Baby musk turtle

Common Musk Turtle, baby. Sternotherus odoratus

I just cannot pass up photos of baby turtles. Their tiny-ness makes them too cute.

Photo via Silver City Serpentarium.

Turtle Navigators Video

Also, sadly, I believe this will be my last Video Monday post for a while. Seems I have exhausted quite a bit of my video resources and now I’m getting a bunch of repeat film. Hopefully I can bring the column back this summer with new vids.

Don’t fret! I have plans for a new column to take its place next week! Make sure to check back!

Attack of the Sea Turtle

Attack of the Sea Turtle

This photo came attached to an interesting article regarding the masses of jellyfish that are swarming to a national park on the small island of Cabrera. (That’s to the south of Majorca, Spain, for those who didn’t know, like me.) Apparently, there are too many of them to clear and the environmentalists are losing the battle.

Photo via MyTelegraph.co.uk

Advice Column: Select a Healthy Reptile – Part IV

If you’ve been following the post series on selecting a healthy reptile, you’ve reached the final list!  With the holidays fast approaching, many parents will be looking at giving their kids pets as gifts and turtles are a very popular first pet. I hope this guide will help those out there as a guideline of what to look for when picking up a new reptile for the house.

So far, we’ve covered what to look for in the body of the reptile, in the head, eyes, ears, nose and mouth and the general appearance and movement of the reptile before purchasing.  Lastly, we’ll look at things you should check related to the  head, eyes, ears, nose and mouth of the reptile:

Behavior

• A healthy reptile may try to avoid being caught when you or the pet store employee/vendor go into the enclosure. Once in hand, it may try to escape from you. It may musk or defecate on you. It may try to bite your fingers. It will be alert to its surroundings, checking you out as much as you are checking it out, and looking around. This is all normal behavior. A reptile who lays there, unresisting, uninterested in what is going on around it, is sick. While some pre-owned reptiles may relax when being held, they will still appear alert and responsive, to you and to activity going on around you. Apathy and lethargy should not be confused with tameness.
• A sick baby, juvenile, or adult may still try to avoid being caught and held, and may still try to flee, but will do so with less strength, noticeable once you have them in hand. Once you have held healthy reptiles, the weak muscle tone of a sick one will be hard to miss. A diurnal lizard whose leg or toe muscles tremor or twitch in the absence of any other movement has metabolic bone disease.
• A possible exception to the “lethargy = sick” rule is if the store or vendor has kept the reptile too cold. They will naturally be sluggish, slow moving and very slowly or non-responsive. Some stores keep them too cold because they don’t know or care. Others do it to keep wild, untamed animals quiet, making them easier to sell to customers who don’t know any better. If the reptile is cold, ask the employee/vendor to warm it up, or skip the store and go elsewhere. If the reptiles have been kept too cold for too long, they are very likely sicker than ones kept properly.

Photo Credit | Source

Advice Column: Select a Healthy Reptile – Part III

Welcome to Part III of a four-part post series on selecting a healthy reptile.  With the holidays fast approaching, many parents will be looking at giving their kids pets as gifts and turtles are a very popular first pet. I hope this guide will help those out there as a guideline of what to look for when picking up a new reptile for the house.

So far, we’ve covered what to look for in the body of the reptile and in the head, eyes, ears, nose and mouth of the reptile before purchasing.  This week we’ll start by looking at things you should check related to the head, eyes, ears, nose and mouth of the reptile:

General Appearance/Movement/Other

• Can you feel the reptile resist you as you move its limbs? Weakness or shakiness indicates a severely debilitated or sick reptile. If a lizard or turtle, it may be suffering from calcium deficiency. In snakes, especially boas and pythons, it could be inclusion body disease. If it is a boa or python, I strongly suggest you not buy any boa or python from that store/breeder/vendor. Wash thoroughly and change your clothes before handling anyone else’s boas and pythons and before touching any of your boas, pythons, or their enclosures.
• Are there any black, dark reddish brown, or bright orange dots (mites) moving around the snake’s or lizard’s body? Look especially carefully around the ears, armpits, and along the neck and dorsal crest on lizards, and under the belly scales and under the chin and neck on snakes. Indicates overall poor care and lack of concern in the store and possibly weakened and sick lizard.
• Do the legs pull away from you strongly when you gently tug on them? A healthy chelonian will firmly pull the limb away from you; a sick one will pull more weakly, or may not react at all.
• Is the body extremely wrinkled, dull looking? Dehydrated. May also be a sign of improper environmental conditions preventing the snake or lizard from shedding.
• When you hold it, can you hear a clicking or wheezing sound when it breathes? This is another sign of respiratory infection.

Photo Credit| Source

Advice Column: Select a Healthy Reptile – Part II

Last week, we started a post series on selecting a healthy reptile.  With the holidays fast approaching, many parents will be looking at giving their kids pets as gifts and turtles are a very popular first pet. I hope this guide will help those out there as a guideline of what to look for when picking up a new reptile for the house.

