Soft Shell

[Yvonne G]

I just took in 2016 Rescue #62, a big male soft shell turtle. Someone found it in the street and a couple dogs were harassing it. He has some scratches on his carapace, but they don't look bad. He's about 8 or 10" SCL. Anyone know how to tell soft shell species? He doesn't look like my Floridas.

 

[dmmj]

I love soft shells I had one many many many many years ago where's my very first experience with a prolapsed penis the turtle not me

 

[Yvonne G]

I really like them too. I have 2.1 Floridas in my pond. They're pretty tame. The female is huge and the males a bit smaller. A few years ago when Will and my then neighbor dug out the pond I found a couple of babies, but none since. I'm pretty sure all the carnivores in the pond eat the babies.

 

[wellington]

Possibly @Anthony P can tell ya

 

[Berkeley]

If you can show some pics of the front of the carapace (right behind the head), the side view of the head, and a couple of shots looking down the nose, that will help narrow it down.

Spiny softshells will have (rounded) spines on the carapace, and smooths will be smooth. The presence of a ridge inside the nostrils also helps determine species.

--Berkeley

 

[dmmj]

If you can show some pics of the front of the carapace (right behind the head), the side view of the head, and a couple of shots looking down the nose, that will help narrow it down.

Spiny softshells will have (rounded) spines on the carapace, and smooths will be smooth. The presence of a ridge inside the nostrils also helps determine species.

--Berkeley

admit it you just want to see more pictures of the soft shell

 

[Berkeley]

admit it you just want to see more pictures of the soft shell

Ha ha! Busted...

--Berkeley

 

[Yvonne G]

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. It's impossible to hold a softshell turtle with one hand while taking pictures with the other hand, and I'm all alone here.

It looks like he's a spiney. You can't see the bumps very well, but they ARE there. I couldn't get a good nose picture that shows anything without getting my camera wet, sorry.

 

[Berkeley]

No worries, Yvonne. I know how challenging it can be to hold a kicking turtle in one hand and try to photograph it with the other. And that's just a regular turtle!...

It does appear to be a spiny, and that was my guess. I was just going to help narrow it down to species if we got some good pics. I would also guess it to be a female, from the size and the blotchiness of the pattern. Does it have a really long thick tail? I'm guessing you had seen that, since you said it was a male.

--Berkeley

 

[Yvonne G]

I really wasn't paying close attention the the size of the tail, but I was going by the placement of the cloaca. It's pretty far away from the body. I'll go back and get a plaston picture for your perusal........

 

[Yvonne G]

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