Mid-Atlantic Turtle and Tortoise Society, Inc.

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Mid-Atlantic Turtle and Tortoise Society, Inc.

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MATTS is a 501(c)(3) all-volunteer organization dedicated to promoting the responsible herpetoculture, natural history & conservation of turtles & tortoises.

Basically, that means to help pet turtles have the best care possible & keep wild turtles wild. The Mid-Atlantic Turtle & Tortoise Society, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to promoting the responsible herpetoculture (care) of all species of pet turtles and tortoises, promoting and supporting the study of chelonian natural history, and conserving wild Mid-Atlantic turtle species and habitat. website : http://www.matts-turtles.org/

We are an all-volunteer organization founded in February, 1997, and are directed by concerned hobbyists and professionals who saw a need to reach out to the public and improve the conditions under which pet turtle and tortoises are kept and try to protect local species and their habitats. While there are other respected herpetological organizations in the area (most members are in the Baltimore -Washington- Northern Va. area, though more than twenty states are now represented), ours is the only one dedicated exclusively to turtles and tortoises. We do NOT have a "brick and mortar" facility; we're all volunteer from our homes. We also do not do wildlife rehab, but we might be able to help you find a rehabber or help transport to one for a wild injured or sick turtle. When possible, we try to help rehome displaced or unwanted PET turtles and tortoises, placing about 100 pets into new homes each year. If interested in adopting, visit www.matts.petfinder.com

11/01/2026

Happy three year Shellebration Day to Napoleon! He's a 32-year old eastern painted turtle that has been adopted twice from MATTS, first when he was 19, and then again when he was 29. He's the oldest painted turtle we've ever had in foster care, and he's the oldest eastern painted that we know of. While we know of a 70+ year old map turtle at a turtle rescue and a handful of sliders who made it over 60 years, and despite the fact that we get several requests annually to rehome 20+ year old sliders, we rarely hear of painted turtles that are over 20 years old.

Napoleon's first home had to rehome him and his "brother" due to the keeper's declining health. Then his first adopter also had to return him after ten years due to health issues, because life happens and we understand that. Turtles and tortoises are long-lived species, and there's always the possibility of a chelonian out-living a keeper. Fortunately, there are amazing people such as Nellie who are willing to take a chance on a senior pet. She just sent us pictures of Napoleon in his 75-gallon enclosure! He has an Above-Tank-Basking-Platform so his tank can be filled up all the way. Nellie adopted Napoleon exactly three years ago today, and you can see that he's living the good life! Notice all the enrichment in his tank and the filtration.

We have other male painted turtles for adoption, including an eastern painted in Montgomery County and another male eastern in the Baltimore/Parkton area. There's also a male western painted that can be adopted in PA, WV, and VA, states where eastern and midland painteds are illegal to keep. We have a transporter going to Harrisburg, PA, T-Th, and to York, PA, on weekends, as well as a monthly transporter to Reston, VA.

10/31/2026

We have a slightly special needs male redfooted tortoise for adoption in Montgomery County, Maryland. His beak might have a slight malocclusion that requires periodic beak trimming, or he might just have a beak that grew improperly due to the husbandry over several years and a few more beak trims and a diet full of more fiber and more outdoor time correct the issue over time. Either way, Redford is a sweet tortoise who enjoys his time outdoors and we can show you how to trim the beak with a Dremmel, although having a good chelonian vet is important if you adopt Redford. Redfoots grow to be the size of a large watermelon and need it warm and humid all year, which means you'll need a relatively large indoor area in the winter at least, and a substrate that can hold water. They eat greens and other veggies, occasional fruit, and need a small amount of animal protein in the diet, which can come from soaked aquatic turtle pellets or other animal protein foods that you'd give a box turtle. An excellent book on redfoots is Red-Footed Tortoises in Captivity by Amanda Ebenhack, that can be found at Amazon and other on-line vendors. If interested in Redford, please email [email protected] to request an application.

10/24/2026

Casper the red-eared slider will be at the Roaring Run Community Park in Finksburg, MD, today from 4-6pm for Trunk or Treat.

10/21/2026

Sometimes the safest route is underground 🐢

Wildlife officials in Maine say the state's first turtle tunnel is helping endangered Blanding's turtles safely cross beneath a busy highway instead of risking traffic above. Motion-activated cameras have documented the turtles using the crossing, along with hundreds of other animals, including snapping turtles, salamanders, muskrats, and mink.

The tunnel was installed in 2021 to reconnect wetlands separated by the roadway. Since then, officials say they haven't recorded a single Blanding's turtle road death at the crossing, highlighting how wildlife crossings can help animals move safely through fragmented habitat.

10/19/2026

Great educational information as to pesticides...

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1F1goiWMXM/

10/19/2026

Even though the high was only 60F in some areas of Maryland, baby Ch*****ne and her friends were outside in full sun at the warmest part of the day for some real UVB and nutritious snacking. The tortoises' shells were measuring about 75F in the sun. Ch*****ne has a real taste for clover.

Ch*****ne is a baby pancake tortoise (Malacochersus tornieri) hatched at the end of March by one of our members. Pancakes are native to east Africa and have a very unique physiology for a tortoise. Their shell is about 6" long when full grown, but only about 2" tall! The plastron (bottom shell) is a bit pliable compared to other tortoises, so it really feels weird to hold one. They live in rocky outcrops, wedging themselves into crevices for protection. They are also extremely fast, since getting into their craggy home is their only real defense. They're vegetarians, eating grass, succulents, and forbes ("weedy" plants and flowers) in the wild, and grass, hay, edible weeds, flowers, spineles Opuntia cactus, and greens in captivity. Poachers often destroy the rocky outcrops to get to the tortoises, so habitat loss as well as poaching is contributing to their rapid decline. They also only lay one to three eggs a year in the wild, and it takes 6-8 months to hatch a pancake egg! Little "Ch*****ne" is growing like the weeds he or she loves to eat, and we'll provide updates as we get them. It will be at least two or three years before Ch*****ne has grown enough to tell the s*x, since all turtles and tortoises hatch looking like girls. The hope is that Ch*****ne can become part of an "assurance colony" of pancake tortoises in the US.

10/19/2026

This is an excellent organization and wonderful way to learn more about box turtles in the wild and network with those who research them.

2026 North American Box Turtle Conservation Symposium, to be held October 23 through October 25, 2026, at Washburn University and the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center in Topeka, Kansas.

Neil Bernstein will provide the keynote address highlighting his decades of work investigating the Ornate Box Turtle in one of the longest running box turtle studies in the country.

The workshop invites papers and posters on Terrapene population trends, ecology, life history strategies, epidemiology, systematics, and land management, among other topics.

A silent auction will be held to raise funds for the Lucille F. Stickel Box Turtle Research Award. Attendees are welcome to bring items for the auction.

The North American Box Turtle Conservation Committee is excited to announce the 2026 North American Box Turtle Conservation Symposium, to be held October 23 through October 25, 2026, at Washburn University and the Topeka Zoo and Conservation Center in Topeka, Kansas.

Address

P. O Box 341
Highland, MD
20777

Website

http://matts-turtles.org/

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