Turtle keeping hobby and environmental impact

For the last few years, keeping turtle as pet is growing in popularity. It is now easier to contact the bulk seller abroad through social media. So it has become easier to import tiny juvenile turtles of different types. For this reason it is now not only limited to big fish seller only. Now small amateur sellers can also import and sell on their own. This trend is picking up speed. So now we can often find individuals selling turtles in social media platform at very attractive prices as they dont have to bear the extra cost of setting up shop as professional sellers. So this benefits the turtle lovers. They now get quality turtles at reasonable rate. Mostly the Red Eared Slider turtle is available. Then with patience one can find Yellow Bellied Slider too. A few times I have seen Common Snapping Turtle and Alligator Snapping Turtle on sell in Kolkata. Turtle keeping is a very rewarding hobby. The little turtles that are on sell hardly measures 2” in diameter. One can not deny they are too cute to resist. But everyone who ends up buying a turtle do they all really know what the are getting into? What is the environmental effect of this increasing trend of turtle keeping?

First lets find out what are the requirements of a turtle. We will mainly talk about Red Eared Slider (RES). A RES is a native of Southern United States. They are sold at generally 2”-3” in size. Though, their adult size can be upto 16’ in size, their average size is about 6’-8’ in diameter. They live for approx 20-30 years. They are semi-aquatic species. So they need land as well as water to survive. Turtles have their body covered with bony plates which protects them from predators. These plates are made of bones. So they need to sunbath to sock UV-A and UV-B rays for the proper formation of their shells. Otherwise their shell will get deformed which will lead to various health problems. They also need sunlight to regulate their body temperature as they can not generate their body heat as us. They are found big water bodies like pond, swamps, slow moving river etc. They eat everything. Adults are more of a herbivore. But they are very messy eaters.

So what does these all mean to a pet keeper, a person who walks into a pet shop or sees a sell post in social media, a tiny turtle overdosed with cuteness, which compels him to buy one? He should see a responsibility of 20-30 years. And he should also realize that this tiny little turtle will not be this tiny always. It will grow to be atleast 6”-8” in size. Most people here keeps a 2’X1’X1’ tank at home. That is the most popular size. It holds roughly 15 us gallons of water or 56 liters of water. It is okey for a juvenile turtle to start with. But soon a adult RES will need at least a 80-100 us gallons tank for a single individual.this requires a very large tank approximately 5’X1.5’X2’ in size. Feeding them is not a problem as they accept all kind of food readily. Now you can buy a good quality turtle food readily available in the market. But as they are a very messy eaters they create a huge amount of food waste. So you need a very high capacity filtration system which turns the water 5-8 times per hour or you need to water change everyday. They also need a platform outside water level where they can sunbath to maintain their body temperature and proper growth of their shell. For this a full spectrum light and a UV-A UV-B light needs to be installed. Otherwise they will face health problem. Human can also face health problem from them if their environment is not kept clean. All turtles carry Salmonella bacteria. In a dirty turtle tank there is high chance of it to cause Salmonella poisoning in human associated with the turtle. For this reason selling of RES is banned for pet trade in Australia, USA and many other countries. Now if you want to keep any other turtle, increase or decrease the aquarium size in the relation of the adult shell size of the turtles with respect to RES. You will get a general idea. So if you want to keep turtle as pet, you should be ready to provide all these to it, then only it will be able to enjoy to live a happy life and you will be able to enjoy your turtle to the fullest.

But do everyone who buys a turtle provides all this? What happens when they find out that it is too much responsibility for them? Or may be this turtle is not so tiny and cute anymore? This usually leads to two things. Either the tiny little turtle dies a premature death because of poor husbandry  in their first few months or they survive all the odds somehow and eventually grows to be a adult turtle. RES is very hardy species. That is why they are so popular in pet trade. If they survive their first 1-2 years, they generally live their full life. So when they out grows their small tank, they are now not so cute and tiny, most of the irresponsible pet owners release them in the wild. This causes very serious environmental impact.

