Does it hurt a turtle to pick it up by its shell?

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asked Feb 10 in Other- Pets by stevenm5082 (3,940 points)
Does it hurt a turtle to pick it up by its shell?

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answered May 15 by 15thgear (27,450 points)
It does not hurt a turtle to pick it up by its shell as their shell is hard enough so they won't feel much of anything.

However when trying to pick up a turtle it may bite so it's best to not pick up a turtle unless it's your pet turtle.

If you put a turtle on it's back the turtle will have a hard time breathing and be prone to exhaustion and overheating and when left on it's back it can die.

A turtle can go up to 7 days without eating although the turtle cannot survive longer than a day without water.

Inactive adult turtles however can last up to 6 months without food when they are in hibernation as the turtles metabolism preserves the energy from their last meal to help the turtle stay alive.

Turtle shells are not bulletproof although they are hard enough to protect the turtle from predators but even some animals can bite through and break a turtles shell.

Animals that can break a turtle's shell are alligators, coyotes, raccoons, weasels, hawks and crocodiles.

As for sea turtles the sea turtle's shell is softer than the land turtle and whales and sharks are easily able to break the sea turtle shell.

A Jaguar can also break through a turtle shell as they have a bite strength of 1,500 PSI.

Turtles are completely attached to their shells.

It's impossible for the turtle shell to come off.

A turtles shell grows with the turtle.

A turtle shell is made up of 50 bones in the turtle's skeleton and includes the spine and rib cage.

There are 28 small plates around the edge of the turtle's shell, one for each day in the lunar month.

As well, there are 13 scutes or sections on the turtle's back, one for each of the moons in the year.

Each First nation has a unique understanding and a description of the 13 moons.

Turtles, or testudines, are reptiles of the order Testudines, characterized by a special shell developed mainly from their ribs.

Modern turtles are divided into two major groups, the Pleurodira and Cryptodira, which differ in the way the head retracts.

A turtle's lifespan depends on the species, but most aquatic species live into their 40s, PetMD reports.

Smaller species live only about a quarter of a century, and terrestrial box turtles typically live to 40 or 50 years but can live to be 100.

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