More in-depth turtle facts

Turtles, Turtles, Turtles!

By Isaac

What if you find a turtle laying some eggs in the middle of your campground? What if you pick them up? What if you take them home? What if you turn them into a project? What if I keep on asking questions? You get a paper of course. This paper will answer all these questions by looking at turtles in both the wild and in captivity. Turtles are reptiles that live around the world and that can be found locally. Some turtles make good pets. Other turtles are endangered. We will take a closer look at turtles, their habits, environments, diets. We will also examine the laws surrounding turtle ownership in Wisconsin and turtle care in captivity. After you read through this paper you will know considerable more about turtles.

There are many different types of turtles around the world. Some are found only in the wild and some can be found in captivity, or both. While many people might want to get a turtle as a pet, they might not know about the different turtle families or the laws pertaining to getting a pet turtle in their state. This section will introduce fact sets on the different turtle families and their characteristics. It will conclude with some information on which of these are common pet turtles.

Turtles of the world fact sets:

• Pig-nose Turtle (family: Carettochelyidae)

Characteristics

This turtle is the only freshwater turtle with paddle-like limbs.
The front limbs are paddle-like and have two claws.
Pig-nosed turtles reach approximately 70cm in carapace (shell) length.
The shell is olive or gray in color and is covered with a leathery skin.
The snout is fleshy and pig-like (hence the name).

• Austro-American Sideneck Turtle (family: Chelidae)

Characteristics

Several have long necks, earning them the common name "snake-necked" turtles.
The family Chelidae contains approximately 40 families within 11 genera (Genera is the plural of the word genus and it means: “the usual major subdivision of a family or subfamily in the classification of organisms, usually consisting of more than one species”.
Members are commonly found in Australia, New Guinea, and South America.
Most inhabit slow-moving streams, rivers, and swamps.
Chelidae is one of two families of sideneck turtles (the other family is Pelomedusidae). The shell is usually oval in shape and dark in color, and may be arched and keeled or depressed and grooved.

• Sea Turtles (family: Cheloniidae)

Characteristics

These are the only turtles whose front limbs are stronger than their back limbs.

The family Cheloniidae contains seven families within five genera. The sea turtles occur worldwide in all tropical oceans. They are marine turtles, with females coming ashore only to nest.
These are large turtles, ranging between 71 cm and 213 cm in shell length.
The shell is oval or heart-shaped.
The limbs are modified into flippers for swimming and cannot support the weight of the turtle on land.
Sea turtles have lost the ability to retract their heads within their shells.
Sea turtles are omnivorous and feed on sponges, cnidarians, mollusks, crustaceans, algae, plants, and fish.
Adult turtles have few natural predators. Sharks and saltwater crocodiles are known to consume adults. Nesting females are preyed upon by coyotes.
Eggs and hatchlings are the most vulnerable, falling prey to insects, crustaceans, mollusks, small mammals, birds, other reptiles, and various fish.

• Snapping Turtles (family: Chelydridae)

Characteristics

Snapping turtles are large aquatic freshwater reptiles that only live in North America
Only two species of snapping turtles still exist and are the Common Snapping Turtle and the Alligator Snapping Turtle.
Snapping turtles are often considered the top predator in their environment. The alligator snapping turtle's eats mainly of fish and the common snapping turtles are more active hunters and will eat just about anything.
Snapping turtles do not make good pets because they will never stop growing. The largest snapping turtles are around 600 lbs. Alligator snapping turtles have been known to grow even larger.
The Snapping turtle's main defense mechanism is their powerful snapping jaws. They also have thick claws on their front and back legs which they use to tear apart food and to climb hills each year where they lay their eggs (in a similar way to sea turtles).
The alligator snapping turtle is the largest freshwater turtle in North America, where it is generally found in the more southern waters of the United States. The smaller and more aggressive common snapping turtle inhabits lakes and streams from South America to Canada.
Snapping turtles spend nearly all of their lives in water. Only nesting females actually venture onto open land. Snapping turtles can remain submerged underwater for up to three hours at a time.
Alligator snapping turtles and common snapping turtles have a very different looking appearances. The alligator snapping turtle has a long head and almost spiky shell, and the common snapping turtle has a more rounded head and a smoother shell.

