Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well while we were camping i went hiking and found this turtle, i took out my 110 buck knife an killed it, now i have this neat turtle shell. i was thinking of using it in place of my co-co hut. how do you clean it?

thanks
aj

p.s. that was a joke. i didnt kill the turtle. my knife was in the boat 5 miles away at the time, honest!
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making UPDATED 6.15.03 SPOILER! Still Needs Moss View At Your Own Risk

Your gona wana boil it. Some mite sugest to use a lite bleach mixture but i wouldnt recomend it

no, no bleach. i was thinking boiling or baking. i was afraid if i boiled it might "break down" the shell and make it break.
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making UPDATED 6.15.03 SPOILER! Still Needs Moss View At Your Own Risk

You killed a turtle just for it's shell.....whata shame
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Randy
Lawrence, Kansas
1.1 Azureus
1.1 Cobalt
1.1 Fantasticus
1.1 Bastimentos Pumilio

Read below his post. I thought that to begin with also.
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P. sauvagei
derekb15.tripod.com/tropicaltreasures

Ahhh, now I see (thanks Derek) I think slaytonp's right, I thought the whole turtle forum was about to get in on this one!
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Randy
Lawrence, Kansas
1.1 Azureus
1.1 Cobalt
1.1 Fantasticus
1.1 Bastimentos Pumilio

i was wanting to pull some legs with that one

for the story behind it, i was tring to find some old back roads down the lake where we have camped at since i was like 4, now 18. so we went driving and then walked. we got down to the lake and we spotted a turtle shell. it wouldnt come out of the ground so i went for my knife to pry it out, and like i said it was in the boat,,,, so i used my keys to pry it out of the ground instead. i was thinking all of the bones would be there, but just the top shell.

i figure it would be a different look then every ones elses in my tank.
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making UPDATED 6.15.03 SPOILER! Still Needs Moss View At Your Own Risk

Wow, AJ. You came close to getting beat up by about 50 people there! (I'm learning to explain my jokes in the same sentence to avoid the machine guns.)

Boiling for about 15 minutes on simmer won't spoil the shell unless it's a soft shell turtle like a leather back. Scrub it well with a stiff brush first to get off as much debris as possible, then again after it has simmered so there are no fleshy strings left. (I've worked a bit in forensic pathology, and that's how it's done with "human remains" before examining the bones for injuries.) That was a great find and should make a wonderful natural looking hut. How big is it? Is the plastrum still attached?

Has your mom banned you from the kitchen yet?
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

ban me from the kitchen? thats where i spend most of my time

im pretty sure its a box turtle. i have another box turtle shell. but i dont know where it is now that we moved... in the front yard i think. any ways the plastrum, im not sure i think that is the brown colorings on its shell, correct? if so, no they have flaked off. theres a few still on there but after a good scrubing or boiling they will come off.

my other turtle shell i have, i found the turtle alive. i was mowing grass for a neighbor when i saw this old box turtle. so i set him off to the side and took him home when i was done (like 6 houses down). and put him in the front yard and gave him lettuce and stuff he didnt eat it and he stayed out there 3 days and probibly moved less then 7 feet in those 3 days, then died. i buried him and dug him up the next summer and the plastrum (if im correct) was starting to flake off. by the time i washed it, it was all gone. just a bleached out turtle shell.

i also have a bleached racoon skull on the dash of my s-10

im a sick person huh?

aj
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making UPDATED 6.15.03 SPOILER! Still Needs Moss View At Your Own Risk

forgot, i havent measured yet and i left it out side but i think its atleast 4"-5" long. probibly closer to 4".
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making UPDATED 6.15.03 SPOILER! Still Needs Moss View At Your Own Risk

Sorry, I spelled it wrong. I meant plastron, the belly plate on a turtle. You answered this--that you found only the top shell. I was just thinking that a frog peeking out of a whole turtle shell would look cool-- but it will, anyway.

I was joking about the kitchen ban. Some persnickity moms might object to packing home caripaces and boiling strange objects in the kitchen.
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Patty
Lost River, Idaho

Why on earth would you want that in a dart tank??? Can you really see any benefit for it?
Brian
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Brian Ferriera JR
Plympton, Ma

P. Terribilis (orange)
P.Bicolor (orange)
D. azureus
D. ventrimaculatus
D. tinctorius (Oyapok )
D. Fantasticus
D. leucomelas

i honestly cant say i see a benifit for it. no do i see a benifit for air plants but people use them. the only benifet would be looks. basically the benifet would be the shell as the hut. "think outside the box", change can be scary.
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Click Here to See My Dart Tank In The Making UPDATED 6.15.03 SPOILER! Still Needs Moss View At Your Own Risk

kungfu28181: My god. You are insane. -Mon Jun 30 21:41:05

Do me a favor look at the shell more closely ..look it side it and tell me if you can see vertebrae or any other type of bone sticking out ..would you really want to be a frog hopping in their it could potentially ripe their skin. Ow and the reason people use air plants if because their a natural thing that you can find where the frogs are from. I think inside the box because its what the frogs need not what makes their tank look pretty.
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Brian Ferriera JR
Plympton, Ma

P. Terribilis (orange)
P.Bicolor (orange)
D. azureus
D. ventrimaculatus
D. tinctorius (Oyapok )
D. Fantasticus
D. leucomelas