Balto the Great

Some have met him. Some have only heard of him. Some will go their whole lives without even knowing he existed. I am of course talking about the man, the turtle, the legend: Balto. Balto was swimming along in his pond on The College of Charleston’s Dixie Plantation when he smelled something delicious—could it be? The delicious scent of canned fish could be found wafting out of this great rope hammock. Balto approached cautiously and against better judgment lunged at the snack.  All was well until he had his fill and tried to leave the “hammock” for the spacious waters of his pond and, gasp, he could not! He was trapped, and what started as short foray into a lunch filled hammock turned into a day-long saga of fear, acceptance and discovery.

Balto in all his glory (and perhaps fear). 

If you haven’t heard of Balto he is the adult (most likely male) yellow-bellied slider (Trachemys scripta) that graced us with the pleasure of his company on one of our field trips. Yellow-bellied sliders are a subspecies of pond sliders that thrive in freshwater ponds. Female yellow bellies are larger than their male counterparts and get about 11 inches long while males are usually a measly 8 inches. Balto and his brethren are an omnivorous bunch that will pretty much eat anything they encounter during their pond life and are usually fed lettuce and small meats when kept as pets. Yellow bellied sliders incubate their eggs for about three months and can have clutches that range from 10-12 eggs. Like most herps, their clutch size will vary with their size.

Like where we found Balto, yellow bellies prefer ponds and other muddy, permanent waters with lots of sunshine and a bounty of aquatic vegetation. Balto became an adult between the ages of three and five and generally breeds between March and July. Although my time with Balto was brief it was exciting to get to meet such a majestic creature with such beautiful claws. We let him go back into his pond and I believe he was caught again by our Thursday lab. Maybe one day when I’m an alumnus our paths will cross again at Dixie Plantation!

Chelsea Snipes and Emerald Todd holding Balto the yellow bellied slider.