I missed last week’s Photo Hunt because my blog was taken off-line. I ranted about it here.
Anyway, this week’s theme is FIVE. And as usual, my installment would be about terrapins, hohoho!
As you can see in the picture below, the river terrapin has four front claws, where as the painted terrapin (as well as most other turtles) has five.
The river terrapin’s claws are blunt (in the picture above) because we used to house them in concrete tanks with rough surfaces — in fact, I got scratched several times when I was brushing the insides of the tanks. We have since tiled the tanks as we know the sharp claws are essential for their survival once they are released.
So yea, the more recent batches of terrapins have needle-sharp claws that made it very difficult and torturous (for me) to weigh and measure them as they tend to scratch (and bleed) me. Mum advised me to wear a pair of heavy-duty rubber gloves but you know, it isn’t as convenient as handling them with my bare hands 
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I would have never known! Those claws do look awfully sharp.
Wow. My kids would love this. Great choice and fascinating info.
Thanks. It is informative
That is a nice picture and I love the information. I think that is a very important part of the hunt. I must say these claws look scary to me. You should wear protection. Yikes.
wow, thanks for the info and really cool picture!!
Even with the sharp nails, they are still cute! I love learning about turtles from your posts!
the turtles are cute but you need to be cautious enough not to get hit by the nails and contract a disease. =p
Who knew that terrapin feet could be so sweet!
Always amazed at your terrapin photos. Keep on learing something new here. :-)
Happy Weekend!
As usual very interesting and informative. Happy weekend.
Amy in NY: Yea, they’re sharp. And we wanted those claws to be sharp, remember?
Heather: Show it to your kids then!
yenjai.net: You’re most welcome!
Barman6: Yea, thanks for your concern.
Bridget: You’re welcome
Superkimbo: Yea, the hatchlings are still as cute, but not the mature ones!
ColourfulWorld: Aww.. Don’t scare me!! I got bitten by the painted terrapin once and was scared to hell!
jenn in holland: That’s so sweet of you to say..
Pat: I’m glad you liked it!
incog & nito: Thanks, glad you find it informative
Cool terrapin claws and feet! Those claws do look very sharp. Thanks for the lesson.
Wowie! I never knew terrapin had such interesting feet! I am not sure why, but I love looking at these photos. Thanks for showing us!
That is a really cool choice for todays theme!
(I just thought I would let you know how I did my collage layout. I actually use Adobe Photoshop 7.0 to do all my scrapbook pages. I am glad that you like them. I enjoy doing them as an outlet for my creative side.)
give them a manicure mah..
Very interesting!!
Interesting! I never knew that before about their nails.
YIKES! I’d hate to bump into those in the middle of the night! Creative photo for the theme!
Dragonheart: You’re most welcome!
Daisy: I’m glad you loved it
Twisted Cinderella: Thanks for the information
wuching: Manicure your head la.
Bobbie: Thank you
Sue: So now you do!
Loni: You won’t bump into them at night because they’re endangered, and because these are in captivity. But most of all, these terrapins are only found in South and Southeast Asia.
It does sound painful, then you should listen to your mum, they know best lol
Terrapins’ and semi-aquatic turtles’ feet are so the one thing that gets cuter and cuter as they grow up. I love those adorable, fat, paddle-like feet (as long as I don’t have to handle them :p).
And those are some impressive claws on the painted terrapin, painful-looking too though!
Isn’t it interesting how a small change in the claws can affect the entire survival of the terrapin itself?
Such an interesting post… I had a turtle picture too, but yours is much more informative! Thanks!
Interesting to look at . . . in a photo! Not in person! :-0
letha: Yea, Mum knows best, huh?
Becca: BINGO! But frankly, I don’t find their webbed-feet cute. I find their up-turned snout cute (you know, ugly but adorable??)..
Bernard: Yea, you were soo right about it. Little things like sharp claws do determine their survival (and of course other factors as well).
srp: You had a cute picture of turtles queuing up!
JHS: That’s why I’m here.. To show you to photos (only)!