what's the smallest turtle

[pica_nuttalli]

i reallyreallyreally want a turtle, but i don't want to have a foot-long ill-tempered aquatic death machine on my hands 30 years from now. are there any varieties that stay small, say 6 inches or so?

i'd also be interested in learning about any tortoises that stay pretty small...

good links would also be appreciated; thanks guys!!

 

[SirMinion]

The smallest aquatic chelonian is actually a North American native species called the Bog Turtle (Clemmys muhlenbergii) that only grows to around four inches.
Not available as pets though as it's seriously endangered and is illegal to remove it from the wild.

The smallest species that is readily available is the Common Musk Turtle (Sternotherus odoratus), another North American species with a maximum size of eight inches, but usually doesn't exceed six inches.

The smallest tortoise is the Speckled Cape Padloper (Homopus signatus) a three inch south African species that can occasionally be found as a pet and breeds readily in captivity.

 

[pica_nuttalli]

Sir, has anyone told you "You rock" lately? thanks for the info!

 

[corykitty516]

when I was a kid we used to catch box turtles (not aquatic at all I think) but my mom would only let us keep them for a day or so then release them back to the woods. They only get to be about 5 or 6 inches as an adult but are an enourmous pain to keep long term as they need to be kept outdoors, fed live food etc. Ones bought from stores may have diseases and ones wild caught have a hard time adjusting. Some varieties are also protected in many places and you have to have some sort of special permission to adopt them. If you can accomidate them though they are really adorable.


heres a link. http/www.tortoise.org/archives/terrapen.html

 

[Jer-]

hey sorry to bring this back up.... but pica have u got urself a turt yet?

if not try looking at map turtles...they stay pretty small....they have very impressive shells as well....

last month i used to have mississippi map turtles. very cool.

oh n they r very common here.