Choosing a Healthy Specimen

In choosing a healthy specimen your best bet will be the facility wherein the turtle cam from. From there, you can estimate if the place is clean or not and will be your basis whether the turtle is healthy or not. Choosing a healthy specimen do takes some time because you need to make sure you apply some of the reminders when choosing for a healthy specimen.

In choosing a healthy specimen, make sure to buy your turtles from breeders who don’t mix species to ensure these turtles won’t have any defects or abnormalities. If possible, try feeding the turtles some greens, if this will be allowed by the breeder, if so watch carefully for which of the turtles that are alert and would eat the greens immediately. This is the healthy and strong kind of turtles. You must also check their shells whether there are some flaking and broken shells.

Here are more tips for you to guide you in choosing a healthy specimen:

1. The turtles’ eyes should be clear not watery, swollen or whitish.
2. Make sure that you are holding something with a shell which means the weight of the turtle or tortoise must be heavier than how they look outside. The weight must be like you are actually holding a turtle inside a shell not just an empty shell of turtle.
3. The turtle or tortoise nose must not be runny or has salt deposits. The turtle’s nose must be clear as his eyes.
4. Turn the turtle around and look at his bottom, check for some fecal residue. If you found foul smelling fecal stuck on it, this is a sign that this particular turtle is suffering from parasitic or intestinal problems.
5. The turtle or the tortoise mouth should also not have any grayish pink, has mucous and some yellowish patches on it.
6. The turtles’ nails must be smooth not flaky or swollen.
7. The turtles’ shell must be free from any scratch, holes, bite marks, mucous secretion, patches or even cracks.
8. The shell must be firm with no sponginess at all.
9. The sound of their breathing should not be rattling, rasping and free from any nasal discharge. If you notice these symptoms then the turtle is suffering from respiratory illnesses.

In choosing a healthy specimen, you can guarantee the health of your turtle. As for its owner, you will never have any health problems regarding your turtle when you pick out the healthier one.