• River Turtles (family: Dermatemydidae)

Characteristics:

This family lives in Central America.
Its preferred habitats include large rivers and lakes.
The river turtle is almost totally.
It grows 65cm in shell length and is green to gray in color.
Dermatemydids are most closely related to the mud and musk turtles.

• Leatherback Turtles (family: Dermochelyidae)

This is the largest of all of the turtle families.
It lies in oceans worldwide.
Leatherback turtles have physiological adaptations that prevent the loss of body heat, allowing them to live further north than the other sea turtles.
They reach sizes of 244 cm in shell length and over weigh over 800 kg.
The shell is a composite of osteoderms embedded in a leathery skin, hence the common name. Osteoderms are: “bony plates in the skin”.
Their heads cannot be fully retracted within the shells.
Leatherback turtles eat jellyfish almost exclusively. Other prey may be incidentally taken, but their jaws are very weak and incapable of chewing hard prey.
Virtually no natural predators are known for adult leatherback turtles, although sharks, killer whales, and jaguars can injure them. Eggs and hatchlings are eaten by members of every class of vertebrates and numerous invertebrates.

• Pond Turtles (family: Emydidae)

Emydidae is the largest and most diverse turtle family.
The family Emydidae includes approximately 95 family in 33 genera.
Members live throughout North America, northern South America, Europe, northwestern Africa, and Asia.
They are a freshwater family, though some family inhabit brackish waters or are terrestrial.
Sizes range from only 11 cm to nearly 60 cm in shell length.
Coloration is also quite variable. The family doesn't have a distinguishing set of superficial characters.
Some pond turtles are domed, but most have low-arching shells.
Food habits range from carnivores to herbivores depending on the type of turtle.
The carnivores feed on annelids, crustaceans, and fish. In several types of turtles, there is a shift from being carnivorous as juveniles to being herbivores as adults.
Small mammals like raccoons, eat pond turtle eggs.
Members of all vertebrate classes eat eggs and hatchlings.
Alligators pose a risk to adult pond turtles, but humans are chiefly responsible for the deaths of adults either through collection for food or shooting them.

• Mud Turtles (family: Kinosternidae)

Characteristics

The mud turtle measures 7.5-10 cm in length.
The shell olive to dark brown to almost black.
Mud turtles live in the area between NY to southern Florida and from Florida to Texas, and from Texas to Illinois.
Mud turtles are semi-aquatic, but they often wander away from water in mid-summer.
They can be found in fresh or brackish water, including marshes, small ponds, wet ditches and fields, and offshore islands. They prefer shallow, soft-bottomed, slow-moving water with lots of vegetation.

• Softshell Turtles (family: Trionychidae)

The shell of these turtles is covered with a leathery skin.
The family Trionychidae contains approximately 25 family with 12 genera.
Softshell turtles live in eastern North America, Africa, Asia, and the Indo-Australian archipelago.
Habitats include slow moving streams, swift rivers, lakes, ponds, and even brackish waters, but anywhere they live needs to have a soft bottom.
These turtles spend most of their time buried in the mud, and basking is not common.
They are usually carnivorous, but some are omnivorous.
Crustaceans, insects, mollusks, fish, and amphibians are common prey.
As in other turtles, eggs and hatchlings are much more susceptible to predation than adults.

The turtles presented above are a list of all of the main turtle families around the world. However, not all are pets. If it is the case that one might want to adopt or purchase a turtle as a pet, the typical choices would be the Red Ear Slider Turtle, the African Aquatic Sideneck Turtle, and the Caspian Pond Turtle, the Central American Wood Turtle aka Ornate Wood Turtle, the painted turtle or the box turtle. There is no national list of outlawed turtles for pets because it varies by state. Tennessee does not allow pet turtles at all because they can carry diseases like salmonella. Some states will not allow the sale of turtles as pets, but will allow people to keep turtles that are caught if they have a valid hunting or fishing license. Across all states, though it is illegal to sell turtle hatchlings that are less than 4 inches big. The reason for this is, again, because turtles can carry salmonella and small turtles tend to be bought for kids. If small turtles are made unavailable, fewer kids will get pet turtles and fewer kids will be at risk for salmonella. Before getting a turtle, one has to check state laws for any restrictions and also know the ins and outs of proper turtle care.

