“Baby green turtle?” What exactly was that? Truth is there was no “exactly.” It was a catchall term that was used to describe whichever species was/were available to the pet trade, whether single or multiple, and whether their carapaces were green, gray, or black. And species availability would vary seasonally (northern hemisphere species were available during our summer and autumn, and southern hemisphere species were available during our winter and spring). Among the species having a green carapace were red-eared sliders, Trachemys scripta elegans, assorted cooters, Pseudemys concinna & P. floridana, and Colombian red-eared sliders, Pseudemys callirostris. The gray colored ones included Mississippi map turtles, Graptemys kohni, and yellow-spotted sidenecked turtles, Podocnemis unifilis. And the blacks and almost blacks were southern painted turtles, Chrysemys picta dorsalis and Japanese coin turtles, Chinemys reevesi. Quite an array, eh?

And what did we actually know about these baby turtles? Well, actually, pretty nearly nothing. So we merely bought a baby turtle or 2 or 3, the integral equipment suggested (a flat style goldfish bowl or a plastic turtle bowl with a tiny plastic palm tree rising above the center island, a can of ant “eggs” for food, some chipped oyster shells for a substrate, some swimming water that had to be kept clean) sat all on the kitchen counter, and hoped for the best.

Any wonder that even with the directions being followed precisely within a month the turtlet had a calcium deficiency and within a couple of months most were on an irreversible slide to death. The lucky ones were those turtles for which the owners quickly tired and they got released. Some at least had a fighting chance and that some actually survived is now proven by feral populations by one species or another in regions where the type would be otherwise unknown. This is especially true of red-eared sliders, the most common and arguably the most adaptable of the “green turtles.” There are now unwanted populations of this southcentral USA species in Japan, the USA’s Pacific NW, FL, MA, Australia, Brazil, France, and elsewhere. In some places they have been accepted, in others eradication efforts are now enacted.

We, as caretakers of Mother Earth, leave much to be desired. But at least we are learning and in many areas where natural areas still exist, the baby green turtles, no matter the species or the color, are more apt to lead long and naturally productive lives.

The red-eared slider is now available to hobbyists as albinos (depicted here) pastels, and other colors.


This species, a hatchling Colombian red-ear, Trachemys callirostris, was once common in the pet trade.