In Praise of Turtles

Does your state have an official state reptile? If not, and you are a turtle lover who loves to start crusades, then why not nominate the turtle as your state’s official reptile?

There are already twenty-six states that have such designations. And of these eighteen have chosen a turtle or tortoise for this honor. Here is a list of these designations:

Alabama Alabama red-bellied turtle
California Desert tortoise
Colorado Western painted turtle
Florida Loggerhead sea turtle
Florida Gopher tortoise
Georgia Gopher tortoise
Illinois Painted turtle
Kansas Ornate box turtle
Maryland Diamondback terrapin
Michigan Painted turtle
Missouri Three-toed box turtle
Nevada Desert tortoise
New York Common snapping turtle
North Carolina Eastern box turtle
Ohio Northern black racer
South Carolina Loggerhead sea turtle
Tennessee Eastern box turtle
Vermont Painted turtle

As you can see Florida chose to have both an official turtle and tortoise. Way to go Florida! The painted turtle has been the most popular. It has been honored in four states. Vermont’s official proclamation for the painted turtle begins: "Whereas, the painted turtle is a hard worker and can withstand cold temperatures like the citizens of Vermont, and Whereas, the colors of the painted turtle represent the beauty of our state in autumn, and Whereas, the painted turtle is one of the most common turtles in Vermont, and
Whereas, the painted turtle adds to the diversity of Vermont's habitat..."

There have recently been attempts in Minnesota, Pennsylvania and Virginia to have turtles officially designated as state symbols.

Visit Turtle Treasures for more fun turtle facts and fantasies

New Turtle Items at Turtle Treasures

Our collection of ladybug gifts, turtle gifts, holdiay gifts and more...is still growing!! Our absolute commitment to finding the most unique and fun gifts for you to give any time of year keeps us "spotting" more and more gifts!


Browse our newest items added to our collection by visiting
New Items or Turtle New Items

Turtles Crossing!

Here in Delaware the beach roads are getting busy as tourists pour into Southern Delaware for their summer vacations. This is not great timing for our local diamondback terrapins who need to cross the roads. Motorists are being urged to watch for these endangered animals, who at this time of the year try to move from an inland bay across busy US Route 1 to lay their eggs in the soft sand of the ocean dunes of Delaware Seashore State Park, one of the state's prime nesting areas for this species.
Maybe Delaware should erect a giant turtle statue as a warning to motorists. One like that in the accompanying photo might be just what we need! This is probably the world's largest tortoise statue--and is called "Myrtle the Turtle". It is located beside a highway in Joshua Tree California. Originally designed as a float in 1957 and made of wood and wire framework, it was given to the local Chamber of Commerce and later turned into a sculpture by Howard Pierce in 1998.

By the way, do you know the difference between "turtle", "terrapin" and "tortoise"? Be sure to stop by the LadyBug Shop & Turtle Treasures in historic Downtown Milford, on your way to the beach.

Olive Ridley Turtles & Their Arribadas

One endangered species of sea turtles is the Olive Ridley Turtle. They live primarily in the tropical regions of the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but are also sometimes found in tropical coastal areas of the Atlantic. They are relatively small by sea turtle standards, with adults weighing about 100 pounds. In the past they were one of the most abundant of sea turtles. But commercial fishing and pollution has decimated their population. Another major challenge to the Olive Ridleys is the shrinking number of beaches suitable for their nesting. A distinguishing feature of these turtles is their practice of mass nesting, when many hundreds of female turtles emerge from the water at one time and lay their eggs in sand nests, an event called the "arribadas". One of the few remaining sites where the Olive Ridleys nest is on the beaches of Orissa, found in the Indian Ocean along the Bay of Bengal. This video shows what occurs during one of these events. Watch it here

Visit Turtle Treasures Gifts to find the perfect sea turtle gift for your favorite turtle lover!

Sea Turtle is Special Guest at Valentine's Day Wedding

This is such a great story and video that I wanted to pass it along. During a Valentine's Day ceremony which was held underwater at the London Aquarium a large sea turtle turned up as the surprise guest. The turtle didn't seem interested in kissing the bride, but have certainly found her wedding dress attractive! Check out the video on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=raglJPh2D-U


This Franz porcelain teapot with a mother and baby sea turtle would make a great wedding gift.

A Ten- Ton Turtle Made from Rice

A ten-ton rice turtle would be quite a gift! But that is what is being prepared now for a traditional “turtle gifting” cultural event that will be celebrated by the two Chinese cities of Quanzhou (which in on the China mainland) and Penghu (which in on the island of Taiwan). The turtle is 7 meters long and 5 meters wide and is being made out of sacks of rice. Visitors to the turtle often touch its head to receive blessings of happiness and safety for the New Year. This year the Chinese New Year starts on February 3. It will usher in the year of the Rabbit, one of the twelve zodiac characters that are used to designate each year.

Visit Turtle Treasures for unique turtle gifts. We don't have a ten ton turtle but we do have several new cute turtle items for everyone on your gift list.

Turtle: The Incredible Journey

Last year I read about the release of a quasi-documentary film titled Turtle - The Incredible Journey. It won a number of prizes, including one from the Toronto International Film Festival. I found on-line previews for the movie and was eager to see it. But it never came to any local theaters and is still not available from film sites such as NetFlix.com. However, I just found the entire movie is now available in HD on YouTube! It appears to be an Austrian release of the film with the title Tortuga. But don't worry, the the narration is still in English.

The movie recreates the 25 year epic journey of a Loggerhead Turtle from birth on a beach in Florida, up along the Gulf Stream into the North Atlantic, across to the coast of Africa and then back to the beach were it was born. It is the real life version of the animated film "Finding Nemo". The film is narrated by British actress Miranda Richardson. The movie on YouTube is shown in sequential sections and has a total length of around 80 minutes. Click next to seamlessly view the next section of the movie. It is an incredibly beautiful film.