Painted turtles

The painted turtle is a common aquatic turtle often kept as pets. Commonly seen basking on rocks, they live in the wild in or near soft-bottomed ponds. Though painted turtles are very common in North America, they can also be found in other areas of the world like Australia.

This section will focus on explaining the diet, habitat, and other facts about the four different kinds of painted turtles in North America.

Midland painted turtle

Detailed description

Where do they live?

The midland painted turtle prefers calm, shallow freshwater areas that have a lot of much on the bottom.

What do they eat?

They usually eat plants and small animals like fish, crustaceans, and insects. The midland painted turtle usually eats while in the water using their surprisingly powerful jaws to catch their food.

Predators

Predators are usually large fish, birds, or humans.

Habits

During the day, midland painted turtles like to bask in the sun on exposed rocks and logs.

Appearance

The midland painted turtle is 10-25 centimeters long. The bottom shell has a dark shadow in the center, but it is otherwise very hard to distinguish the midland painted turtle from other painted turtles.

Reproductive habits

Females midland turtles lay 4-15 eggs in a sandy hole that they dig themselves. They cover the hole with the dirt and leave the eggs to hatch by themselves and get to the water. The sexes of the hatchlings depends on temperature during incubation. Low temperatures result in males and high temperatures result in females.

Lifespan

Painted turtles live at least 50 years in the wild if they live to adulthood.

Eastern painted turtle

Detailed description

Where do they live?

Like all painted turtles, the eastern painted turtle is mostly aquatic. It lives in wet meadows, bogs, slow streams, rivers, shallow pools, and on lake shores. Eastern painted turtles also like to bask in the sun and want to live in areas with soft, muddy bottoms with a lot of vegetation.

What do they eat?

The midland painted turtle eats mostly small plants and insects.

Predators

Predators for all types of painted turtles include humans, large fish, and birds. All sorts of land animals and birds will eat the eggs if they find them.

Habits

All painted turtles swim and bask in the sun. They also spend the winter hibernating in mud or decayed vegetation on pond bottoms. Painted turtles emerge from hibernation about a month earlier than other types of turtles. They come out in March.

Appearance

Male eastern painted turtles are 13 to 17 centimeters long. Females are 14 to 17 centimeters long. The upper shell ranges from olive green to black and can have a stripe down the middle and red marks around the outside of the shell. Unlike all other North American turtles, including the other painted turtles, the segments of the top shell have pale leading edges and occur in straight rows across the back. The bottom shell is yellow or lightly spotted.

Reproductive habits

The reproductive habits of all painted turtles are about the same. Males court the females by stroking the sides of their face. Females can have eggs fertilized by more than one male. Females leave the water to lay their eggs in sandy soil. They tend to have clutches of eggs of 4 to 15 eggs.

Lifespan

The lifespan of all species of painted turtles is about the same. If they reach adulthood, it is 50 years or more.

Western painted turtle

Detailed description

Where do they live?

Western painted turtles are found in Canada and in the United States. The states that they can be found in include: Wisconsin, New Mexico, Missouri, Kansas, Indiana, and Arizona.

What do they eat?

The western painted turtle changes what it eats depending on the season. In summer it eats mainly insects, but by the end of the summer it eats mainly plants. The western painted turtle also eats water lily seeds and helps to spread the seeds because they seed are whole, even after they have passed through the turtle.

Predators

The profile of predators is the same for western painted turtles as the other subspecies of painted turtles.

Habits

The western painted turtle is aquatic like the other painted turtles. All painted turtles bask and have webbed feed to help them swim under water.

Appearance

The western painted turtle is the largest subspecies of painted turtle. It groups up to be about 25 centimeters long. The top shell has a mesh like pattern of light lines. It might have a faint stripe on its top shell, like other painted turtles, but this might be missing as well. The bottom shell has a big spot that spreads from the middle to the edges and this is sometimes red.

