I was sitting in my livingroom chair, watching a classic, fav sci fi movie on TV, waiting for the grass to dry out from last night's rain. Looked out the window when his movement caught my eye out the window right in front of me. Never have I seen such a huge turtle in the wild. His shell was easily 10" or longer from front to back. As one would expect, he tucked his head in when I went around frontfor a closeup of his head.

Judging by the bits of vegetation debris and mud on his shell, he must have been living underneath my neighbor's border trees and shrubs. Her lawn service was weed-whacking out there for quite some time just before his appearance. Poor little guy. Hope he finds a cozy home replacement somewhere. :)




He looks like all the little turtles we ever brought home when we were children. Probably somebody's pet at one time and got out. Must be pretty old to have grown so large.

Nice find
he may be a native -wild you have a lot of turtles in Texas
looks like a cooter , maybe slider

the green on it's back looks like duck weed probably came from water
maybe looking for a mate or a place to lay eggs , they often travel for those reasons.

I think, after looking at images of both, you're right. A Slider or River Cooter.