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As a mostly aquatic species, water quality and quantity are central to the Rio Grande cooter’s habitat needs. Adequate water flows are necessary to support individual movements to locate breeding partners, access nesting areas and retreat from unsuitable habitats. Additionally, the turtle needs reliable food supplies and access to safe basking habitat.

The Rio Grande cooter must have access to adequate water depth to provide cover from predation. Additionally, the species needs access to cooler water temperatures to allow it to maintain a healthy body temperature during hot weather. The turtle requires that contaminants or other potentially harmful constituents in the water must be absent or below thresholds that cause acute or chronic toxicity to the species either directly or indirectly (for example, through its diet). 

The species needs upland habitat for nesting and egg development. Adult females require soil loose enough to dig a nest in an area near water, where the eggs in that nest will then be adequately thermoregulated and safe from inundation, predation or other disturbances during the incubation and/or overwintering stages. 

The primary factors impacting the viability of the Rio Grande cooter are related to habitat: the degradation of water quality and the loss and decline of water quantity. The influence of climate change climate change
Climate change includes both global warming driven by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases and the resulting large-scale shifts in weather patterns. Though there have been previous periods of climatic change, since the mid-20th century humans have had an unprecedented impact on Earth's climate system and caused change on a global scale.

Learn more about climate change puts additive pressure on surface and groundwater availability. In addition, point and nonpoint source pollution has contaminated parts of its range. In New Mexico, formal conservation efforts aim to minimize negative impacts to surface water habitat, with an emphasis on maintaining flows. 

The Rio Grande cooter eats plants, insects, crustaceans and fish. Juveniles have a diet that is more omnivorous than that of adults, who consume a more herbivorous diet. 

The species may be active year-round. Inactivity during the winter (brumation) or hibernation is possible, but unrecorded. Mating can occur at any time of the year, and females have a sperm storage organ, enabling eggs to be fertilized year-round.

Hatchlings may immediately emerge from nests or overwinter. Overwintering, also referred to as delayed emergence, is common among turtle species for which hatchlings face a high degree of environmental variability and uncertainty. Hatchlings with egg teeth present have been observed in April, August, and October. The observation of a hatchling with egg teeth in April suggests that some hatchlings may overwinter in the nest. 

The Rio Grande cooter, like other freshwater turtles, can often be found basking on floating debris, logs, and rocks. Researchers have observed “mass basking�� events, with over 20 individuals basking together. 

The species is sexually dimorphic, with the primary differences between the sexes being that females are larger than males, while males have thicker and longer tails than females, along with long, straight foreclaws. 

The Rio Grande cooter is described as a medium to large freshwater turtle, with adult female ranging in size from 6.3 to 14.6 inches (16 to 37 centimeters) and adult males ranging from 3.9 to 11.2 inches (10 to 28.5 centimeters). The carapace (top portion of the shell) is an elongate oval with a serrated rear margin.

The average size of a hatchling at birth is about 1.6 inches (3 centimeters). Juvenile females are aged 1 to 6 years old and have a carapace length that ranges from 3.15 to 5.9 inches (8 to 15 centimeters). Juvenile males are aged 1 to 5 years old and have a carapace length that ranges from 3.5 to 3.9 inches (9 to 10 centimeters). 

The Rio Grande cooter’s head, neck, legs and tail are dark brown to black with yellow stripes. Many individuals have red coloring on the margins of the carapace, and the yellow stripes may blend into red on the feet and tail. Its carapace has an intricate pattern of black and yellow curvilinear lines on an overall green shell

The life cycle of the Rio Grande cooter consists of four stages: egg, hatchling, juvenile and adult. Although mating apparently occurs virtually year-round, nesting appears to be confined to the months of April through August. The hatchling life stage includes the first year of life, after which individuals are considered juveniles. Juveniles are at least one year old, but have not reached sexual maturity. Sexual maturity in males occurs at about 4 or 5 years of age, and when the individual is around 3.9 inches (10 centimeters) in carapace length. For females, sexual maturity occurs at about five or six years of age, when the individual’s carapace is around 6.3 inches (16 centimeters) long. Once an individual has reached sexual maturity, it is considered an adult.

The life span for Rio Grande cooter is not known with high certainty. Using pond sliders (another species of freshwater turtles found in the United States) as a surrogate for Rio Grande cooter, the Service estimates that the lifespan for most Rio Grande cooters is on the order of 20 to 25 years. Long-term studies of pond sliders reported an average survivorship of about 22 years, with a range of 6 to 36 years. 

Mating has been observed from January through October. Nesting likely occurs from at least April to August, based on examinations of captured females and observations of newly emerged hatchlings in late spring. However, female Rio Grande cooters, like some other turtle species, do not necessarily nest every year. Sperm storage and multiple paternity are common among turtles, and it is presumed that both apply to the Rio Grande cooter as well.

The evidence available to date suggests that Rio Grande cooters, like many other river turtles, lay their eggs in nest burrows that are dug by the female and resealed after the clutch is deposited. Eggs are laid in nests dug in sandy or loamy soils. Multiple clutching, or laying a clutch of eggs more than one time in a single nesting season, is likely but unconfirmed. Typical clutch size ranges from 5 to 17 eggs. The incubation time in captivity for a single clutch is about 70 days.