The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum - Outdoor Fun with Kids
The last time we visited the Chinese Garden we had such a wonderful time that we decided to come back to check out the Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum that is situated within the garden.
The entrance to the museum is in the building just behind this long bridge.
Entrance fee is $5 per adult and $3 for children below 6. We also got 2 bags of long beans for $4 to feed the turtles.
The Museum houses more than 200 turtles and tortoises from over 60 different species. Some of the larger or more dangerous turtles are kept in enclosures or tanks, but there are friendlier ones roaming around freely within the grounds.
The first thing we encountered was the large African Turtle near the entrance to the museum. This turtle is huge and very enthusiastic. It shuffled to us the minute it heard us coming. I was initially a little nervous when it opened up its big jaw revealing a row of tiny sharp teeth and yanked the long bean out of our hands.
But we all warmed up to the turtles pretty quickly and this gentle giant became our favourite in the whole museum. The boys kept coming back to its enclosure to give him more food and petting its shell.
By the end of the day, my little one was leaning so far into the enclosure to feed it I was worried he would fall in!
Just a few steps down the entrance, there is a pond of murky green water filled with dozens of terrapins swimming and climbing up around the edges. There is a bridge across where we can go and feed them. This is where we spent most of our time in.
There are also some free-ranging turtles around the garden and the little one was very excited to feed them.
Towards the end, he was so comfortable with the turtles that he would just approach and feed them by himself.
This turtle had such an unusual looking shell.
When we came around a little while later, my little one exclaimed that this turtle had no head! I didn't realize he didn't know before today that turtles can retract their heads and legs into their shells. Lol.
We proceeded to pat and examine its beautiful shell.
There is also a section within the Museum where they keep the more exotic and dangerous turtles in separate tanks. Some notable species include the Snapping Turtle, which has existed during Dinosaur Time.
The Pig-Nose Turtle, with its snout-like nose.
The Alligator Snapping Turtle, which is considered the most dangerous turtle as it has immensely powerful jaws.
The oldest turtle in the Museum which is 82 years old already, was extremely grumpy and just stared at us when we waved the long bean.
Naturally we had to save our last long bean for our favourite friendly turtle and say good bye with a pat on his shell 😃
When all our feeds were gone, we sat down to rest on a swing at the back of the garden.
The boys went monkeying around the garden and did the obligatory dab photo. 😛
We also found out that a lot of these turtles and tortoises started off as house pets kept either by the collector or the public. When the owners decided not to keep them anymore, this Museum becomes a sanctuary for these unwanted turtles and tortoises. As they are so used to being kept as house pets from young, their rate of survival in the wild is very low.
I am glad such a place exists for these fascinating harmless animals. And it sure provides an afternoon of family fun and education for us too!
The entrance to the museum is in the building just behind this long bridge.
Entrance fee is $5 per adult and $3 for children below 6. We also got 2 bags of long beans for $4 to feed the turtles.
The Museum houses more than 200 turtles and tortoises from over 60 different species. Some of the larger or more dangerous turtles are kept in enclosures or tanks, but there are friendlier ones roaming around freely within the grounds.
The first thing we encountered was the large African Turtle near the entrance to the museum. This turtle is huge and very enthusiastic. It shuffled to us the minute it heard us coming. I was initially a little nervous when it opened up its big jaw revealing a row of tiny sharp teeth and yanked the long bean out of our hands.
By the end of the day, my little one was leaning so far into the enclosure to feed it I was worried he would fall in!
Just a few steps down the entrance, there is a pond of murky green water filled with dozens of terrapins swimming and climbing up around the edges. There is a bridge across where we can go and feed them. This is where we spent most of our time in.
The boys had a ball taking turns to feed the terrapins who were scrambling on top of one another trying to get to the long beans.
Towards the end, he was so comfortable with the turtles that he would just approach and feed them by himself.
This turtle had such an unusual looking shell.
When we came around a little while later, my little one exclaimed that this turtle had no head! I didn't realize he didn't know before today that turtles can retract their heads and legs into their shells. Lol.
We proceeded to pat and examine its beautiful shell.
There is also a section within the Museum where they keep the more exotic and dangerous turtles in separate tanks. Some notable species include the Snapping Turtle, which has existed during Dinosaur Time.
The Pig-Nose Turtle, with its snout-like nose.
The Alligator Snapping Turtle, which is considered the most dangerous turtle as it has immensely powerful jaws.
The oldest turtle in the Museum which is 82 years old already, was extremely grumpy and just stared at us when we waved the long bean.
Naturally we had to save our last long bean for our favourite friendly turtle and say good bye with a pat on his shell 😃
When all our feeds were gone, we sat down to rest on a swing at the back of the garden.
The boys went monkeying around the garden and did the obligatory dab photo. 😛
We also found out that a lot of these turtles and tortoises started off as house pets kept either by the collector or the public. When the owners decided not to keep them anymore, this Museum becomes a sanctuary for these unwanted turtles and tortoises. As they are so used to being kept as house pets from young, their rate of survival in the wild is very low.
I am glad such a place exists for these fascinating harmless animals. And it sure provides an afternoon of family fun and education for us too!
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