Turtles Forever | Turtle news, turtles as pets, and turtle care tips

A fun turtle to own

My friend bought a certain type of turtle a few years ago and I found it to be a very interesting ‘little’ guy. Of all the turtle species out there, I find the tortoise to be one of the most interesting. Of course there are different types of tortoises, but the general idea of having a turtle that will grow to be much larger than you, it awesome. I feel if I were to own my own tortoise, I’d take it for rides on certain occasions.

I’ve seen these turtles for sale in the pet shop before and they are generally purchased when they are just small babies. It’s hard to believe that these once tiny guys eventually become one of the largest turtles out there. I also think it’s interesting that they will live to be much older than their owners. Actually, one of the oldest tortoises to date lived to be over 226 years old. But, the generally live about the same lifespan as a human and some humans are known to live to be 150 years old.

Obviously because of their long lifespan and the amount of space they take up, this type of pet should only be purchased by someone who plans to dedicate many many years to the turtle and provide it with a large space for living. This type of turtle would do best in a warmer climate, ideally in an outside habit set up much like their natural living environment. For those of you who have the time and space, have fun with your big guy!

What about the largest turtle?

Since we talked about the smallest turtle breed last week, I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about the largest turtle breed out there. Many of you are probably a bit familiar with the leatherback turtle. Not only is the leather back the largest turtle in the world, it is also the largest living reptile! When the leatherback turtles reach their adult size, they weight a whopping 2000 pounds. Now that is quite a big turtle! The leatherback is also bigger than the typical male, reaching heights as great as 6 and a half feet. It’s hard to believe that their hatchlings are only about 3CM long, yet they grow to be an enormous sea turtle.

Other than their size, there is one key feature that makes them unique from the other turtle. The leatherback is the only turtle whose shell isn’t made of hard material. The leatherback gets its name from the fact that the shell is made from soft, leather-like material that couple be punctured much easier than the typical turtles shell.

The leatherback lacks claws on its front feet, but has much larger feet, making them ideal for long travel which is common with the species. Leatherbacks also lack in a hard mouth plate that is common with sea turtles. Instead they have a pointed shape and rigged edging and that’s why the leatherback tends to feed on very soft sea creatures such as; the jellyfish. The turtles typically reside in the wide-open areas of the water, but they have been known to appear in the coastal areas as well. This turtle species is most common in the Atlantic.

The tiny penny turtle

When reading about turtles on the Internet, I’ve commonly come across the question ‘what is the smallest turtle you can have for a pet’. Well the answer to this is easy; the penny turtle. This cute little guy rarely gets over an inch big and measures smaller than a penny. If you see one of these turtles out and about, you just might mistake it as a beetle if you don’t take a second look. The penny turtle is so adorable and is easy to keep as a pet because it doesn’t require very much space at all.

If you decide to purchase a penny turtle, you need to provide them with the same living conditions you would provide for a turtle of any size. There must be an area for the turtle to swim, an area to rest and a heating lamp to keep the turtle warm. Turtles are cold blooded, so they can’t warm up on their own. A heating lamp will allow them to warm themselves up when they get too cold, keeping the turtle healthy.

The turtle lives in fresh water, so be sure to be able to meet these conditions before deciding to purchase a penny turtle. If you can keep a proper environment for a penny turtle pet, these can usually be found for sale at many of the local reptile shops. If your local shop doesn’t have them for sale, many times the owner can order one for you or refer you to someone who will be able to provide you with your very own, loving and adorable penny turtle.

Help Save Sea Turtles

Write to Governor Jindal today!

I’ve probably written before about how my family stopped purchasing shrimp because it turns out that the shrimp industry is one of the biggest culprits responsible for the death of sea turtles. If they can’t be harvested sustainably (what animal can, really?), we don’t want to be a part of it.

Right now, in Louisiana, this practice continues to rapidly kill sea turtles. Governor Bobby Jindal has allowed fisherman in his state to simply ignore the federal requirement that shrimp nets contain turtle escape hatches. Rather than allowing sea turtles that are erroneously trapped within shrimp nets a chance to escape, he has enforced this law—even when given a chance to repeal it—and allowed who knows how many sea turtles to die within shrimp trawl nets as a result.

