SOFT-SHELLED 
TURTLES 
Soft-shelled turtles make their home in the muck of riverbeds, where 
they feed chiefly on frogs and fishes. Their weapons in hunting are the 
agile claws on their three inside toes and a sharp biting mechanism con¬ 
cealed beneath their soft lips. The snakelike neck can be darted after prey 
with astonishing rapidity. It also serves as a breathing tube when in shal¬ 
low water; the reptile, instead of rising to the surface for air in person, 
merely thrusts up its tubular nose. Both the slender head and the feet can 
be completely withdrawn into the shell in time of danger, but though this 
gesture may give the reptile a sense of security, the shell is so soft that 
it offers little real protection. 
Soft-shelled turtles rarely come out of the water, except for the females 
who deposit their eggs in the riverbank, just above the water level. If sur¬ 
prised on land, they dash rapidly for the water, and often bruise their soft 
under parts on the rocks. The round eggs are heavy-shelled but brittle. 
These turtles are easily cared for in captivity and remain in good 
health if their tank is provided with a layer of sand for them to burrow 
in and a log on which they can occasionally climb out. A rock or concrete 
bottom causes sores on their soft bodies. 
The southern soft-shelled turtle, found in the southeastern United 
States, is the largest American variety, attaining a length of eighteen inches 
and a weight of forty pounds. Adults are light or olive-brown above and 
white below, while the young are mottled with black. These turtles are 
caught with hook and line. Southern Negroes are known to roll the smaller 
ones in corn meal and cook them whole, after cutting off the heads and 
cleaning them through a small hole in the breastplate. Because of their 
shape they are popularly called flapjack or pancack terrapins. 
Another American species is the spiny soft-shelled turtle of the Missis¬ 
sippi, St. Lawrence and Great Lakes. Adults are a foot in length; their 
upper shell is olive, and their breastplate white. The front edge of the shell 
is armed with spines. There are two light stripes down the head. The young 
have black circles on the shell. 
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