A lot of people nowadays are getting turtles as pets. One of the kinds of turtles that people love to have is the soft shell turtles. Agressiveness is innate among soft shell turtles yet, they can also be great pets. Soft shell turtles look like pancake because of their soft shells and flat bodies. In this article, you will know the basic things about these species.
Trionychidae is the family of soft shell turtles. These animals have thirty species and the most common among these species are the Apalone spinifera emoryi, Trionyx axenaria, Apalone mutica, Apalone spinefera and Apalone ferox or more commonly known as Florida sort shell turtle.
Although there are some soft shelled turtles that live in salt water, most of these species can be found in fresh waters. They can be found in slow running rivers that have muddy or sandy bottoms. These turtles love to bask on large rocks and sand bars near the river water. They also like remaining submerged under the mud or sand and they can remain there for more maximum of five hours. Usually, soft shell breed during May and eggs were laid on the sand bars of the river during June or July.
Soft shell turtles are called as such because they have soft shells. Compared to other turtles, these species do not have scales or spikes on their backs. They are also flexible and their bodies are flat and usually come in oval shape. The color of their shells has almost the same color of the mud they live in. This is the reason why they are hard to find. They love staying under the mud and simply stick out their necks or snouts to breathe. Female soft shells have dull colored shells with dark spots while males may have brown or gray shells with dots and dashes.
Soft shelled turtles are meat eaters of carnivores. Depending on the kind of species, they are capable of devouring larger fish that they can hold using their powerful long necks. Part of these turtles' diet is fishes, insects, worms, caterpillars, crustaceans and some amphibians. They also eat some carrion and selected plant material.
Even though soft turtles don't really need to be exercised or played with, they still need extra care. Keep in mind that their shells are soft and it can get scratched or wounded easily. You also have to place sand on their tanks so that they can bury themselves and it should be placed in the area of the house with less noise. The water in the tank should always be clean to prevent them from getting any disease.
Hope this article was able to answer all your questions about soft shell turtles. Now you know what you need when you decide to have one.
