# penny turtles



## bkgone (Dec 4, 2003)

hi just wondering does anyone know where all the penny turtles are gone ive tried every looking on the net for them but have found nothing.i havent seen a penny turtle for years.thanks


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## africancichlidau (Dec 4, 2003)

They are tuppence now!


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## Keeth (Dec 4, 2003)

penny turtles was just the name given for baby long neck or short neck turtles that were about the size of pennies


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## bkgone (Dec 4, 2003)

no, a penny turtle is a turtle that will always be the size of a penny until it dies.

what does tuppence mean cichli?


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## Brodie (Dec 4, 2003)

> no, a penny turtle is a turtle that will always be the size of a penny until it dies.


no mate ya wrong... my mum kept these guys ages ago and they grow a hell of a lot bigger then pennies


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## Pinkie (Dec 4, 2003)

Its just the way people refer to baby turtles.


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## lutzd (Dec 4, 2003)

LOL! Africa, they're making us feel old, mate! "What does tuppence mean, indeed!" 

He's talking about pre-decimal currency.

Tuppence is two cents... then again, sixpence is five cents! Go figure! Where did that extra penny go anyway! STILL think we're being ripped off by this decimal stuff!


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## insectovor (Dec 4, 2003)

Pennty turtles, are just baby turtles and they grow way bigger bkgone!!!!


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## bkgone (Dec 4, 2003)

how big do they grow then?


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## bkgone (Dec 4, 2003)

i know there really not as big as a penny when there fully grown but its a very small turtle.


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## mystic_herps (Dec 4, 2003)

There is no such species as penny turtles.As already said they are merely hatchlings.So there adult size would be dependant on what species of hatchlings they are.

Petshops started the penny turtle trend by fooling gullable buyers into believing they were a mini species.This was way before the amnesty and before there was even thought of a reptile keepers licensing program.The name "penny turtle" has since stuck with the public (those that are less educated in the area of herps).Although it is illegal to sell reptiles from pet stores in NSW,many stores around Hill end,Bathurst etc still sell hatchlings under the name "penny turtles".I had the privilidge of finding many hatchlings in rivers at Hill end & Sofala (which is where I assume these stores aquire them).


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## insectovor (Dec 4, 2003)

Read the newest reptiles of australia book by Gerry Swan and Steve Wilson and you'll find that there is no "penny turtle"

I'd like to buy a penny Perentie.................

Some people can not make "Penny turtles" grow very well, this is mostly because of not providing the right habitat for the baby turtle, and not providing it with enough UV light..


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## Fuscus (Dec 4, 2003)

Baby turtles are quite common in pet shops down here. Also URS has hatchlings for sale
http://reptile.senet.com.au/price.html (turtles are down the bottom of the page).

Everyone who has posted so far is right - they grow bigger.

Price is considerbly more than a penny though.


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## bkgone (Dec 4, 2003)

just wondering how big do kreffts turtles get when full grown?


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## Fuscus (Dec 4, 2003)

according to Ehmann (Aust Museum)
_Emydura krefftii_
CARAPACE LENGTH males up to 22 cm , females to 28cm


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## bkgone (Dec 4, 2003)

thats not that big hey?


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## adullthud (Dec 4, 2003)

If you want to know anything about Australian freshwater turtles cut and paste the link below. You will find there an array of armchair, lay and professional turtle types including some of the formost researchers on Aussie turtles.
ps. dont ask about penny turtles as you've already been filled in

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AustralianFreshwaterTurtlesandFrogs/


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## marc (Dec 4, 2003)

brodi and bkgone are both right, in Australia Juv turtles were incorrectly called pennie turtle, but in the UK a small asain terripin would only grow to be the size of a pennie. but it is true that turtle will grow to the size of its cage


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## Already_Gone (Dec 4, 2003)

bkgone said:


> no, a penny turtle is a turtle that will always be the size of a penny until it dies.
> 
> what does tuppence mean cichli?