These turtles come to maturity in a relatively early stage at 5-6 years. So they take less time to start breeding. They are tough, well protected and omnivore, so they adopt to different environment very easily. These traits have established itself in many places in the world decreasing the local turtle population. This way it has made its way in the IUCN list of ‘Worlds 100 most invasive species’. Many states of USA has banned its import. Australia, Japan and many other country has also banned its import. Queensland province of Australia alone has invested $1 million AUD for eradication of RES.

Situation in India is not that bad until now. But it has definitely started to worsen. A researchgate paper reports of sighting of RES in Goa in a state wide survey done in June, 2012- December, 2015 time frame. Deccan Chronicle of dated 07 November, 2016 reports that many RES were spotted in the lakes of Hyadrabad. An academia.edu paper reports of a RES sighting in Malan river near Bhavnagar, Gujrat on 10th August, 2014. A article in babushahi.com report about a RES sighting in Sukhna lake, Chandigarh on 12th March, 2016. In our state West Bengal, in a article in thebhs.org dated 3rd November, 2018 reported about a RES sighting in Rajarhat Wetlands, Kolkata on 19th August, 2015. On 16th January, 2020 Tirthankar Roy posted in a few Facebook group about RES sighting in Rabindra Sarobar lake, Kolkata.

There could be many more sightings in various parts of our country. These are just a few that came upon a quick google search. In Kolkata thousands of baby turtles are now imported from China and South East Asian countries. Most of these will die in the hand of ignorant pet keepers. Those who survive, a part of them are kept by the responsible keepers, others are dumped in the local pond or lake. Then they become invasive. The responsibility lies on three persons shoulder. Firstly the pet keeper, we have to know all about them and will have to decide if we really can take proper care of it for its life time ie. 20-30 years. Only then we should go ahead. Second person is the seller. They should inform the buyer properly about the care and responsibility of keeping this turtle. Instead of that in most times the seller misguides the buyer that the turtles will stay this small and it is okey to put them in a fishtank. The third person is the government. They have to make a proper guideline to restrict the trade otherwise at this rate it will not take long for us to loose some of our native freshwater turtle species from the wild due to pressure from RES and other exotic turtle species.

This popularity in turtle keeping has created another problem in sub-urban areas where exotic turtles are mostly unavailable. There sellers are selling baby soft shell turtles and other native turtles to keep in aquariums. This is illegal. Keeping an exotic species of turtle is still not illegal in our country but keeping any native turtle is illegal. All the native turtles are protected under Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. So buying, selling, keeping or eating any native t

urtle species will attract an imprisonment of 3 years or fine of INR 5000 or both. So people who are thinking of keeping a native turtle as pet, please dont. It can cause you serious legal problem.



***all the images are collected from internet. copyright of the images are with their rightfull owner. these are used only for educational purpose.

Killing Tides

India represents 5 species of sea turtles i.e. Olive Ridley, Green Turtle, Hawksbill Turtle, Loggerhead Turtle and Latherback Turtle. Of these, except the Latherback, other four are reported from the coast of West Bengal. The sea turtle habitat of West Bengal is represented by a 50km coastline of Purba Medinipur district and the sea facing islands of Sundarban Biosphere Reserve. The coast line of Purba Medinipur is a densely populated area with no forest cover except the casurina plantation in a few areas. So the area is not suitable for sea turtle nesting. Thus only a few individual nests were recorded over the years. The sea facing islands of Sundarban are devoid of any human habitation, and has good forest cover with sandy beaches. They are protected areas also. So, these islands harbor a few hundred nests each year. Only Olive Ridley nests were reported from West Bengal. Thus we can see that the whole coastal zone of West Bengal don’t have much nesting activity. But still it is an important turtle habitat mainly for Olive Ridleys mainly because of neighboring areas. Within 100kms from this here is Gahirmatha Rookery, which is one of the few mass nesting site for Olive Ridley turtles in the world. Thus the coastal water of West Bengal see much turtle movement from September-October to May-June.

