What turtle? (1 Viewer)

Hiya all,

What is this turtle? It was rescued (bought) from a local restaurant, heading for the pot. It is about 50 cm long, with an extremely long neck. Definitely not vegetarian, it is causing havoc in our fishpond!

It's some kind of Soft shelled turtle. Not sure which and could be from Americas or Asia (more likely the latter, obviously). There are many species native to Vietnam. They'll eat anything they can swallow providing it's of animal origin (fingers included so be careful, those heads can move unbelievably fast). Typical diet would be fish. Will also eat night crawlers, large invertebrates, amphibians, fresh water crabs, small reptiles, small mammals, waterfowl chicks... In captivity lumps of chicken and other meats are taken with relish.

Really good of you to rescue it though I fear your fish will not thank you ;-)

Lee.

I think it is an asian species-(well that´s likely- but some months , perhaps even more than a year ago, there was a documentary about south east asian amphibia and reptiles and some scientists which are researching on these groups in that area (I whish i would remember the scientists names) and another short documentary on a big illegal shipment (to Europe !!!! south east asian turtles for the pot!!!!)-the shipment was stopped by customs and the animals were distributed on several german or european Zoos -if I remember correctly , there were some turtles looking exactly like that one, Hanno.

If I get across this again, I ll give you more information

Jörn

Lee, Joern, thanks for your replies. I'll make sure to keep my fingers well out of reach)))

hi,Hanno,it should b Palea steindachneri,by its warts.show more pix about it pls.

I was actually IDing a turte today and came across this site.. maybe it can help you

http://pick4.pick.uga.edu/mp/20q?guide=Turtles