Do you happen to know the species of these "penny turtles"?? All "penny turtles" grow the size of atleast small dinner plates mate... so unless you dont feed it and keep it in a shoe box all its life, it will grow big, and you have to be prepared to supply adequate housing for them!!! If you are looking into keeping freshwater turts, I strongly suggest you do a bit of research first!!! No offence!!! )


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## adullthud (Dec 4, 2003)

Marc, I think you are wrong about the Asian terripin(sic) A turtle will, if fed and cared for correctly, reach its full size potential. If you buy a baby turtle you will need to move it to a pond in about 3 years when it will reach adult size. Some of the Macrochelodina may grow to have a shell length of 500mm.
All the herp books are extremly out of date on turtles, Just compare the species list from NPWS to most of the books including John Cann's last book. Laveracks turtle was described in 1996 and doesnt rate a mention in most books. Is it in Wilson and Swan, I havent seen a copy yet.


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## wattso (Dec 5, 2003)

Bk mate, what these people have told you is correct and good advice. Im a turtle keeper myself as is already gone, most common species you will find are Emydura macquarii[otherwise known as murry river shortnecks] and Chelodina longicollis[known as eastern longnecks. both these species grow to dinner plate size in about 10-15 years and willlive about 40 years. for this reason i also strongly reccommend you seriously research the needs of these or any reptile before you jump in. nothing would be more dissappointing than a sick or dead pet for lack of basic know how. there are of course many other species to choose from but all will grow to similar size eventually.The two types i mention are the most common turtle species on a class1 reptile license, but there areothers. Kellyville pets does "seminars" each breeding season when hatchlings are avail. 4 hr basic instruction plus basic requirements and a hatchling will set you back about $500 .I would still stongly recommend you atleast buy a few books first. I know the world of reptiles is new and really exciting, they are great cool pets and its natural to want everything,and hard to choose, but do your homework first, think about future needs of your pet , cost etc .then you can make an informed choice and really enjoy your fun pet and start your herping hobby without tradgety and dissappointment. ~ good luck


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## marc (Dec 5, 2003)

adullthud said:


> Marc, I think you are wrong about the Asian terripin(sic) A turtle will, if fed and cared for correctly, reach its full size potential. If you buy a baby turtle you will need to move it to a pond in about 3 years when it will reach adult size. Some of the Macrochelodina may grow to have a shell length of 500mm.
> All the herp books are extremly out of date on turtles, Just compare the species list from NPWS to most of the books including John Cann's last book. Laveracks turtle was described in 1996 and doesnt rate a mention in most books. Is it in Wilson and Swan, I havent seen a copy yet.



I will put my headed back in my shell for now but I will be back biger and stronger than ever HA HA HA HA


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## africancichlidau (Dec 5, 2003)

I think theres a pic of an extremely good looking fella sitting in a turtle enclosure in my pic album


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## insectovor (Dec 6, 2003)

Marc,when I lived overseas I've seen plenty of them small turtles in shops. Pet shop owners do tell people that they wont grow very big. The reality is that there is now a "natural "population of turtles around. All of these are the 'little turtles' but somehow they've grown to 35 cm+.


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## earthmother (Dec 6, 2003)

hey hello people. ltns. penny turtles are found round here. they are _Chelodina longicollis_. and when theyre babies theyre tiny with red marking underneath. they grow to be about 9 inches ovalish . we found one that was a hatchling and went into a neighbours kitchen accidently.
nice to be back thanks for the entertainment.
Mudmum
ps. had the pleasure of seeing pop honey and steve honey again...or was it their pleasure? hmmm. lol :shock:


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## africancichlidau (Dec 6, 2003)

Doesn't matter whose, mudmum, just as long as it WAS pleasure


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## Robert (Dec 7, 2003)

I have found turtles to be out of all my reptiles the one i end up spending most of my time with because i am cleaning all the time.It is worth it in the end.They are a bit of work but great fun to watch and see grow.I did however make the mistake of putting a fish in and killed on of the turtles gave him septisemia.The fish bit him on the neck and turts got a blood infection(septisemia).I was shattered so sold the fish.


