America's Smallest Turtle Becoming Scarce

[Vicious_Fish]

America's Smallest Turtle Becoming Scarce


http://www.livescience.com/14112-america-smallest-turtle-scarce.html

 

[krichardson]

Sad news,hope they get to the bottom of this.

 

[snakeguy101]

They have been protected for quite some time and very rare for even longer. They are great little turtles though and I hope they can stick around.

 

[A. gigas]

They are great little turtles though and I hope they can stick around.

This, if they recover and become common in the reptile industry, I want a big outdoor enclosure full of them. LOL.

 

[Vicious_Fish]

We have this species native around here but I haven't seen one in over 15 years. My parents have some perfect habitat for them on their property and last week I spent about 3 hours looking for one but I never found any. I'm going to keep trying though.

 

[coura]

Fortunatly captive populations of this species are doing fine, they are not the easiest turtle but the amount of care needed is passable. If only they were more available. It appears they are also being kept and bred privatly in EU.

 

[Gr8KarmaSF]

^ Whats make them hard to keep?

Sad news still...

 

[coura]

^ Whats make them hard to keep?

Sad news still...

They are tricky turtles, you need to get it just rigth. Sligthly acidic and completly clean water is a must. Getting a uv sterilizing equipment for the water basin wouldnt be a bad investiment. First cause of failure is skin problems. They need shallow aquaterrariums with allot of hidding places and also be reluctant to eat non life food. With time however they can be persuaded to acept turtle pellets. A bit of uv every now and then doesant hurt. Asside from that, once established they are hardy and breed well. But they are VERY expensive when available.

 

[shells-n-scales]

 

[shells-n-scales]

Keep them simple... Don't over think it