them very often. This one was probably out to lay eggs which would be how your son found it. Your location and/or photos of the head would make it easier to id better

 

[Patrika]

We are just about in the middle of nowhere! South-Central Kansas. We are in farm country, there really are no permanent bodies of water anywhere near our home, the nearest would be a sand-pit about 6 miles to the north. I originally thought it was some sort of water turtle, but didnt know where it would have come from. We ended up putting it back in the yard where we found it after taking the photos, I hope it wasnt a death sentence with no water near-by! I think we found one really lost little guy!

 

[StinaKSU]

It is very definitely an aquatic turtle....There are no ponds or anything anywhere nearby?....even small ones in people's yards or on farms?