Sea Turtles....

[Pappyball]

Can private citizens get ahold of sea turtles of any kind for a private aquarium?

in the near future we are setting up a very large marine tank, around 500 or 600 gallons. I would really love to have my main living showpiece to be a live sea turtle.

I have no idea if you can do this though, i know alot of Sea Turtles are endangered species. Are there any that are not? can you get them anywhere for private aquariums?

or is the reason no one has them simply because they would just require too large of a tank or something?

Very in the dark on this but would really like to know.

-Anthony.

[latazyo]

omg, please, please, promise me you are not serious, turtles are my favorite animals in the world and undoubtedly one would suffer dearly in such a small prison cell...please reconsider

[Pappyball]

well im not talking about a GIANT one i mean i never want to put any marine animal or fish of any kind in an aquarium that wasnt big enough for them to live safely and comfortably.

But you go to the pet store and little turtles are a dime a dozen i was wondering if there was any kind of turtle at all that you can have in salt water marine aquariums. If it is 1. legal at all, and if it is 2. safely doable.

If a little fresh water turtle can do just fine in a 29 or 37 or 45 gallon tank, im wondering wouldn't a sea turtle of the same size do just fine in a 500 gallon tank?

[OrionGirl]

Sea turtles all get too big for anything less than a couple 1000 gallons. Sorry, I agree, they are cool.

If you can put that big a tank together, maybe look into rays. They would appreciate a bigger tank, but wouldn't need thousands of gallons.

[Pappyball]

So thats why people don't do them is because they just keep getting bigger and need way too much space.

I just know nothing about sea turtles, i figured that there might be smaller varieties of sea turtles just like there are all kinds of sizes for fresh water setups.

If a sea turtle is not something that i can safely do then then we're still going to make the giant tank but make it a community of a wide variety of colorful species etc.....

[quantim0]

of the 8 species of sea turtles, 7 are endangered species. so if you ever got caught with one you'd be in some deep stuff. unless you can provide a couple thousand gallon tank and the food bill that comes with a 50lb animal. so no is your answer.

[Pappyball]

thats what i thought, i had a feeling that most were endangered so i was wondering if there were any that weren't and out of those if there are any that are manageable in home aquariums.

Looks like not though. Would be beautiful to have though.

[latazyo]

sorry to sound not so friendly, but you had me worried, I understand what you m ean though, and I agree with the others, even my 10" Fw turtle makes a huge am ount of waste adn moves around a lot, I coudln't imagine a sea turtle

I agree with the ray suggestion, maybe you'd like something like that

[Pappyball]

No worries, wasn't taken in the wrong way. I was considering it if there was a non-endangered variety that was smaller. The work and cost involved also doesn't bother me. I like fish keeping too much to thing about work or money when im doing it. I don't let those two things ever get in the way of a great tank.

Since i cant do that though, we are going to go with a very wide variety of fish of all kinds and really make a great community marine aquarium

[agilis]

The importation of sea turtles, or ANY sea turtle product, like tortoise shell jewelry,, is strictly and no-fooling-around-big-fine-and-maybe-jail illegal. Their possession within the U.S. is equally forbidden. They are a vanishing race, and need all the help they can get. Their nesting beaches have been turned into marinas, resorts, and condos, and they are still hunted and killed all over the world, despite laws that are not really enforced in most third-world nations. Whatever eggs humans don't get are mostly eaten by animals.

Seaturtles were legal to keep until about 30 years ago. I had a Hawksbill I got as a tiny hatchling, for 4 years. It had a shell length of about 14 inches when I donated it to the N.Y. Aquarium in Coney Island. When they placed it in a 20 foot long tank, and it began to swim freely and naturally, I realized how selfish I had been, even though I had ultimately set up a 150 gal. tank for its exclusive use. I was very young, and it was a different world. I brought it home in a plastic food container as hand luggage. The flight attendants thought it was very cute.

I hand fed that turtle with carefully formulated gelatin-based vitamin and mineral enriched foods. It was perfectly healthy, I'm happy to say, when I gave it to the N.Y.Aquarium. Its shell colors were incredible, and its skin was so, so soft, like velvet.

A good filter kept the water clean, and the high organics and nitrates did not disturb the turtle at all. I discoverd that they can be kept in only slightly saline water, at a S.G. of around 1.005.

It was a fantastically beautiful and intellegent creature, Eretmochelys imbricata. They, along with the Ridleys, are the smallest of the sea turtles. I still see them now and then, snorkeling and diving in the Caribbean. They are very much frightened by humans, with good reason.

[Aescleah]

please dont do it
Ashley

[WAR EAGLE]

Diamondback terrapins live in brackishwater marshes and can found fairly readily in shops that specialize in reptiles. They are pretty cool guys, and don't get too large. You could incorporate one of those guys if you are willing to work within the salinity tolerances of the fish species you plan to use. If you want a true marine tank you aren't going to have any luck with a marine turtle. As everyone has pointed out, they are nearly all on the ESL.
http://pelotes.jea.com/Terrapin.jpg

[Boogiechillin]

Wow, cool turtle. I'd guess that it would eat any smaller fish that it could catch, though...

[Kara]

Sea Turtles are incredibly wonderful creatures. Being in South Florida, I got to work with the Sea Turtle Rescue Society. You walk out on the beach here around midnight in certain seasons and watch the "Mom" turtles come up on the beach, dig a hole and lay their eggs. Watching the eggs hatch is the neatest experience. The babies are the cutest little things that don't stay little. I've seen sea turtles that weigh hundreds of pounds. There is no species that is small enough to live in a home aquarium. (unless your Donald Trump and you have a 5,000 gallon aquarium in your home!)

Even if it weren't absoloutely against the law, it would still be a crime to keep something that gets that big and that should have a whole ocean to live in, in a home aquarium.

Come to Florida and go SCUBA diving on our reefs! You'll get to see lots of sea turtles up-close and personal! The ocean is our very own, larger than life, awe inspiring 'reef tank'.

BTW, that Terrapin in the pic is gorgeous!

[agilis]

Diamondback Terrapins are not really in the same category as sea turtles. their life styles, body morphology, and requirements are essentially the same as pond turtles, like painted turtles or sliders. They do not have flippers like sea turtles, and are not adapted to permanent and continous life in the water. Sea turtle males never leave the water, and females only leave for a few hours each year to lay eggs. They have a difficult time on land. They are totally adapted to life in the ocean. They can and do travel thousands of miles in the open sea. They are tied to land only by the requirement that their eggs incubate on land. Sea turtles are unlike anything else in the turtle world. They don't really swim, they fly through the water like a bird in the air. They are incredibly fast and agile, wonderful to behold.

Terrapins have legs like ordinary freshwater turtles, not flippers, they do not swim nearly as well, and require dry land resting and basking areas, places where they can dry out and get some direct sun. They cannot be kept in a fish tank unless this dry land area is provided. Small specimens will quickly drown without shallow water and a secure landing area. Terrapins are really just freshwater turtles that have adapted to life in brackish water. They are found in bays, canals, and similar protected water near to land. They can't live in the open sea, and they don't belong in an aquarium either. In general, turtles do not mix well with other creatures in captivity.