My Sea Turtles

[dyno]

So sorry but you've been Duked! I was curious to see how many views this title would get....cause you know who doesn't love sea turtles? Wish we could keep Reef Reptiles in our tanks like we do fish, corals, and inverts. Just cause I feel bad now...here is a picture of my two pink-bellied side-neck turtle babies!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Sadly, when I was a kid, I bought a baby sea turtle with my paper route money - $35 as I recall. This was around 1972, before they had full legal protection. I also recall seeing "yellow eels" that ended up being Pelamis sea snakes.

Jay

 

[dyno]

Sadly, when I was a kid, I bought a baby sea turtle with my paper route money - $35 as I recall. This was around 1972, before they had full legal protection. I also recall seeing "yellow eels" that ended up being Pelamis sea snakes.

Jay

No way Jay! how cool and crazy is that? Did you buy the sea turtle from a pet store?

 

[HeyJay]

A local exotic pet shop had a Fly River turtle, which has flippers like a sea turtle. Had to do a double take when I saw it swimming around.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

No way Jay! how cool and crazy is that? Did you buy the sea turtle from a pet store?

Yep - at a pet store in Ann Arbor. Around that same time I saw my first mandarin for sale - $300!

Jay

 

[dennis romano]

In the early 1960's, a shop here in north NJ had baby sea turtles for $75.

 

[RobB'z Reef]

I wonder how big of a tank you'd actually need for a sea turtle - Asking for a friend.

 

[IKD]

Yep - at a pet store in Ann Arbor. Around that same time I saw my first mandarin for sale - $300!

Jay

Ann Arbor! Michigan man??

 

[dyno]

A local exotic pet shop had a Fly River turtle, which has flippers like a sea turtle. Had to do a double take when I saw it swimming around.

Fly river turtles are so cool! I was fascinated when I first saw one too!

 

[dyno]

I wonder how big of a tank you'd actually need for a sea turtle - Asking for a friend.

HAHAHA!

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Ann Arbor! Michigan man??

Yep - grew up there in the heyday of the local aquarium craze, late 1960's until mid-1980's. We had six MAJOR pet stores in town during that time. There were also two fish wholesale shops, and I worked for both at different times. Currently, I think there are only Pet Smart-type stores in Ann Arbor, with one decent true LFS (Fish Doctors) in neighboring Ypsilanti.

I wonder how big of a tank you'd actually need for a sea turtle - Asking for a friend.

35,000 gallons minimum for our current 100# green sea turtle (grin)

Jay

 

[reefinatl]

A local exotic pet shop had a Fly River turtle, which has flippers like a sea turtle. Had to do a double take when I saw it swimming around.

Had to so some googling but that is a very cool turtle.

 

[Jewenyann]

Haha, you got us with that catchy title! Sea turtles are amazing, but your pink-bellied side-neck turtle babies are adorable too!

 

[Jewenyann]

Haha, you got us with that catchy title! Sea turtles are amazing, but your pink-bellied side-neck turtle babies are adorable too!

Thanks for sharing the pic; they're a real treat for the eyes. If you want to know how to care about them, check blogs like tortoiseowner.com. I hope that helps!

 

[Paul B]

In Manhattan in Aquarium Stock Company in the 60s they were about $50.00 If I remember. But I was smart enough to not buy something that would get to 400 lbs.

One of my old girlfriends is about that weight now so I made the right choice when I married my wife.

 

[rhitee93]

I've always loved turtles. My wife and I got overrun by sea turtles in Hawaii a couple of years ago. We kept running away from them because we didn't want to disturb them, but they kept coming up in the surf and bumping into us. This went on for a couple of hours. We finally just stood our ground and let them do their thing. It was the highlight of the trip.

I just upgraded my turtle "aquarium". Tony has been with me a decade or so, and started eating his grazing ground down to dirt, so I needed to increase the size of the pasture.