More than 80 scientists have since come forth and asked that the state repeal this law. It’s not only a slap in the face to the rest of the country’s fishing industries, which follow the law and at least try to help reduce the numbers of sea turtles who die in shrimp traps—it’s also a pretty heartless move in general. Why not save a life when you’re provided such a simple way to do so? It’s not as if people are demanding that the shrimp industry be ended altogether (and we could certainly argue valid reasons for it to be); we’re simply asking that a small way out be provided for sea turtles who are trapped in the nets.

After the current nets in the state that are being used were inspected, it was discovered that most of the escape hatches for turtles were sewn shut—and the ones that were being used were not installed properly. In fact, some of them were installed in ways that would actually trap sea turtles or kill them altogether! This makes one think that all of the nets in the country should require inspecting—and that perhaps someone should take the time in Louisiana to show fisherman how the escape unit should be installed in the first place.

Please click here to ask Governor Jindal to reconsider his law. Tens of thousands of sea turtles who live in the Gulf of Mexico rely on these escape hatches to save them from death. Without them, the turtles trapped within the nets will surely drown, resulting in wasteful bycatch and further depletion of our already at-risk turtle populations.

4,600 Sea Turtles Killed Every Year by U.S. Hatcheries

What do you want first, the good news or the bad news? The good news is that the killing of turtles as bycatch from the fishing industry is down a whopping 90% from 1990! That is definitely something to celebrate. Obviously people are working hard at reducing the numbers of turtles killed, and the efforts of activists, legislators, and fishery workers are working. Well done! No matter how many are being killed, we need to celebrate this progress and commend all involved.

That said, there are still 4,600 turtles being killed every year. While it’s mind-boggling that this big number is only 10% of what turtles were being killed by the fishing industry in the last decade, it’s also still a big enough number for concern. Remember, these turtles aren’t intentionally caught; they catch on nets or hooks meant for fish, much like dolphins and other bycatch animals are. They are still threatened or endangered species, depending upon each individual turtle species, and every loss counts.

So what do we do to help the turtles? For starters, we can sign up at the National Save the Sea Turtle Foundation for updates, action alerts, and more information. We can learn which industries result in the highest loss of life (shrimp trawling turns out to result in the largest loss of sea turtles) and reduce or even eliminate our consumption of such products to prevent further fishing from occurring. (I can see people asking, “You want me to give up shrimp to save turtles?” They’re almost gone; I will be happy to do it. But even if you reduce your consumption rather than stop altogether, you’ll still be helping!)

To teach children about turtle issues and conservation, you can go to Save the Turtles for information and games. There are a bunch of non-fishing industry related things we can do to help turtles, too. For example, did you know that if you leave lights on near the beach, the turtle hatchlings will become confused and head inland rather than heading out to sea as they are supposed to? They are attracted to the lights and think they are seeing reflections from the moon! Mother sea turtles, on the other hand, will become discouraged from the artificial lighting and refuse to lay their eggs when they need to. A solution would be to turn out unnecessary lighting, use lower wattage, or direct lights away from the sea. Learn more ways to help sea turtles here.

Turtles Take Over JFK

Airlines experience delays due to turtles

On Wednesday, a planeful of people headed for the Dominican Republic had to sit and wait on the runway for a special interference to pass. I kind of wish I had been on that plane just so I could say, "sorry I was delayed. There were turtles." I can only imagine the tone of the air traffic control worker when he radioed in to the American Airlines pilot and asked: "There's a report of a turtle on the runway. Do you want to have it removed first?"

The first turtle arrived at 6:45 am, slowly lumbering its way across Runway 4. She was soon followed by over a hundred of her peers. The diamondback terrapin turtles had decided to take an unusual route to the nearby Jamaica Bay wildlife reserve. The turtle parade is not uncommon, just not usually seen weaving between commercial jets in such high numbers--although a runway was similarly shut down in 2009 due to turtle interference. The lady turtles were on a mass migration to meet up with their gentleman callers at the wildlife reserve and start making some turtle babies. All 150 of them chose JFK as the best possible route for their journey. If a turtle's headed for her mate, not even an international airport will stand in her way.

