Pond sliders are found around slow-moving or still water where there is a soft bottom and plenty of plants. The young turtles eat things like tadpoles, crustaceans and aquatic insects, but they mature to a herbivorous diet. The turtles grow to over 11 inches long. The markings on the carapace (upper shell) become less distinctive with age as the amount of black pigment increases. There are two subspecies of pond slider in this area, the yellow-bellied turtle and the red-eared turtle.

The yellow-bellied turtle (Chrysemys scripta scripta) is a subspecies of the pond slider with a well defined yellow patch behind the eye and a vertical yellow bar on each costal scute (the large side segment of the carapace dome). The red-eared turtle (C. s. elegans) has a wide red stripe behind the ear. Both subspecies have have dark smudges on the front part of the plastron (lower shell).