Eastern Long Necked Turtle

The Eastern Long Necked Turtle (Chelodina longicollis) or snake-necked turtle grows it’s shell to around 25cm long, and has a neck almost as long. The shell is red-brown or black on the upper shell and a creamy-yellow lower shell. Dark brown markings along the shell are also very common. They also have incredibly strong jaws and webbed feet.

They are very common in eastern Australia and into south eastern SA. It live in bodies of slow moving water like farm dams, rivers and lakes. These turtles move across land in groups of up to several dozen. Heavy rains can trigger this migration as can their home creek or lake drying up and they are vulnerable to being run over moving across roads.

Eastern Long-necked Turtles are armed with defensive scent glands above each leg, turtles can squirt a liquid with a stinking and persistent odour. Long-necked turtles are extremely tough, sometimes living in some pretty unappealing places, such as polluted creeks and even sewage treatment plants. They can also survive horrific injuries and infections, such as near-total loss of the shell, thanks to an unusual immune system.

Long-necked turtles hibernate during winter and the summer rains are their cue to haul themselves out of their creeks and ponds to find food. They eat fish, tadpoles, frogs and crayfish which they tear apart with their front claws – turtles do not have teeth.