And on the Seventh Day, God created the perfect animal...

[MarkieJ]

I like snakes... I like turtles... and so the day I saw this girl, I new I had to have her. Introducing my Northern Australian Snakeneck Turtle:



A face that only a mother can love:



I'll post a video of her soon!

[mainbutter]

Woah where'd you get her?? Crazy awesome turtle you've got there

[MarkieJ]

I found this girl in a mom-and-pop pet store. The story on her is that a rich guy came into the store 7 years ago and dropped off this snakeneck and a pair of Fly River Turtles when they were hatchlings. She has been sitting in a half filled 10 gallon tank for the past 7 years.

In fact while I was perusing videos on youtube, I came across a video of my very turtle when it was in the pet store (not my video).

YouTube - long neck turtle

Here's a video I took of her just minutes after she was put in her new 40 gallon tank.

YouTube - Northern Australian Snakeneck Turtle M. rugosa

Looking over this video, she was still "acting" as if she were in that small 10 gallon tank (walking instead of swimming). Now she is the most graceful swimmer I have ever seen, and can hover in midwater like a UFO. I'm already keeping my eyes open for a larger tank.

This is by far the most interesting reptile I have ever kept! Imagine seeing a snake strike several times over throughout the day. Couple that with her graceful swimming and always being on the move, and I'm totally in love with this turtle.

[ballbreeder]

Very cool!!

[BPelizabeth]

Wow ...that is crazy looking but super super cool!! Congrats

[aybe.sea]

shes lucky to have been saved by you. a 10 gallon tank poor thing. the 40g looks nice, its funny watching her try to catch the fish heh.

[MarkieJ]

I'm already in the process of renovating the 40 gallon for her to maximize swimming room, etc. Even this is way too small for her, I'm thinking 125 gallon in the near future. The sad thing is that there are still 2 Fly River Turtles that need rescuing. These are pretty much freshwater sea turtles if you're not familiar with them. They grow fairly large, are rare, and are also languishing in 10 gallon tanks. I am seriously considering getting one of them, but lack the space currently (and they're pretty expensive). I'm scouring the classifieds for a used large aquarium and stand just in case...

By the way, the Platy's are all gone, and she's managed to catch half of the very speedy zebrafish. She definitely uses that long neck to her advantage and has a strike as quick as a ball pythons. She's a very efficient predator!

[ballin]

Craigslist! you will find tanks there i gaurentee, worth trying out
greta looking snake head

[CA cowgirl]

She's the coolest turtle I've ever seen, for sure! Nice looking set up too.