Do musk turtles really live up to their name?

We used to keep musk turtles, I don’t remember any smell, so it must not be too bad.

If you keep their water clean they won’t smell. Don’t drown them in the water, you might already know, they need air to breathe too.

Don’t all turtles smell awful when they pee?

My musk turtle ran away. True story.

Tutles have a cloaca so I would assume that they release all waste at the same time. Yeah, turtle poo smells bad. That’s what siphons are for. What do you mean by “don’t drown them” I know that they are bottom walkers but won’t a large basking area be sufficient? I do have a really deep tank to spoil my aquatics.

What’s the story behind that, Snarp?

@Storms – When I was a kid there was a phase where everybody in my class was catching musk turtles and keeping them as pets. I had one, he lived in a big plastic tub with fairly low sides. Some nice rocks, water, etc. I kept it outside since it was plenty warm. One day he was gone. I suppose some critter might have made off with him, but I expect anything trying to eat a turtle would do so on the spot and leave some traces. I just always assumed the walls on the tub were too low and he crawled out and left.

I have the water levels in my tank so high that I sort of worry about the turtles figuring out a way to use the basking platforms to escape but they are stupid so whenever they get up there, they just get paralyzed by the pleasure of the warm lights. Besides, they have hard shells. They would survive the drop and I would find them under the fridge. This is the reason I am wary of getting a Wood Turtle.