Asian Box Turtle

This Asian box turtle has a highly domed, somewhat elongate carapace and a strongly hinged plastron. The carapace is dark brown, and most specimens bear a yellow vertebral stripe or spot on each vertebral scute. The growth rings (annuli) are usually quite distinct and the central areolae may be yellowish (the carapace of the young turtles is actually quite rough). The plastron is black rimmed with yellow. The head is grayish on top, and the face is pinkish tan to peach. A broad butter-yellow to bright greenish yellow stripe extends from each eye to the neck.

These turtles are very alert, and even after many years of captivity they will return quickly to the dry ground and seek shelter beneath overhanging grasses and other ground cover if disturbed.

At the advent of cold weather or during periods of drought, they burrow deeply enough to completely conceal themselves. Once burrowed in, they usually fail to respond to gentle lawn sprinklings or a brief shower, but will emerge and forage if the ground becomes saturated.These beautiful box turtles eagerly accept worms and insects, but will also eat an occasional prekilled pinky mouse, trout chow, puppy chow, some berries, other fruits, squash and a little dark lettuce. They will eat both in and out of the water.

American box turtles should ideally be kept outdoors. Any turtle would appreciate the fresh outdoors better than being cooped up indoors. You could have a small pond for your pet. Make sure it gets both sunlight and protection from extreme sunlight as well as some water and greenery to play around in. Take note too, that you should ensure your turtle’s safety against possible animal predators or pets that may harm it.

You may not be able to afford an outdoor enclosure. In this case the most sensible box turtle care tip for housing is to keep an indoor enclosure and occasionally take your pet outdoors.

You should not keep your turtle in an aquarium. Aside from the danger of overheating due to the glass sides, your pet may become agitated with all the activity that it sees outside. Your indoor housing should be a plastic or wood case. A four-inch square box that is two inches high would do well. Provide a shallow wading dish with a little water and a hiding pot or box. For the substrate, you can use a commercial product or use potting soil. Substrates though need to be constantly monitored, cleaned and changed.

Alligator Snapping Turtle Paradise

The prehistoric-looking alligator snapping turtle is the largest freshwater turtle in North America and among the largest in the world. With its spiked shell, beaklike jaws, and thick, scaled tail, this species is often referred to as the "dinosaur of the turtle world."

Found almost exclusively in the rivers, canals, and lakes of the southeastern United States, alligator snappers can live to be 50 to 100 years old. Males average 26 inches (66 centimeters) in shell length and weigh about 175 pounds (80 kilograms), although they have been known to exceed 220 pounds (100 kilograms). The much smaller females top out at around 50 pounds (23 kilograms).

Alligator snappers spend most of their lives in water, the exception being when females trudge about 160 feet (50 meters) inland to nest. They can stay submerged for 40 to 50 minutes before surfacing for air.

The alligator snapper employs a unique natural lure in its hunting technique. Its tongue sports a bright-red, worm-shaped piece of flesh that, when displayed by a motionless turtle on a river bottom, draws curious fish or frogs close enough to be snatched.

Adult snappers have no natural predators other than humans, who capture them for their meat and shells, and to sell in the exotic animal trade. A severe reduction in population due to unregulated harvesting and habitat loss has led states to protect them throughout most of their range, and they are listed as a threatened species.

African Spurred Tortoise

The African spurred tortoise is also called the spurred tortoise or sulcata. The sulcata used to be a rare tortoise but because of successful captive breeding it is now one of the most common tortoises in captivity. So much so that it is considered a problem because some keepers do not give the tortoise the thought that is required when obtaining one. They then find that they do not know what to do with a 50 pound plus monster and end up placing it up for adoption.

The sulcata can attain a very large size in a relatively short time so care for this tortoise must be thought out carefully with accommodations being the primary concern. Sulcatas enjoy a temperature range of 80 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit. This tortoise is best considered for warmer climates where it can be maintained in a large outdoor enclosure with the range extending into cooler climates with the use of supplemental heating.

Sulcatas are not only capable burrowers but frequently do dig burrows when given the opportunity which can be over 2 foot in diameter and over 15 feet in length. For this reason they should be provided with housing that they should be encouraged to use.

In their native range food and water is relatively sparse with reports of them feeding mainly on succulent plants and grasses. In captivity the Sulcata is an opportunistic feeder where it readily takes almost any vegetable matter but grasses and dark leafy greens are the most common staple.

Even though sulcata are considered desert type tortoises water, should be provided at all times.

Knowing Aldabra Tortoise

Aldabra Tortoiseare found on the islands of the Aldabra Atoll in the Seychelles, and they are one of the largest tortoises in the world (the largest tortoise on record being the Galapagos tortoise – Geochelone nigra). Aldabra tortoises have a varied habitat on their home and introduced islands, ranging from mangrove swamps and coastal dune areas to grasslands and scrub forests.