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## wattso (Dec 7, 2003)

Thats something odd Robert, what kind of fish and how much bigger than the turtle?, id be more inclined to say the fish was innocent, unless it had teeth, especially if you had other turtles in the same tank. Turtles can sometimes inflict nasty injurys on each other, even as hatchies. :? Also a bite can be treated, for infection to set in, indicates poor husbandry, poss too cool a tank ,and certainly lack of attention on behalf of owner. No offence.


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## bkgone (Dec 7, 2003)

see even earth mother says theres penny turtles


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## wattso (Dec 7, 2003)

For cryin out loud Bk gone, ITS JUST A NAME OK. There are no such species, read the post kid!!!!!!! :roll:


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## bkgone (Dec 7, 2003)

ok ok settle down,I was just kidding around.I heard u the first time


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## wattso (Dec 7, 2003)

lol, fair enough, just dont start asking for hoop snakes!


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## bkgone (Dec 7, 2003)

lol


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## insectovor (Dec 7, 2003)

Uhhhh how about my penny Perentie LOL!!!!!!!!


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## wattso (Dec 8, 2003)

David/Africa, just curious, how much was a florin worth? p.s I like decimal , imagine trying to work out something like 1d&6 !! penny, tuppence, thripence, sixpence........? how did it go? lol
found a penny made in 1918 the otherday, neighbours pulled out large tree and it came to the surface.


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## lutzd (Dec 8, 2003)

Hmmm.... got me there! Don't know the answer to that one.
1 & 6 is easy = 18 pennies - converts to 15 cents

Basically the rule was 
1 penny = 1 cent, all the way to 5 pennies; six pennies also = 5 cents (that's where we lost a penny!)
1 shilling (12 pence) = 10 cents, and so on.

The rest of it I think was :
penny
tuppence = 2 pennies
threepence = three pennies
sixpence = six pennies (nickname = a zac)
shilling = 12 pennies
2 shillings
[I think there was a five shilling piece]
10 shilling note
1 pound note
1 guinea = 1 pound & 1 shilling [I think - rustier than I thought]

I vaguely remember doing sums in primary school adding up columns of pounds, shillings and pence - NOT easy! And because it was sort of base 12, we had to take a sock off to count the extra two digits! Mind you, Tasmanians had it easy, as they could do it all on their hands!  [only kidding!]

Jeez.... now that I come to write it down, it does look complicated, doesn't it??  ... AND I'm not sure of the spelling. Phil : help me out!


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## Artie (Dec 8, 2003)

Hey Wattso, a florin, was the equivalent of 2 shillings.


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## lutzd (Dec 8, 2003)

Ah yes - thanks Artie!  "Two bob" it was!


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## africancichlidau (Dec 8, 2003)

Sixer short of half a crown in fact


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## wattso (Dec 9, 2003)

Thank god for decimal currancy, btw, was 6 pounds alot of money in 1920 ? just wondering because i have old receipt for 6pounds something from 1920 among my grandfathers papers. dosent say what he bought so I wondered what equivalent some might have been. p.s. I know most aps people wernt around then but some might have idea. eh Africa?


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## Robert (Dec 9, 2003)

I remember when i was a young lad they had a $1 and $2 notes.LOL!!!
Learnt about all the old school monies from my Grandad though.Can't remember to much of it.
And wattso maybe the infection was caused by something else as i went to the vet he treated for septisemia.
Got anti-biotics twicw daily,Water temp 26-29 deg.Was a fanatic about keeping it clean it was my centre piece in the lounge room.
There was a dominant male though he could be quite cruel sometimes.Anyho sh#t happens.


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## wattso (Dec 9, 2003)

Lo, I remember them Rob, still got a few! Did the vet say how your snake might have got blood infection? They seem to be prone to it, ive heard of a few people whos snakes got blood infections, so Im curious as to common cause, as you say if it happened anyway despite keeping snake enclosure very clean. best of luck, hope he/she pulls thru.


