A little known fact in the Turtle world is that there are actually both Desert and Dessert turtles. This is mostly due to the near extinction of Dessert turtles. In fact, up until recently it was widely considered that they were extinct.
How can I tell a Desert turtle from a Dessert turtle?
Arguably, the most noticeable difference between the Desert and Dessert turtles is that Dessert turtles can fly. The next obvious differences are that Dessert turtles do not like sand and live on a diet of entirely dessert foods. Without access to desserts, the Dessert turtle will go into a prolonged hibernation and will absolutely refuse to fly. Desert turtles on the other hand love sand and are prone to traveling in in a crew (see last post).
Can I have a Dessert turtle for a pet?
It is illegal in 52 countries to own a Dessert turtle as a pet as they are considered an endangered species. They are also extremely hard to look after as pets as they tend to fly low over built up areas. This is a danger to humans and the last known fatality of a human due to a Dessert turtle happened in 1907 when a Dessert turtle crashed into the head of a pastry chef in Derbyshire, England.
What kind of desserts do Dessert turtles eat?
Basically all desserts are acceptable to feed a Dessert turtle excluding ice-cream. The temperature drop caused by eating large quantities of ice-cream can be fatal to the Dessert turtle. In the late 1960s Pillsbury Company in the USA addressed this problem by creating freeze-dried ice-cream sticks that were later dubbed 'Space Food Sticks' because of the association between Dessert turtles and flying.
Here are some examples of Dessert turtles from a Turtle Research Facility in Everett, WA.
In these pictures Tootsie (98 years old) and Tort (72 years old) are being fed vanilla Space Food Stick sundaes. In the last image, Research Facility operator, Dr Clark re-captures a Dessert turtle after a post-meal flight.