The sea turtles of this area have always faced many threats. Some of the most severe threats were the commercial trade of turtle meat and eggs and incidental trapping in fishing nets. Though the activities of forest dept have much reduced the commercial trade of turtle meat, this trade has not stopped totally. Turtle death due to incidental catch in gill nets of trawlers has not reduced much. To reduce catching, forest dept has restricted trawling in few protected areas. Coast guard has also started patrolling from 1990. TED (Turtle Excluder Device) has also been introduced to reduce the no of death. But for various reasons, TED has not seen much acceptance in fishing communities. Thus most of the vessels don’t use TED in their fishing nets. So turtle get struck in fishing nets and eventually die. As the commercial trade of turtle meat is banned, the fishermen through away the dead turtles in the sea. These turtles wash up ashore. In the nesting season, the coast of West Bengal and Orissa fills with dead turtles.

As the commercial trade of sea turtle has shown a declining trend, we should also try to reduce turtle death due to incidental catch. All the 7 species of sea turtles that are found around the world are facing the danger of extinction. Though Olive Ridley is one of the numerous species of them, this does not mean they are not in danger. The coast of Orissa, the neighboring state has some of the few mass nesting site of Olive Ridley in the world and the costal water of Orissa also faces the same threats that the costal water of West Bengal faces. So, we should look for ways to minimize the threats for sea turtles otherwise they will go extinct like many other species.

Turtle Meat Trade

Turtle and tortoises are fascinating creatures. They have amused us with their appearance and behavior from ancient times. That’s why they were depicted in cave paintings and folklores. In Hindu Mythology, Lord Bishnu had an incarnation as a turtle. And in another literature we find mention of a turtle on whose back the earth is resting. In Aesop’s fables of ancient Greece, we find a story of a competition between a turtle and a rabbit. Turtles are kept in ponds and water bodies besides Hindu temples as good oman. Not only in folklore and religious texts, turtles have been mentioned in Ayurbeda medicinal practices. Turtle meat and eggs were relished by people from old times. But none of these have become the reason for their near extinction until the commercial trade of turtle meat has gained ground.

Of the 26 species that are found in India, 22 are under commercial pressure of various magnitudes. But the species which faces the maximum pressure is Indian Flapshell Turtle or Indian Mud Turtle (Lissemys punctata). It has three sub-species in India. L. p. punctata is found in Kerala, Tamilnadu etc states. L. p. andersoni is found in Pakistan, North India, Southern Nepal, upto Bangladesh and Mayanmar through Brahmaputra valley in the east. L. p. vita is distributed from southern Gujrat through Karnataka, Andhrapradesh, upto Orrissa in the east. So it seems the turtle is distributed in whole India except the state, Kashmir. Also as it mostly stays in areas near human habitation, it is one of the most popular turtle too.

The main reason of its wide distribution is its choice of habitat. It is a generalist when it comes to the choice of habitats. It is found in various type of wetlands like river, canal, pond, lake, paddy field even in drains, manholes of many cities. Though it is a fresh water species, it can bear with moderate level of saltwater. That’s why it is also found in estuaries of Sundarban, Bhitarkanika, Kuringa etc places. But it prefers swallow waters. It is also a generalist in terms of prey preference. Its food list includes frog, tadpole, fish, earthworm, crustaceans, molascs, waterplants, and many other things. It also scavenge on dead bodies and keep water bodies clean. Like many other reptiles, turtle also hibernates. In North India hibernation occurs between November and February. Another very interesting behavior seen in these turtles is aestivation. In summer months, if the water body dries up, they leave it and find another one. But if drought has dried up all the water bodies then these turtles aestivate inside mud. Many times this behavior proves to be a life saving one. Time of mating differs in these turtles locality wise. But everywhere it is related with Monsoon. Generally in North India, mating occurs in the month of April-June and egg laying occurs in the month of September-November.  An average clutch contains 9-15eggs. Incubation period is 270-350 days.

