You may have heard of mini turtles and wondered where you could get one. The phrase has become a trend, much like celebrities who carry mini and toy size canines. There are just a couple of problems. First of all, it’s illegal to sell a turtle that is less than 4 inches (10 cm) long. It’s not illegal to buy a turtle that small, but it may be better to stay out of the gray area.Secondly, there’s really no such thing as a mini turtle. Turtles are the size that they are for their species. Each species has a size range they will fall into when they reach adulthood. Most female turtles are going to be larger than most male turtles in a given species.
Now you’re probably wondering what a store, website or other type of seller means when it says that they have mini turtles for sale. It’s most likely a scam. As previously stated, the idea of owning a mini turtle is trendy. It’s an excellent marketing strategy to feed off of the world’s current obsession with all things mini. Places are offering mini desserts. There are mini cars. And now there are mini turtles. Not really, though. You may be one of the now disillusioned who bought a turtle that was advertised as being a mini. Imagine your surprise when it grew to be two feet long! You may have been lucky and gotten something smaller. Let’s hope so.
So how do you avoid getting caught up in the scam?
This one is very common sense. You do the research and learn about turtles. If you are interested in owning one, you should know that there is a lot of work is required to keep a turtle happy and healthy. If you’re just interested in the trend, then you’re probably better off with a mini dog of some sort. Turtles are not nearly as gratifying to tote around and dress up. Not to mention that you might actually harm a turtle by constantly taking it out of the habitat that you’ve created for it. Turtles can be perfectly gratifying as pets, just not necessarily when you’re out on the town.
An honest breeder or salesperson will tell you that there’s no such thing as a mini turtle. If you do purchase a turtle that is identified as mini, you are most likely getting a Red-Eared Slider or something similar. There are plenty of species of turtles that will be less than a foot long when they reach maturity.
Just don’t buy into the trend of getting mini turtles and then suffer later with buyer’s remorse because it was a scam.