The painted turtle is very colourful. The top of its shell is dark brown, but the underside is red with brown and yellow markings. The skin on its head, tail and legs is black with bright yellow and red stripes and blotches. Female turtles are larger than the males, and can grow to have shells as long as 300 mm. Painted turtles eat water plants, snails, insects, leeches, fish, frogs and any dead animals they might find.

Painted turtles prefer lakes and ponds that have lots of plants, but they can also be found in rivers. Sometimes they bask on floating logs or on rocks. The sun warms them so they can digest their food more quickly.

Turtles have a hard shell and they can pull their head, tail and legs inside to stay safe. A full grown turtle has few enemies. If there are roads near the pond or lake, then the turtles' worst enemies can be cars and trucks. Turtles can get run over when they move from one pond to another. Skunks, raccoons, hawks and other animals will eat small turtles if they catch them on land. Large fish will eat young turtles in the water.

Painted turtles spend winter on the bottom of lakes or ponds. When the water is cold they can breathe through their skin underwater. In spring, the turtles mate and the females crawl out of the water to look for sandy or gravely spots to dig nests. They lay 4 to15 eggs at a time in small holes, then return to the water. The eggs are oblong in shape and take about 100 days to hatch. Skunks and raccoons will dig up the nests to eat the eggs.

The young turtles hatch in early fall, but stay in the nest until the next spring. Then they dig their way out and crawl to the water. They eat the same kinds of things as the adults, but they catch smaller things.