The pig-nosed turtle (Carettochelys insculpta), also known as the flying river turtle, is confined to northern Australia, southern Irian Jaya and southern New Guinea. The length of the carapace of adult turtles is generally 46 to 51 cm, and the weight is generally 18 to 22 kg. The largest pig-nosed turtle so far has a shell length of 56.3 cm and a weight of 22.5 kg.

The pig-nosed turtle is one of the most peculiar looking freshwater turtles. The carapace is round, dark grey, olive grey or brownish grey with a row of white spots near the edge. The edge is slightly serrated, and there is no skirt like the turtle because of the well-developed outer skeleton and complete structure. There is also no scutellum, replaced by continuous and slightly wrinkled skin. There is a row of spiny crests in the middle of the carapace. The plastron is light in color, white, creamy white or light yellow, slightly cross-shaped. The head is of moderate size and cannot be retracted into the shell. There is a grey bar behind the eye. The nose is thick and fleshy, and is very long, like a pig's nose. The limbs are specialized in fins for aquatic life and cannot be retracted into the shell. It is also characteristic of the presence of two prominent claws at the near midpoint of each forelimb. The tail is short and the back is covered with a row of crescent-shaped scales that taper from the base to the tip of the tail. There are distinct folds of skin on the sides below the tail, extending from the base of the thigh to the hindquarters. The tail of the adult male turtle is longer, and the position of the cloaca is relatively backward; while the tail of the female turtle is shorter and smaller.

Pig-nosed turtles are full-fledged omnivores, with a slight preference for herbivores, so they can be fed vegetables, as well as fruits such as figs, apples, kiwis and bananas, and occasionally add a small amount of fish Shrimp and other animal bait. You can also feed synthetic fish feed or turtle feed, and add calcium and vitamins appropriately. Healthy pig-nosed turtles eat a lot, almost from morning to night. After each feeding, use a net bag to salvage food residues to keep the water clean. This is especially true when feeding foods such as bananas that tend to degrade water quality. Young turtles tend to be carnivorous, so they can be fed more fish and shrimp, beef, earthworms, red worms and other animal bait to meet their growth needs. Since the limbs of pig-nosed turtles are specialized in the shape of fins, it is not conducive to tearing food, so it should be cut into appropriate small pieces before feeding to facilitate the turtle's swallowing. Young turtles generally do not like herbivores, but some owners think that they prefer fruits and vegetables with higher sweetness such as corn, bananas, pears, etc. In addition, they can also try feeding various aquatic plants such as bitter grass, hornwort, chrysanthemum algae, etc. To facilitate balanced nutrition.

The pig-nosed turtle is a highly aquatic freshwater turtle. It can live in deep water for a long time and rarely go ashore. Therefore, it is a master swimmer among turtles. stunt. Adult pig-nosed tortoises are very aggressive, and if they are kept without adequate hiding places, they will leave numerous scars on each other's carapace skin.

Pig-nosed turtles do not have the habit of basking their backs and rarely go ashore, so if it is not for breeding needs, the fish tank may not be laid on land. Although pig-nosed turtles live in waters where the bottom is covered with gravel and silt in their native place, there is no problem in captivity without a substrate. Building some places for the turtle to hide using rocks, driftwood, etc. will help the turtle's emotional stability. And if more than two turtles are kept, they must provide a hiding place due to the aggressive nature of the turtles. However, the selection of materials must pay attention to the smooth shape and no edges and corners, so as not to scratch the skin of the turtle and cause infection on the body surface. Do not create dead corners when arranging, so as to avoid the accumulation of food residues and excrement, which hinders the cleaning of the fish tank. Because pig-nosed turtles are lazy by nature and rarely take the initiative to prey, some medium-sized fish can also be mixed to increase the ornamental value, but the breeding density of turtles must be minimized as much as possible.

For a turtle that lives in water all year round, the quality of water quality is very important, so it must be equipped with a water filtration device and a UV lamp can be installed to inhibit bacteria in the water and mold growth to reduce the occurrence of skin infections. Slightly acidic water can also effectively inhibit the growth of microorganisms. As for the water temperature, it must be kept between 26°C and 30°C.

Studies have shown that the papillae in the throat of the pig-nosed turtle absorb oxygen from the water entering the mouth and function like gills. Therefore, the author recommends adding an air pump in the aquarium to increase the oxygen content of the water, which will help the turtle to exchange gas under water.

In the origin, the dry season between July and October is the breeding season for pig-nosed turtles. Adult female turtles climb the sand dunes on the shore at night and dig holes about 20 cm deep. , each litter produces 7 to 19 eggs (some authors say 7 to 39 eggs), and the eggs are round and shaped like ping-pong balls. After the embryo matures, it will enter a dormant state in the egg, until the flood or heavy rain in the rainy season, the hatchling will break out of the ground. Reports of successful captive breeding of pig-nosed turtles are extremely rare, and those breeders who have successfully hatched pig-nosed turtles have found that they exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination, that is, sex is determined by the temperature at which the eggs hatch. When the temperature is maintained at 27.7 to 30 °C, male turtles hatch from the eggs (another author said that at 32 °C, the male and female turtles are half and half, the lower half of the temperature is all males, and the high half of the temperature is all females, the conditions seem to be too harsh. , less believable). The incubation period varies from 60 to 70 days. Captive-bred turtle seedlings grow very slowly.