# Turtle ID!



## spud_meister (Jul 15, 2013)

So, my boss got this little guy at work, she has no idea what species he is, I'm fairly certain he's a Murray River Turtle, but could I have some ID. Also, what would be an ideal set-up for one. The one he's in is good, but I just want to know if it could be improved. 







Oh, and does anyone know if they can be sexed so young?


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## hunterschamps (Jul 15, 2013)

Looks like a long necked turtle to me, but I don't know any scientific names.. Nice looking little fella


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## ReptileMad_98 (Jul 15, 2013)

yea looks like a short necked murray turtle, there best kept in a pond. when there kept in a pond they get to a good size. just get some fake plants for him to hide around and a good filter and heater


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## boothy101 (Jul 15, 2013)

Yep it looks like a murray turtle to me.


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## saintanger (Jul 16, 2013)

its a murray, white line along the mouth under the eye is a give away, kreffts are simular as hatchies but the line is above the eye. no way on earth is this a long neck. 

hatchies are best of kept in a tank as you can maintain a better temp and keep an eye on them better, also in a pond cats and birds may attack him as he is really small. water temp 24-26 degrees is best, make sure you have a uvb light withing 30cm of his basking spot use a turtle dock. also get some turtle calcium and water conditioner blocks for the water, feed him a variety of food e.g. turtle dinner frozen cubes, chopped up shelled raw prawns, raw fish, live guppies or feeder fish, blood worms, turtle sticks, live crickets and woodies, duck weed.

if you have anymore questions i'm happy to help, i keep and breed murrays and a few other turtles.

to sex it i would wait till its older to be 100% sure, males have longer tails than females and have more of a v shape than females.


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## Bluetongue1 (Jul 18, 2013)

I would have to agree with _Emydura macquarii macquarii._ They do get large as adults – up to around 35 cm carapace length. With all turtles you need a large water volume and a good biological and physical filter that has a pump cable of turning over the total water volume at say twice every hour. The combination will help you to maintain good water quality, which becomes more critical as the critter grows. When it hits about 150 cm in length its time to go outside to a good sized pond.

Something you might like to try is cordoning off a corner of the tank using something like plastic gutter guard and growing Vallis (_Vallisnera_ sp.) in that section. The Vallis will spread under the gravel and pop up outside the cordoned. Some or all that appears this way may be eaten. However, the protected plants will thicken up and can be periodically thinned to remove accumulated biomass. The plants will also assist significantly in maintaining the quality by absorbing ammonia (directly from the turtle) and nitrates (from ammonia that has been through the biological filter). 





hunterschamps said:


> Looks like a long necked turtle to me, but I don't know any scientific names.. Nice looking little fella


Given the view provided, that is an easy conclusion to come to. All Australian freshwater turtles, with the one exception of the Pig-nosed Turtle (which also has flippers instead of legs), withdraw the neck and head under the carapace by bending the neck sideways. The Pig-nosed Turtle withdraws the head directly backwards, as do most exotic turtles. So even our so-called “short necked” turtles have fairly long necks. So how do we distinguish between the two general types? Our long-necked (or snake-necked) turtles all belong to the genus Chelodina. Their fully extended neck and head is at least as long, and usually significantly longer, than the length of their carapace. With our so-called short-necked turtles (all the remaining genera) the extended head and neck is clearly less than the length of their carapace.

Long-necks lack facial markings, which is why others found it easy to rule them out.

Blue


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## DaReptileBoy (Jul 18, 2013)

i thought u cant take animals from the wild?


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## bigguy (Jul 18, 2013)

The easiest way to tell the difference between Long and Short necks is the shell. The bottom half of the Long Necks is almost the same size as the upper shell. With Short Necks the bottom shell is only about half the size as the top, leaving the limbs far more exposed


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