EASTERN RIVER COOTER

PSEUDEMYS CONCINNA CONCINNA

Eastern River Cooter's are the largest freshwater turtle kept as pets in New Zealand and  there are very few of them left surviving. In the 50's and 60's quite a few of these where seen for sale in the Pet Shops along with Red-eared Sliders. No-one to our knowledge has bred any, so the few that remain alive are very old indeed. Their life span is said to be 40 - 50 years in captivity.

Females can reach a shell length of 40 to 45cm, and males a shell length up to 20cm.

Like the male Red-eared Turtles, the male River Cooter's have extremely long claws  on their front feet and a very large tail in relation to the females.

Adult River Cooter's make excellent pond turtles due to their large size, but if you are wanting to keep these guys in a tank then we recommend that you obtain males.

River Cooters are quite hardy and will adapt to pond life once three or four years old.