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Encyclopedia / Turtles / Pig-nosed turtle
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Variations

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Pig-nosed turtle

Carettochelys insculpta · Fly river turtle, Pitted-shell turtle

Peaceful but nervous; needs warm, large water.

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55 cmAdult size ✓
28–33 °CTemperature ✓
7.5–8.5pH ✓
UnknownSmallest tank ?
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This one is best kept on its own, or with its own kind.

Not recommended
  • Pig-nosed turtle should be kept without other species, and it needs a land area too.
  • They need different temperatures (28–33 °C vs 21–25 °C). No setting suits both.
Not recommended
  • Pig-nosed turtle should be kept without other species, and it needs a land area too.
  • Only a narrow temperature range suits both: 28–29 °C.
Not recommended
  • Pig-nosed turtle should be kept without other species, and it needs a land area too.
  • Only a narrow temperature range suits both: exactly 28 °C.
Facts checked against sources on 16 Oct 2026. ✓ means a source backs it; ? means no reliable source yet. See sources

Care and water

Hardness ?Unknown
Group size ✓Can live alone
Temperament ✓Aggressive
Swims at ?Bottom
Care level ?Hard
Diet Omnivore
Lifespan ?Unknown
Size in shops 8–12 cm
Growth Medium

Behavior

Peaceful but nervous; needs warm, large water.

Check your local laws. CITES Appendix II (since 2005). Exports come from Indonesia under a quota for 'captive-bred' animals, which in practice includes hatchlings from wild-collected eggs; up to 1.5-2 million eggs a year were illegally collected in Indonesian Papua in the late 1990s. Australia does not allow commercial export of live native reptiles. US: live turtles under 4 in (10 cm) carapace length may not be sold. Check the rules where you live before you buy one, and never release it into the wild.

Not for home aquariums. This fish grows far too big for any home tank. It needs a pond-sized system of thousands of litres, so please don't buy one as a baby.

Good to know: Needs a basking dock with UV and heat lamp and deep water. Never house with fish.

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Food

Aquatic plants, fruit, pellets and worms.

Tap a food to see what it is.

Male or female

Males are smaller than females and have longer, thicker tails with the vent near the tip.

Health

Common problems. Tap one to see the signs. This is a guide, not a diagnosis.

Breeding

Egg-layer (buried clutch) · Moderate

Egg-layer: females nest at night in sand banks near water in the dry season (mid-July to early November in Australia, September to February in New Guinea), laying two clutches about 40 days apart, often only every second year. Fully developed embryos wait in the egg and hatch explosively when the nest floods. Sex is set by incubation temperature (pivotal 32 °C; cooler gives males, warmer gives females).

Pairing

Pair.

Setup

Very large tank or indoor pond.

What starts it

Warm season.

Eggs

7-19 eggs per clutch in Australia (mean 10), 7-39 in New Guinea (Kikori mean 21); eggs need 64-74 days at 30 °C to develop, then rest in the egg until flooding triggers hatching (natural nests 86-102 days).

Raising the fry

Hatchlings are fully independent: house them in shallow warm water with a basking spot and feed small pellets, worms and daphnia daily.

Common mistakes
  • Undersized tank and weak filtration
  • No UV or basking heat (soft shells, poor growth)
  • Releasing unwanted turtles into the wild
Full breeding guide, day-by-day plan and simulator →

Where it lives in the wild

RegionSouthern New Guinea and northern Australia
Rivers and lakesFly River and rivers of the Northern Territory
HabitatRivers, lagoons and billabongs
Native rangeAbout 800 km across
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The story of the pig-nosed turtle

A flipper-limbed, fully aquatic river turtle from southern New Guinea and northern Australia, the last living member of its family; it needs a very spacious tank.

Australian zoologist Edward Ramsay described the pig-nosed turtle in 1886 from New Guinea. It is the only living species in its family. Its flipper-like limbs resemble those of sea turtles.

First described by Edward P. Ramsay in 1886.

  • It is the only living member of its family.
  • Its flipper-like limbs resemble those of sea turtles.
  • Eggs can delay hatching until the nest floods.

Sources

15 facts checked with sources