If you haven’t read the first part of the series, you can catch the list of what to look for in a reptile’s body before purchasing.  This week we’ll start by looking at things you should check related to the head, eyes, ears, nose and mouth of the reptile:

Head/Eyes/Ears/Nose/Mouth

• Are the eyes bleary, weepy, crusted? Possible respiratory infection, eye inflammation/infection, or mite infestation.
• Is it gaping (breathing with mouth open)? If the enclosure is not too hot for the species, and it is not a lizard giving an open-mouth threat, it is a sign of a respiratory infection.
• Is the nose free of wet or dried mucous, or is it “runny”? (Note: if salty deposits are present, is this normal.) Bubbly or dried mucous indicates respiratory infection; requires veterinary care. Runny nose and/or eyes indicates respiratory infection.
• Is the interior of the mouth pale or grayish pink? Stringy, ropey, or sheeting mucous? Small yellowish, whitish or greenish patches in gums, tongue or roof of mouth? (Gently pull down on the dewlap to open the mouth) Systemic infection causing secondary mouthrot; requires veterinary care.
• Is the lower jaw swollen out equally on both sides? Indicates probably metabolic bone disease.
• Are their any swellings near the ears? Indicates systemic infection and abscesses.
• Are the eyes swollen? Could indicate respiratory infection, hypothermia, or, in less frequent cases, vitamin A deficiency.
• Are there any lumps or swellings on the face, neck, or dewlap? (Note: large sexually mature male iguanas often have large fleshy jowls surrounding the large subtympanic scale and soft swellings on the top of their heads–both of which are normal and healthy; tegus may have fleshy jowls below and caudal to their ears.) Swellings, hard or soft, may be infected abscesses; requires veterinary care.

Next week, we’ll look at general appearance, movement and other things related to selecting a healthy turtle or tortoise…

Photo Credit | Source

Friday Find: Green Turtle Necklace from Max & Chloe

It’s always highly likely you’ll find jewelry in the Friday Find column. Seems like a lot of turtle related jewelry is made. However, this week’s find is so cute, I may ask for one in my stocking myself (and I already make jewelry in my spare time)!

Green Turtle Necklace Green turtle necklace is an unexpected accessory. A green Swarovski crystal flower is surrounded by tiny gold spheres. Dangling freely beneath the flower is a small brass turtle charm. This pendant, which measures 1 inch long, hangs from a 14k gold filled chain. The 16 inch chain fastens around your neck with a spring ring clasp.

Advice Column: Select a Healthy Reptile – Part I

Normally on Mondays, I run the turtle or tortoise video posts. I thought we’d take a break for the month of November and bring back the Advice Column posts from way back when. With the holidays fast approaching, many parents will be looking at giving their kids pets as gifts. I hope this guide will help those out there as a guideline of what to look for when picking up a new reptile for the house.

If you’ve ever walked into a pet shop to purchase a turtle for educational purposes, they probably looked all the same. It’s hard picking a healthy pet when you don’t know what to look for. To make your job easier in picking a healthy, happy turtle, you should really take the time to inspect the turtle you want to take home.

Since the list of what you should look for can be fairly long, I’ve made this a four-part post. This week we’ll start by looking at things you should check related to the body of the reptile:

Body

• Is the skin clean, clear, firm, free of scratches and bites? Bites and scratches may lead to infected abscesses later on.
• Is the belly free of burns? Burns may heal, but the skin may, from then on, always be sensitive to bottom heat.
• Is the belly free from ground-in feces? Feces on skin and claws indicate an unsanitary environment and probably a weak and sick animal. Feces on the back of a reptile may indicate a very sick one who is too weak to get out from under stronger cagemates.
• Is the vent free of dried feces and urates? Presence indicates a weak, and possibly parasite- and protozoan-loaded reptile.
• Are the body, limbs, and tail free of lumps and bumps and swelling other than the joints?Abscesses, cysts, and broken bones require veterinary care and treatment.
• Are the back legs shaped normally for that species, or is there a large, hard knot in both thighs? One hard, swollen leg may be a broken bone; both similarly swollen is likely to be severe calcium deficiency.
• Is there plenty of flesh between the neck and forearms, or is there a deep recess on both sides of the neck? Deep recesses indicate a starved chelonian.
• Is the shell firm and without defects? Soft shells indicate metabolic bone disease. Defects indicate possible shell infection due to being kept in unsanitary conditions; there may be a systemic infection, as well.

Photo Credit | Source

Friday Finds: Turtle Themed Infant Nebulizer Aerosol Mask

Today’s Friday Find is on the medical side. For those of you with babies who have breathing problems… or you adults, like me, who would love this nebulizer mask just to make the 10-20 minute treatments seem less dull, this turtle nebulizer mask is certainly a cute “must-have”.

Infant Nebulizer Aerosol Mask, T.C. Turtle Themed, Each Designed to reduce fear and encourage compliance during asthma therapy, these character-themed masks provide effective medication delivery while enabling simple treatment for children.The toy-like masks aid in the perception that the character is breathing along with the child, which encourages the patient to take frequent deep breaths, allowing for a more effective and fun treatment.The mask’s soft, latex-free plastic construction ensures a comfortable fit.

Friday Finds: “Suns out” Swimming Lesson Shaped 1000 Piece Turtle Jigsaw Puzzle

Puzzles are one of my favorite past-times. Combine them with turtles and they make a fantastic Friday Find!

From the amazon.com website…

This is a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle made by Steve Sundram. The puzzle pieces are random-shaped and made from thick puzzle board with a protective high gloss finish. The finished puzzle piece 20″ X 42″.

Buy “Suns out Swimming Lesson” Shaped 1000 Piece Turtle Jigsaw Puzzle at Amazon.com >>