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## Robert (Dec 9, 2003)

No champ it was my turtle(emydura macquarii).(All the snakes are very healthy).
The turtles were in a tank with some baby oscars whom i thought were bitting the turtles causing an open flesh wound.
But since you said something about turts' fighting turts i thought about it and remember the larger male was quite cruel to his younger brother and would flog him up sometimes.
The little fella died some time ago now.
Have since sold the others and now have african cichlids.Not as smelly.Oned day i will set up an outdoor pond.


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## mystic_herps (Dec 9, 2003)

Hi Robert What cichlids do you have?
I am just getting back into them after a few years away.
I just purchased 1.4 Ophthalmotilapia Ventralis "Samazi" 
(pick them up thurs).


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## Parko (Dec 9, 2003)

Hey mystic, cichlids are great fish! I sold all my cichlids recently to make room for snakes, I had compressiceps(eye biters),protomelas (red empresses),moori's,sulphur crested lithobates(personal favourite!) electric blues and others.Not sure what a ''samazi'' is are they central or south americans perhaps?


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## wattso (Dec 9, 2003)

Sorry Rob, mixing my threads lol....very tired today  was thinking youhad the snake with constipation


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## mystic_herps (Dec 9, 2003)

Ventralis are African "Tanganyikan".
I am picking up 1.4 thursday that are F1.
Original parents were imports from St George aquariums.I have never kept these before so I am hoping to get a mouthful which I will strip and hopefully get a decent colony out of.

I used to keep Black calvus,gold compressiceps,neo multifasciatus,Ikola kaiser 2 tropheus,Dimi comps,E-blues,Greshakei & a few other species.

I will be chasing up some 6 bar & 7 bar fronnies...
Diff geographical variants of Altolamprologus Comps & Calvus...
And a few Furcifer fry once I set up a new fishroom...


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## Parko (Dec 9, 2003)

Soungs great Mystic, Tanganyikans are nice and I imagine the offspring would be easy to sell. Problem is dealing with the aquariums who wont give out what you deserve for the offspring unless it's credit. A lot of cheapskates in the fish business, Snakes are good because seems you can sell the juveniles easilly enough without the middleman.


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## africancichlidau (Dec 9, 2003)

Hey Parko, doing exactly the same thing! Selling off my fishroom and converting to herps  Down to one tank only now, mainly Tropheus species and other Tanganyikans  Toying with the idea of keeping this colony but could do with the tank for water dragons, lol, decisions decisions


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## Parko (Dec 9, 2003)

I hear you Afrik, hard to part with them but worth it if it means one more reptile enclosure I reckon! I'm of the personality where it's either one or the other, not both. Cichlids were great but snakes and lizards have been in my heart since I first started finding them in the bush on the oldies property as a youngin, so I think my fascination with reptiles runs deeper. All critters are great but snakes are greatest.


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## Robert (Dec 10, 2003)

Yer sorry mystic been busy last couple of days.
Couldn't tell the scientific names of cichlids but own;Red Emporess,Taiwan reef,Yellow sulfur crested,Red ribbon,Red jewewls,Johannie(black fish),Electric blues and yellows,orange and blue blotch's, and 1 plecostumus.(think i spelt most of that right).Love em good entertain for the lounge room also very beautiful.All in one tank.


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## Pinkie (Dec 21, 2003)

What are penny turtles anyway?


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## Ramsayi (Dec 22, 2003)

They are really little turts about the size of a penny and they never get any bigger


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## Guest (Dec 22, 2003)

Ramsayi said:


> They are really little turts about the size of a penny and they never get any bigger



my gott, another expert!! ur a goose


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## Pinkie (Dec 22, 2003)

Well he is a professor, it says so in his sig


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## bkgone (Dec 22, 2003)

yeah i got rid of my cichlids so i can get a snake


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## marc (Dec 22, 2003)

penne turtle may not be refering to the size? maybe the cost of it many moons ago in Britten


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