Reproductive habits

Like all painted turtles, western painted turtles mate from May to July. Mature males are smaller than the females After mating, females walk to shore to lay he eggs in a four to six inch hole that she digs herself. Mother turtles’ desire to lay eggs in very particular places can be very strong and she will cross roads, backyards, or any barrier to reach her nesting site. Turtles, like all reptiles, must lay their eggs on land because the eggs would drown if they were laid in water.

Lifespan

As stated above, these turtles live 50 years or more in the wild.

Southern painted turtle

Detailed description

Where do they live?

Southern painted turtles prefer the same habitats as the other painted turtle subspecies. They live in soft-bottomed ponds, marshes, lakes, and creeks.

What do they eat?

These painted turtles start out mainly carnivorous. By adulthood they are mostly herbivorous. They commonly eat larvae.

Predators

Predators remain the same as reported for the above subspecies of painted turtles.

Habits

Southern painted turtles love to bask in the sun. They are known to be hearty, personable and they adapt well to change.

Appearance

The southern painted turtle is the smallest type of painted turtle. It gets to be between 10 and 14 centimeters long. The strip on top of its top shell is bright red. The bottom shell is tan and has either a few or no light spots.

Reproductive habits

The southern painted turtle’s reproductive cycle begins in early spring, just like all other painted turtles. They mate in early spring. Males might go from one aquatic environment to another looking for a mate. Females come out of the water to lay their eggs in May or June. Hatchling often stay in their nest until the next spring.

Lifespan

These turtles live 50 years or more in the wild.

In the section above, the mannerisms, reproductive habits, lifespan, diet, appearance, and predators of the painted turtles were discussed. The subspecies of the painted turtle have many similarities. These similarities include the lifespan, habitat, predators, and reproductive cycle. The painted turtle subspecies are different in some ways as well, including their eating habits and appearance. The four subspecies of painted turtles are the southern painted turtle, the midland painted turtle, the eastern painted turtle and the western painted turtle. These turtles make up the most commonly seen group of turtles in North America.

Care of pet turtles

Painted turtles are a common pet turtle. The previous section talked about the painted turtle in the wild. This section, however, will discuss the care of painted turtles in captivity. This section will cover diet, environment, handling, and incubating/caring for turtle eggs.

Environment

Painted turtles spend most of their life in the water. A juvenile turtle needs a 20-30 gallon tank and adults need a 50-70 gallon tank to be happy. The rule is about 10 gallons per inch long the turtle is. The tank should be filled to about 8 inches below the top and a floating turtle dock should be provided. These can be purchased and are inexpensive.

The tank should have a water filter because this keeps the tank cleaner and makes tank cleaning easier. Also, the tank should be outfitted with UVA and UVB light bulbs. These are necessary for the turtles’ shells to stay hard. Without proper lighting, the shells will get soft and crack and the turtle will die. Painted turtles should be housed separately to control disease and contamination. You do not have to use gravel or a substrate because that makes cleanup harder, but you can use 3 inches of gravel if you want to. Other objects and plants should be floated in the water for the turtle to play with.

Feeding

Painted turtles are omnivores and are voracious eaters. The smart thing to do with a painted turtle is to feed it in a separate container, like a plastic Tupperware box so that you don’t clog up the filtration system on your turtle’s tank. If you do this, you will not have to change the water in the tank as frequently. You can feed painted turtles parsley, dandelion greens, corn, lettuce, and frozen shrimp in addition to turtle pellets. Painted turtles like to eat in the water and their food should be floated in water when it is presented. Painted turtles like variety. An exception is feeder fish. Feeder fish can be kept in the tank with the turtles rather than fed outside of the tank. Painted turtles are not picky eaters.

Temperament and handling

Painted turtles are shy and do not like to be handled a lot. If you pay enough attention to them and hold them enough, the will start to tolerate human contact. Painted turtles will almost certainly never bite, but they might scratch you or try to hide from you by retreating into their shells.