Commercial harvesting and selling of turtles has not gained much popularity until the seventies. Turtles were exploited but in a local scale. Mainly the fisherman folks were involved in this. But after seventies the situation changed rapidly. A racket came into play for commercial harvesting and selling of turtles in various places. All species of turtles were exploited but mainly Asian Giant Softshell Turtle, River Terrapin, Gangetic Softshell Turtle, Indian Mud Turtle were exploited most. The first two species are almost extinct in their natural habitat because of this commercial pressure. Now the other two species are mostly found in market. In this trade, Howrah has become one of the main trade center from the beginning. Turtles were transported here from Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Assam. Previously train was the main transport option used by this trade. It was easier to hide the turtles in fish parcels. This trade has peaked in the eighties. In 1991, forest dept has seized 4448 turtles from Kolkata of which 4053 were Indian Mud Turtle. 2926 nos of turtle were seized from Kolkata in 1992 of which 2732 were Indian Mud Turtle. In an average approximately 50-60 thousand turtles were sold in Howrah market alone every year. Later by the activeness of Forest Dept turtle meat trade has gone underground. The main market has now shifted from Howrah to sub-urban areas and Bangladesh border. The transportation system has also shifted towards Bus and Truck. This has somewhat reduced the size of the trade, but it did not stop the trade all together. Till now trucks are seized in various parts of India carrying turtles.

Indian Mud Turtle enjoys the ‘Schedule I’ protection of Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, which is the highest protection in our country.  Though, only legal protection has never saved any species from extinction. One bright side of its wide distribution is that many National Parks and Sanctuaries are within its range which will protect a healthy population of this species. One very interesting fact is that in spite of this severe pressure from commercial exploitation, this turtle has hold its ground in almost all its range. Still it is a ‘common’ species in most of its range. Now only time and our actions will tell how long can it retain its ‘common’ status, or become extinct in its natural habitat just like River Terrapin.

Olive Ridley hatching in Orissa

‘ARIBADA’ it may sound wired to some people but it is one of the most extra-ordinary incidents that happen in our natural world. Every year thousands of Olive Ridley turtles come to 3 beaches of Orissa, India in the month of January for laying eggs. This is called ‘Aribada’.

The eggs hatch in the month of May. This year I and 2 other folks went there to see the hatchlings. We get off the train at Chandrapur and from there it was a half an hour journey into the interior of Orissa. The beach of Puranabanda is a very remote beach far from the chaos of tourist and all that. It is actually a fishing village of Rushikulya. We stayed with our host society ‘Rushikulya Sea Turtle Protection Committee’. There is no other option for staying overnight for now. The people there are very much friendly.

In the next day morning we went to the beach to see the turtles hatch. The beach had protective fencing put up by the Forest Dept. When we went inside there was nothing. One or two people like us, some small local boys and three four Forest Dept. workers were there. But one thing was numerous, the crows. And in-spite of the fencing, 2-3 dogs have entered the area but no sign of the turtles. So I started to follow the dogs. Suddenly I saw a dog picked up something dark from the ground. I rushed to the area and oh! there it is, a small baby turtle. And as I was concentrating on the single turtle, several others have come out of the nest. That was the start. After that we found numerous nests from where the babies were emerging. They were just every where. But just near the tide line where the nests got exposed by the sand erosion of the sea waves, the eggs were not so lucky. More over there were predator everywhere, crows, black kite, brahminy kite, stray dogs, crabs all were ready to make a feast with the turtles. For that reason the forest dept has hired workers to collect the hatchlings as soon as they emerge from the nest and release them at the sea shore to minimize the chance of predation. But the solution is not very perfect, there we meet a researcher from USA who was worried seeing this technique. In her words the babies imprint the location of the nesting beach in their head at the time when they crawl from nest to sea. So if they don’t get a chance to crawl they might not remember the location. What we came to know about the mortality rate of these turtles is that only one in a thousand survives to become adult!!!! Well, now they have emerged from the nest, immediately they start to crawl towards sea. Generally they hatch in the night. So, how they navigate to the sea?? It is also interesting. They follow the reflection of the light of the stars on the sea. Experiment shows that they follow any source of light. That is why any kind of light is banned on these beaches in the night, because they can mislead the hatchlings. They may look like clumsy but they are pretty fast crawlers. When they reach the se shore they are washed away with the waves into the sea. There they began the real journey of there life. When they will mature, the female Olive Ridleys will come back to this same beach to lay there eggs only if the beach is still there for them. It is our responsibility to save this habitat and the turtles, which is already claimed as critically endangered if we want to witness this wonder of nature times and times again.