Turtle Thursday: Could you sleep like this?

Silent Bob is our last little baby at about a year and a half old. He's a "Dark Phased Diamondback Terrapin." He's as cute as can be, and does all sorts of unusual traits for a turtle. Let's go down a brief list, shall we?

• Dark alien eyes. You don't see too many aquatic turtles with dark eyes like this guy. Usually they have typical "reptilian eyes."
• Spiked Shell. There are breeds that have "spikes" and "barbed" edges, but for they are certainly the minority.
• Pretty Nails! His claws (or to make them sound less harsh, finger nails) are varied shades of white, grey and black.
• He prefers to be hand fed.
• He prefers to sleep dried out and standing. Dried out is kinda odd on it's own, but standing? Who knew a turtle can stand on two legs?

Turtle Fact of the Day

THE FOUR INCH RULE. There are many misconceptions regarding WHY turtles under four inches can't be sold. Usually it's some nonsense like, "they are dangerous" or "they are poisonous." That's all fiction. Here's the truth, and you can search the Internet and try to debunk me if you choose. Just try it!

It all began DECADES ago. Baby "Green" turtles or "River" turtles were showing up all over. They were for pets, prizes, and ornaments. You could've won a turtle at a carnival. You could've gotten a turtle with your name painted on it's shell. And people thought it was cute to buy a baby turtle for their newborn baby. These are all bad scenarios. Years ago the knowledge about reptile care was poor at best. Most people coming home with a baby red eared slider (they were usually red eared sliders, not river turtles, green turtles and definitely not dwarf turtles) were ill prepared to provide anything that this animal needed. And the ones with the painted shells? They would die quickly by poison from the paint on their shells. They need that shell cleared off.

Back to the story. It was becoming an epidemic of human babies falling terribly ill with salmonella. What was the connection? Baby turtles in the household. If anyone plays with a turtle they run the risk of getting salmonella, however those of age would know that you should wash your hands when done, as you should after playing with ANY animal. A baby would now know such a thing. Babies will stick anything into their mouths including a baby turtle. The government decided to act by banning sales of turtles under four inches to avoid this problem. In other words, this law was enacted because people weren't smart enough to properly care for their own children. So the four inch rule was put into place to keep children from putting live turtles in their mouths. In addition, a four inch turtle would be less playful, and might bite, so a parent would think twice about leaving a child alone with such an animal.

And there you have it. Baby turtles are not permitted to be sold for no greater reason than PEOPLE ARE STUPID. Stupid people always ruin the fun for the rest of us, isn't that so?