Incubating and hatching eggs

Painted turtles can be incubated in a reptile incubator or a homemade incubator as long as you can keep the temperature and humidity at the right conditions. The humidity should be high and the temperature should be above 78 degrees and below 90 at all times. The lower the temperature the more likely you will produce boys and the higher the temperature the more likely you will produce females. Painted turtle eggs incubate an average of 72 days in the wild. If you incubate them at the higher temperatures in captivity, they can take fewer days to hatch.

After incubation the eggs will hatch one at a time. The baby turtles will have a yolk sac attached to their lower shell. The turtles should be left in their eggs until they emerge on their own because they continue to feed on the yolk sac until it is gone. This can take a few days from the time the turtle first breaks open their egg.

When the turtles leave their eggs, they should be transferred to containers with damp paper towels on the bottom until their yolk sac is completely healed. At that point they can live in a miniature version of the tank they will live in as they grow.

In this section, the care of captive painted turtles discussed. Painted turtles are cared for differently in captivity than in the wild. A turtle owner has to provide a habitat large enough for an aquatic turtle to live in, as well as proper diet and handling. If a turtle owner understands the needs of the painted turtle, the turtle should live a long time.

Laws in Wisconsin

It is important to understand the laws pertaining to owning turtles. The laws vary by state. This section will cover the laws pertaining turtle ownership in Wisconsin. The laws cover the sale, ownership and capture of turtles.

Sale

If you collect a native turtle in Wisconsin, you are not allowed to sell it by law.

The law also states that, “Endangered and Threatened species (including all parts and all life stages) may NOT be collected from the wild, dead or alive, or possessed without first having a valid Endangered and Threatened Species Permit. Permits are issued only for selected education, research, and conservation activities.” This means that you have to have a permit to collect wild turtles.

Endangered Turtles

There are some turtles that are endangered and that cannot be collected from the wild. These turtles include the following:

Endangered Turtles

Ornate box turtle, Terrapene o. ornata

Threatened Turtles

Blanding’s turtle, Emydoidea blandingii
Wood turtle, Clemmys insculpta

Licenses for Collection and Possession

In Wisconsin, “any person who collects, attempts to collect, or possesses native Wisconsin aquatic turtles, or frogs used for bait, must possess” a license. These licenses could include fishing, small game, sports, commercial fishing or conservation patron licenses or senior citizen recreational cards.

Possession

A person can only have up to 5 individuals of each species that is not protected. The only exception is for snapping turtles and softshell turtles. You can only have 3 each of those species. There are no restriction in Wisconsin for the amount of non-native turtles you may own. In terms of eggs, a person can collect up to one full clutch of eggs and keep them until they are adults. After they are adults, you are only allowed to keep 5 and the rest must be given away or released where the eggs were originally collected. Public museums, zoos, and aquariums do not have any possession limits under the law in Wisconsin. Similarly, accredited colleges, universities, and educational institutions do not have limits for education and research purposes. The catch is that individual researcher have to obtain a scientific collector’s permit or a scientific research license if the normal legal possession limits will be exceeded.

It is important to know the ins and outs of the law pertaining to turtle ownership. If one does not follow the law, you might have to give up your pets. Wisconsin does not seem to have many restrictions for the average turtle owner, especially compared to other states where the keeping of turtles is not even legal.

In the previous pages, you have learned a considerable amount pertaining wild turtles, the care of turtles in captivity, painted turtles, and state law about turtle ownership. All of this information is necessary for potential turtle owners. You are now better prepared to take on the responsibility of adopting or raising pet turtles. Good luck!

References:

Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. (2014). Eastern Painted Turtle. Retrieved from

http://www.ct.gov/deep/cwp/view.asp?a=2723&q=475292

Coy, T. & Lunsford, R. (2014). Southern painted. Retrieved from.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-spaint.htm

Coy, T. & Lunsford, R. (2014). Eastern painted. Retrieved from.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-eastern_painted.htm

Coy, T. & Lunsford, R. (2014). Midland painted. Retrieved from.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-midland_painted.htm

Coy, T. & Lunsford, R. (2014). Western painted. Retrieved from.

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-western_painted.htm

Dictionary.com. (2014). Definition of genera. Retrieved from