The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum we go!

The National Day long weekend was such a treat, and I can’t believe we are already at month end! We visited The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum located at The Chinese Garden over the long weekend. Quite an eye-opener I must say! If you are looking for some activity to do this weekend, maybe this could be it!

I had initially wanted to bring the boys to Kusu Island, but dropped the idea when I realised there isn’t a direct ferry to the island. So, we went to The Chinese Garden instead because I have read about the tortoise museum and have always wanted to visit.

I think I haven’t visited The Chinese Garden since I was a kid! Love how the feel of the place somewhat transports us to another country. It was a really hot morning, but the boys were all running around, happy to explore and check out the tranquil surroundings.

The kids were stuck at the koi pond for a long time and they wanted to feed the fishes. I read the signage and found out that feeding time is 12.30 – 1.30pm so I told the boys we’ll be back later. It’s not lunch time for the fishes yet! Just beyond the koi pond, is our destination – the museum!

Entrance tickets are $5/adult and $3/child or senior. Kids below 2yo gets free entry. We paid a total of $16 for the entire family. The place isn’t huge, but enough to entertain my toddlers. There are quite a variety of tortoise/turtles on display and some of them can be quite fascinating to look at. There are also free roaming tortoises around so watch your step and be mindful about stepping on one of them!

I won’t show all that I have seen, but some of the more interesting ones that I really enjoyed looking at.

The alligator snapping turtle is the most dangerous turtle and please keep the kids’ hands away from this. I was observing them and was really fascinated when I noticed a wriggling worm in their mouths! Turns out, it’s part of their tongue feature and the thing wriggles like a worm.. attracting fishes to swim nearer to eat it, only to be snapped and eaten by the turtle. Interesting way of catching their prey.

The boys are piqued to see the Sulcata Tortoise, which is the world’s 3rd largest tortoise. They are really quite huge! You can buy vegetables to feed the tortoise at just $2, and everyone had fun feeding the tortoises!

I liked that there were free roaming huge tortoises and you can really get up close and personal with. They were moving along so slowly, it’s quite interesting to observe them. Jerry took a while to warm up to them because they are really quite huge and he is initially freaked out. He eventually got over them moving towards him and can even feed them cucumbers.

The boys definitely clocked in a special experience that day, feeding all sorts and types of tortoises and turtles. The most challenging ones to feed are terrapins in the water. They jostled around so much for the vegetables, you’ll likely get splashed in the face with some water. Jerry freaked out and threw the entire cucumber into the water!

There is a section where the turtles are kept in tanks. These turtles/tortoises are in captivity because most of them have been kept as pets when donated or seized by the authorities and are not able to survive in their own natural habit. I especially liked the matamata turtle because it has a smiley face! How cute is that? He does look really strange from the top view though and is shaped like a piece of huge leaf.

I can’t remember what tortoise this one is, but the way it was staring back at me cracks me up. I spend quite a bit of time watching each and every species because there are so much details to stare at. Oh, I’m somewhat a nat geo enthusiast by the way.

Although there were some species featured on the website that I totally didn’t see, we all enjoyed ourselves as a family at The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum. The place isn’t huge, and can be easily covered within 30 mins. We took almost 2 because of the feeding, and we tried to explain to the boys the different types of tortoises so that it becomes a learning session for them. I personally haven’t seen so many tortoises and turtles before so it was really an eye-opener for me.

I read that the lease of the place is almost up and they might not be there much longer, so do visit if you can! It’s really quite a fun experience and the boys are still talking about it till today.

The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum is located at 1 Chinese Garden Road, Singapore 619795 and is open 7 days a week, 9am – 6pm daily. It is a 5-minute walk from the Chinese Garden MRT station (EW25).

We ended the morning with the boys feeding the kois and wanting more. The husband and I were just happy to watch our happy boys enjoy themselves. The koi feed was $1 per packet and I got them at the museum ticketing counter as well. I find it extremely therapeutic to watch the fishes while they were being fed. Really cheap and healthy entertainment!

We didn’t manage to stroll the Chinese Garden because it was the boys’ lunch time by then, but we will be back some day! Till our next adventure…

P.s. The family is heading to Taiwan for a vacay this weekend so the blog will be quite silent for a while!