What is the smallest turtle?

The smallest turtle is the Speckled Padloper Tortoise of South Africa. It measures about 8 cm (3.1 in) in length and weighs about 140 g (4.9 oz). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turtle There is some confusion about the words 'turtle', 'terrapin' and 'tortoise' because Americans tend to call all of them 'turtles'. Correctly, turtles live in water and are adapted for swimming, tortoises live on land and terrapins are amphibious, able to swim but living much of the time on land. The smallest turtle is the Bog Turtle, which is native to the eastern United States. They grow to about 11 cm long. Doubtless, the one you saw was a baby turtle, just hatched.

The mud turtle is small growing to 4 inches which is a little larger than your youtube one. Getting these guys might be a problem and some are illegal to have. I had a small store bought common turtle that grew and grew too big for my tank until I felt I had return to the wild. I don't know how he stood up of course but they are very resourceful.

Im guessing the smallest turtle would be a baby turtle. Other than that i am not an expert on turtlemania other than i know the difference between Donnatello and Leonardo.