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Turtles

Family: TrionychidaeSpiny Softshell TurtleApalone spiniferaPhoto © Animal-World: Courtesy David Brough

     The first turtles are believed to have lived over 200 million years ago!... and their fossils are almost identical to turtles that are alive today!

Click on a Category (or scroll down) to acess each type of Turtle.

     There are many good beginner turtles that are generally available and fairly inexpensive. You can buy beginner turtles at reptile shows, from a breeder, at a pet store, or on the internet.

     Turtles are quiet, calm, and slow-moving. Consequently they don't instill the cautious concerns that some folks have when dealing with other types of reptiles. They can be quite hardy when provided with the right environment, have fairly modest requirements, and live a long time.
     Turtles that spend a good deal of time in the water usually have webbed feet for swimming. They are aquatic turtles (water turtles) or semi-aquatic (marsh and swamp type) turtles. There are also turtles that are semi-terrestrial, spending time both in the water and on the land. These 'land' turtles are also known as terrapins (the term terrapin is derived from the word terrapene, which means 'land turtle'). In the United States however, the term turtle is usually used to describe all of these, and includes approximately 200 species.

Turtles: Click on the small images below
for more information about each one.

Box Turtles
Eastern Box Turtle	Florida Box Turtle
Terrapene carolina	Terrapene carolina
Ornate Box Turtle	Three-toed Box Turtle
Terrapene ornata ornata	Terrapene carolina

Map Turtles
Cagle's Map Turtle	Ringed Map Turtle
Graptemys caglei	Graptemys oculifera
Yellow-blotched Map Turtle
Graptemys flavimaculata

Popular Water Turtles
African Side-necked Turtle	Chicken Turtle
Pelusios sinuatus	Deirochelys reticularia
Painted Turtle	Red-eared Slider
Chrysemys picta	Trachemys scripta
Spiny Soft-shelled Turtle	Spotted Turtle
Apalone spinifera	Clemmys guttata

Unusual Water Turtles
Argentine Snake-necked Turtle	Matamata Turtle
Hydromedusa tectifera	Chelus fimbriatus
Pig-nosed Turtle	Snapping Turtle
Carettochelys insculpta	Chelydra serpentina

Wood Turtles
Black Wood Turtle	Ornate Wood Turtle
Rhinoclemmys funerea	Rhinoclemmys pulcherrima

Turtles: Don't see your favorite here?
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