Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am an education major at Indiana University and am researching having a box turtle as a classroom pet. I am looking for some advice, prior experiences, or any relative comments.
I am also wondering if anyone has ever heard of an allergy to turtles? One of the stipulations of many school systems is that no teacher may have an animal that a child is allergic to. I am guessing that because they do not have dander, that they are not typically allergens?

I haven't heard of allergies, but there is the reptile/salmonella issue to consider, especially with smaller children. I haven't read every last bit of info out there, but many publications I have read state that, while there aren't known cases of box turtles transmitting salmonella to anyone, the safest approach may be to consider ALL reptiles as potential carriers.
Another consideration would be space: box turtles require plenty of it. Except for hatchlings, it would be difficult to create a large enough habitat in a classroom setting. Adult box turtles roam over a home range of several acres in the wild: keeping one in a terrarium would be unadvisable.
Temperature and lighting are big issues, too. Ideally, a box turtle needs an environment where there is a temperature
gradient, so that the turtle can move from warm to cool to regulate its body temperature. The temperature should range from about 75 to about 85 degrees, with perhaps a basking spot that gets even warmer. Lighting is important, especially for younger turtles that are still growing: they require fullspectrum lighting with UVA/UVB so that they can properly absorb calcium needed for proper bone and shell growth.
Humidity can be difficult to maintain in an indoor setup, and many box turtles really require high humidity: lack of humidity can bring on a multitude of respiratory problems (as can inadequate diet) which can kill without medical attention or care.
In other words, box turtles can be expensive to care for properly indoors (when you factor in equipment), and since I'm assuming that you would want to keep a turtle alive, healthy and content, and would not want to give your students the idea that turtles are disposable pets, I would recommend against it, unless you had a hatchling to raise the would eventually be housed in a roomy outdoor enclosure after a couple of years.
Regards,
Stephanie

Thanks for the advice. That is pretty much what my book-based research has told me, and frankly, I don't think I have a good personality for keeping a turtle. However, I am required to research a possible animal for a classroom pet, and thought turtles would be interesting to know about. I agree that turtles should be kept outdoors in an enclosure that is most like that of their natural habitat.
Would you mind if I referenced you in my research paper write up?
Again, your response is greatly appreciated!

You may reference me if you like...
You might want to check out aquatic turtles: I really don't know much about them at all, but I think that there are smaller native species that might be a better choice as an aquarium pet: smaller, requiring less room, etc.
A solution might be to not have a permanent classroom resident, but maybe to collaborate with a herp society or nature center and have a rotating population of different animals, a week at a time, perhaps. Then you'd have diversity and the kids wouldn't have a chance to get tired of the animal.Something to look into.
Good luck in your search.
Stephanie

Aquatic turtles generally take up a lot of space as well Check out the turtle forums for more information on those. One of the more common aquatic turtles to keep is the Red Ear Slider, and they need a minimum size aquarium of about 75-125gallons. Which is really a tough thing to handle in a classroom. For a good classroom pet i would recomend a small snake like a corn snake that will be ok if left alone for the weekends and short holidays. If snakes are a no-no in your school look into a leopard gecko because they are easy to care for, small, mellow and can be left alone for the weekends. These forums are an awesome place for information!!
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1.0 green iguana-Deitrich
1.1 Common Boa-Un-Named, Ursula
1.0 Ball Python-Anabell (go figure!)
1.0 Red Tegu-Uteg
1.0 Albino Cal King-Pig
0.1 Mexican Black King-Morticia
1.1 Bearded Dragons-Unnamed, Hanabil
1.0 Albino San Diego Gopher-Unnamed
0.1 Hermans tort-Esio
1.1 JCP-Milton, Medusa
1.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Snow Corn-Unnamed
1.0 Hypo Okeetee Corn-Unnamed
0.1 Motley Okeetee-Unnamed
1.0 Western Hoggie-Wyrm
0.0.1 Rose Hair Taruntla-Unnamed
2.0 Leopard Geckos-Reptar, Pogo
4.1 cats-Tucker,Poe,Abhib,Emerald, Felicity
0.1 Bullmastiff-Asha

I have a bit of experience with classroom pets and have personally owned most of the animals mentioned. I will throw out my thoughts from easiest to hardest for your consideration.

tropical fish - easy and interesting especially if you set up a 10-29gallon aquarium of smaller community fishes such as guppies, platies, mollys, etc. Nothing excites younger children like checking the aquarium to see if the fish have had babies!

Hermit crab, some frogs, some lizards - fairly easy, inexpensive and have the advantage of allowing supervised children to handle the animals. Lizards tend to be a bit fragile and fast so consider slower moving skinks rather than fast and fragile geckos. Oh and NO IGUANAS! they get huge!!!

hamster, rat, mouse - moderate but can make good classroom pets provided they have some general care. allergies and biting are two issues. Suprisingly, rats are probably the easiest and friendliest and by far the most intellegent of the three.

Rabbit, guini pig - Moderate similar to smaller mammals but require more space. I personally think a rabbit is an awesome classroom pet but larger mammals are more prone to trigger allergies. I had rabbits in my classrooms growing up and thought they were great!

Snake, aquatic turtle, land turtle - Difficult but can be fascinating pets for older children. Of the three, snakes are a bit easier and would probably get a moderate rating if the correct species is selected. However, they do need special diets and lighting with temperature gradients. Corn snakes probably make the best snakes for the classroom as they don't get too large and can be extremely tame if raised in daily contact with humans.

Birds, dogs, cats - A generation ago, they were common pets in the classroom but are not well suited since so many children have allergies to them today.

Good luck on your research and I am a HUGE believer we need animals in the classroom!

Matt

WOW!
Thank you all for all the generous advice! I really appreciate it!
Does anyone know of any Herp Societies, etc. in the Indianapolis area that I could contact?
Thanks again!

Looks like the Hoosier Herp Society has meetings at Butler University,
www.hoosierherpsociety.org/

My Fiance has 2 of our baby bearded dragons in her 2nd grade classroom. Juvenile, or even baby dragons are easy to care for, interesting, cute as hell, and allergen free (I think). like any other reptile you could have in a class, keep hand sanitizer next to the cage to insure germ free handling. It's a good encentive program for kids as well, the good kid for a day can be "lizzard monitor", and handle feeding fresh greens and crickets brought from home. It works for her, and the kids love them.