You can find Aldabra tortoises for sale at select reptile stores, reptile shows and sometimes on the Internet. If you are able to find one, no doubt you will find them very rewarding to keep.

The average weight of an adult male Aldabra tortoise is approximately 550 pounds, although there is one at the Fort Worth Zoo that weighs in at nearly 800 pounds.

Keeping Aldabra tortoises outdoors is usually the best way to house them. Hatchlings up to 2 years old can be housed indoors, but once they get beyond that, they need the great outdoors to roam. For babies up to a year old, tortoise tubs or the equivalent work very well. Use bark or crushed coconut for the bottom of the enclosure. Provide a hotspot of about 90 degrees Fahrenheit at one end of the enclosure with an ambient temperature of about 80 degrees. Mercury vapor lights work well for this, as they provide both UVB and heat all in one fixture.

Aldabra tortoises get large, so as a rule of thumb, the bigger the outdoor enclosure, the better. I house mine in a pen made of ornate cinder blocks. The wall is a bit over two feet tall, and the paddock area is 100 feet by 30 feet. Depending on how many you plan to house, the size of your paddock can vary.

 Aldabra tortoises do best at temperatures of 80 to 95 degrees. Provide your tortoise house with heat lamps, heat emitters and/or large outdoor-use heat pads (“pig blankets”) to maintain the proper temperature even when the weather outside is cold. The entrance to the house should be large enough for the tortoise to easily enter and exit, and a door is handy to lock the tortoise inside on very cold days or nights. Aldabra tortoises love mudholes, and if you can build one, or a shallow pond for them to soak in, they will be very content. Unlike most tortoises, they are also good swimmers.

Aldabra tortoises get very large and live a very long time. They need lots of space, special habitat setups and a bit of care. They make very rewarding pets as long as you have the time and space to dedicate to their needs. You'll more than likely have to arrange for their long-term care in advance since they are probably going to outlive you. They are smart, personable and very entertaining. I find that after a long day at work, just sitting outside and watching them eat can calm the nerves of a hectic day.

Finding A Two-Headed Tortoise

These tortoise pictures prove it. Two-headed creatures are no longer the stuff of legend and myth but a startling reality.

This angulate tortoise was discovered in Wellington, Western Cape South Africa and it has two heads that are joined separately to a shared body. But it seems quite normal otherwise and both heads feed on grass, leaves, and softened rabbit pellets.
This species seldom grows bigger than 22 centimetres (eight or nine inches), and has a lengthened straw-colored shell with somewhat raised shields that are black in the middle and on the sides.

Male angulates grow larger than the females and they are shy and reserved, usually retreating into their shell at the first disturbance. They drink rather more infrequently than other species but take in a large amount of water at one time. They submerge their heads when drinking which can be rather alarming when first encountered.

This is only the second reported case of its kind in South Africa in over 20 years. The other one was discovered in the early 1980s.

There are a total of 43 species of these reptiles worldwide and 13 of them can be found in South Africa including the highly endangered geometric tortoise.

Male turtles may start to lose their cool

As global temperatures rise, male turtles may start to lose their cool.Many reptiles, including most turtles, display temperature-dependent sex differentiation. In other words, the temperature that an egg incubates at determines the sex of hatchlings. In the case of turtles, warmer temperatures yield more female offspring, and cooler temperatures yield more males.

Worldwide, a population bias already exists against male sea turtles. Largely female sea turtle populations are common, whereas male-skewed populations are almost unknown.In an effort to understand what nesting conditions produce a balanced sex ratio, Kamel and Mrosovsky logged temperature fluctuations at four types of sea turtle nesting sites in Antigua: an open beach, in low vegetation, in the forest, and along the forest edge.

Their temperature data suggest that only eggs laid in the forest itself are cool enough to produce male turtles—nests laid in all other environments produce exclusively female hatchlings. That means that as more Caribbean forests are cleared to make way for new resort development, fewer turtle nests will be able to produce male turtles.

Climate change compounds the threat of localized habitat destruction for these sensitive reptiles. Global warming predictions range from a 1° to 6° Celsius mean temperature increase over the next century, and studies have shown that as little as a 1° increase in mean incubation temperature can dramatically reduce the ratio of male turtle hatchlings to female. A 4° increase effectively eliminates male turtles from a clutch.

But behavioral change is limited to individual turtles, and there is no evidence that whole species, or even whole populations, will adapt in this way. According to Janzen, air temperature is only one of many indicators that signal the start of nesting season. Other factors less influenced by global warming, such as ground temperature and day length, ultimately influence how early turtles will start to nest.