Turtles & Tortoise for Dummies

By Tyler Monson, TurtleTimes.com
July 8, 2001

This book is the sequel to The Complete Idiot's Guide to Turtles and Tortoises, actually its the pretty much the second edition of the same book (The Dummies bought out the Idiots), except there are enough revisions and new content to basically declare this another book with the same flavor. There is a lot of quality information in a down-to-earth style. 

The book is divided into major sections from deciding if a turtle is right for you to the identification of turtles which is improved with both sizes, care and breeding information. The books focuses on health, diet and housing and provides some practical and direct knowledge on the various subject related to quality care of turtles and their varying environments.

What's good:

• The Breeding information is a big help as many hobbyist are making attempts at captive breeding. 
   

• The illustrations in this book are an improvement from the last version as they tend to relate and aid the topic.
   

• There is a good amount of attention focused on both land and water housing.

• A dictionary of common terms and conversion tables which will help both those in America and those on the other side of the pond. 
   

• Hibernation information includes a list of turtles and tortoises that do and don't hibernate. Helpful for beginners.
   

• A lot of common sense.
   

• The appendix lists some of the major sources for turtle equipment, foods and supplies.
   

• TurtleTimes was mentioned in the book as a source for acquiring turtles through the Internet through our Breeders listing and Classifieds.

What's not:

• Spider Tortoises were not included in this publication but to the defense of the writer they just probably did not become available to the public until after the book was submitted. 

• There was not an Internet Resource section in the Appendix for the top 10 major turtle related sites like www.TurtleTimes.com, www.TortoiseTrust.org  and CTTC (www.Tortoise.org) which are major sources of information on the Internet. Although things change so much on the Internet this might be a positive thing.

Conclusion:

This is definitely one of the best books on turtles and their care on the market, it is highly recommended both for those who already own the previous book and especially for those looking for a book on how to care for their new pet turtle. It's the highest rated book we have come along and is well worth the money. 

Turtle & Tortoises for Dummies 
Buy this book through Amazon

Authors
Liz Palika

Related Links

•  Interview with Liz Palika

•Liz's Homepage www.lizpalika.com 

• Buy this book at  Amazon.com

Skill Levels

Beginning  Intermediate Advanced