Animal Of The Week - Not Teenagers, not Mutants but defintely Turtles

College is now officially shut for the holiday but I still want to keep posting.

Recently I have had quite fascination with the Aquatics room and have based a number of  my lessons around Amphibians and Aquatic species. However there is actually a species of reptile in the Aquatics room and these seem quite popular. They are 2 resident turtles - Rodney the Common Map Turtle and The Painted Turtle with no name.

Back in the 90s when the original Teenage, Mutant Turtle film came out there seemed to be a spike in the sale of Turtles where lots of children wanted them. This resulted in people not understanding how to look after turtles and many were abandoned and poorly treated. As a result the RSPCA and other Welfare charities did work on improving the education of Turtle care and  this time round with the new and updated film it is hoped that history will not repeat itself.

"Do I look common or like a Mutant?" - Rodney The Common Map Turtle

Rodney came to us just before we moved from Horsted back in 2009 and the Painted Turtle arrived shortly after our move to the new building Gillingham in the same year. Common Map Turtles were given the name based on the pattern on their shells. They have lived together in a Terrarium in our Aquatics rooms ever since and enjoy swimming around and basking on their rocks. Both our turtles are Omnivores (eat both meat and plant) so enjoy a diet of invertebrates and plant matter. These species of Turtle originate from the USA where Turtles are quite common. These are a friendly species of turtle who actually enjoy attention unlike the "Mata- Mata" a South American Turtle thought to me the most aggressive species of turtle.

"Make up your mind am I a Turtle or a Terrapin?" - Painted Turtle with no name

One of the common misunderstandings there are about Turtles and Terrapins is that they are actually different. This is not the case , Terrapin is an English term used for certain species of Turtle that are semi-aquatic (spend some time in water and some time on land usually when feeding). Other parts of the world have used the word Turtle for exactly the same species. Painted Turtle is an example of this.

No-one messes with the Mata-Mata - no we do not have one of these at the college   

So remember anyone who hopes their turtle may turn in to Raphael or Donatello this won't happen and they need lots of looking after and the right environment to live in.