Port Authority staff and the US Department of Agriculture soon arrived to help them along safely to the other side of the runway, dipping in and picking up turtles between take-offs and landings. Numerous flights were delayed. Twitter was abuzz. Someone naturally started an account just for the turtles. It had 3,000 followers by the end of the day. It's good to know that while airport delays are typically infuriating, they're hilarious when caused by adorable, slow-moving reptiles en route to their mating grounds. More airlines should use animals as an excuse for delays just to calm people down. "Sorry folks, we're experiencing delays getting off the ground because there are at least fifty three-toed sloths crawling across the runway." Suddenly everybody would be happy.

Save the Turtles of Cocos Island National Park

The Pacific leatherback sea turtle, an endangered species, is at further risk today in its home at the Cocos Island National Park of Costa Rica. Longline fishing is currently making its habitat a hostile environment, and thousands of leatherback sea turtles—as well as other marine animals, such as sharks—are dying every year as they are hooked as bycatch.

The thing is, this fishing isn’t even legal in the area. It’s technically considered poaching. Yet the animals in the protected area continue to suffer and die. Just outside the area, fishermen are also able to fish legally for mahi mahi—as well as sharks that they fin, or cut off a fin and throw back into the ocean, left for death, another practice that should be made illegal immediately.

This area is in need of greater protection—both through a wider scope of protected area as well as enforcement of laws against poaching.

The Sea Turtle Restoration Project is calling on activists to help make this area a protected oasis for these animals. Please consider clicking here and reading more about the dangers that these animals face, as well as taking action and asking the president of Costa Rica to take a stand against the harm of the creatures today.

Women Arrested for Capturing Wild Turtles

Two women were apprehended for catching yellow-bellied slider turtles from a pond. When officers arrived at the scene, they’d already caught four, and had one in a bag. One has to wonder what they were doing, or how desperate they were—for food? for money?—to go turtle-catching. When I was a kid, we always felt bad if we accidentally caught a turtle fishing—now people seem to be doing it on purpose.

Pick up the pace!

Hey turtle - pick up the pace!

Freshwater Turtle Populations Continue to Dwindle

This is definitely not a story that I would post on the Great News Blog.

Though we continue to argue about how to protect turtles, over whether or not they need protection at all, and how turtle conservation can impact the fishing industry, the fact remains that turtle species continue dwindle down even as we bicker back and forth.

Freshwater turtles in particular are disappearing at disturbing rates. According to Conservation International, over one-third of the world’s freshwater turtle species are now facing extinction. 280 of the species exist around the world, but with threats like this present, we’ll be lucky for our grandchildren to ever see a turtle in the wild.

We are wholly to blame, which is not surprising. According to the study conducted by Conservation International, the two biggest causes of these losses are the demand for turtles as pets as well as the demand for them as a food source—both by humans. The loss of their habitats through our actions is a third reason listed for their decimating numbers.

Use of turtles in “exotic medicines” is also a huge contributor to these species losses. Some eastern medical philosophies make use of the turtle for various remedies, causing a greater demand for the reptile—and a greater loss.

The thing is, when we deplete the turtle population, we don’t realize the impact it has. If we keep rabbits as pets, for example, we know that they will continue to produce more and more bunnies, which doesn’t present much of a threat. Turtles, however, take a long time to mature—up to 15 years, a startlingly similar state to humans—and do not reproduce nearly as quickly. In fact, when turtles do produce hatchlings, the babies are so small and threatened by predators—from fish to birds to anything that’s bigger than they are—what we often see is that few to none survive.

Some scientists say that the solution is an easy one for those who are willing to do it. Simple turtle farming would create numbers of turtles that could be harvested for these food and medical sources without wreaking havoc on the numbers of wild turtles that already exist. Of course, simply refraining from eating or catching turtles—which no one actually needs to do in the first place to survive—could definitely help as well. It’s times like this when we all might want to think about making our own “Leave Britney alone!” videos, only about turtles instead.

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