Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I own a 300 gallon aquarium and currently have an australian arowana and some south american cichids and I came across a fly river turtle in a local shop....I really wanted to get one but they were asking $1000 a piece for them....they were in an aquarium and I was told that they are fully aquatic and would not need to get out of the water the way a red ear slider would need to...my question is this....are there any other turtles that are fully aquatic?...i know soft shells are but I dont really care for them since they usually bury themselves and hide most of the time...thanks in advance for any responses

Most completely aquatic turtles are not readily available for most hobbyiests. These include:
Pig-nosed turtles (Carettochelys insculpta)
All marine turtles
Central American river turtle (Dermatemys mawii)
Some of the giant Asian softshells are completely aquatic

Some species of mud and musk turtles (Kinosternids) are primarily aquatic but most will bask from time to time.

The matamata (Chelus fimbriatus) is completely aquatic.

Yeh most aquatic turtles need a place to get out and bask (including softys). If you do not want to lower your water, but still have turtles in the aquarium you can make an "out of tank basking area" that sits on top of the tank, while a ramp leads into the water. I made one out of an old 5gal tank, a piece of plexi for the ramp and some turf. Heres a link to a pic. . .

http://community.webshots.com/photo/76806168/81923774OVPMhG

You can also go to www.AustinsTurtlePage.com they have a lot of pictures on the forums (search for them) that are of those kinds of basking areas.
Hope This Helps,
Chris
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Hey whats up, I'm Chris and I currently have 1.0 Softy, 0.0.1 Midland Painted, 1.0 Bearded Dragon

The Fly River is about as aqautic as it gets. However, they are very aggressive towards each other. 1K is ridiculous, you can find them for around 400 on the kingsnake classifieds, just keep a steady eye out.

-Jesse