The turtle with the bright orange belly, that you are describing sounds like, might be an Alabama Red-Bellied turtle. Although, it is called the Red-Bellied turtle, these turtles sometimes have undersides which are bright orange in colour. They can be found in fresh or brackish water, most recently seen in the Elmore County region of Alabama, U.S.A. They spread themselves over a tiny area of land, so much so, that they are the turtle with the smallest area distribution of a North American turtle, living only in embankments and streams in Mobile and Baldwin Counties in Alabama, more specifically the lower part of the Mobile Bay Drainage System. These turtles are usually very small, often no larger than the palm of a person's hand. Baby turtles are hatched on in the summer, a few months after the original nesting has begun to occur. Between four and nine eggs are laid by the mother turtle in sandy soil. The Alabama Red-Bellied Turtle is apparently North America's most endangered turtle. It was put on to the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) list as an endangered species twenty four years ago. A large cause of man made death is death by road problems, either roads cutting in to their habitat and depriving them of food and living space, or being hit by vehicles as they attempt to cross a road. The Alabama Red-Bellied turtle, in 1990, was voted as the Official State Reptile for Alabama, giving them even more reason to want to save the Red Bellied turtle from extinction, a very real possibility should the continued expansion of roads in to their habitat continue. A big problem is the Mobile Causeway, which runs across the sandy islands upon which mother Alabama Red-Bellied turtles build their nest and hatch their young.
