Turtle Museum’s new home

The Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum (LTTM) has been opened for 22 years, and we hold the one and only Guinness Book of World Records for the greatest number of Turtles & Tortoise animals and artefacts in the world, being pets and displays in our home long before we decided to share our unique love as a CSR arm of our previous main events management company.

Our vision and mission for the museum is to create awareness from a few angles; educate the public, especially the future generation on the importance of protection of endangered species, raise the knowledge of how turtles can be loved by being up close and personal. Also, apart from sharing the exotic turtles being our pets, we do our best to take care of as many turtles that come our way with possible genuine reasons of others who give up their turtles. Since our inception, we have been trying to advocate for proper education about the care & education of different species of turtles & tortoises from all over the world. Up to now, with more than 80 schools coming in for educational tours, we are happy that kids get to bathe the turtles, touch, feel, and love them.

From 2001, we took a small charge of $3 and $5, as entry fees to keep it as affordable to our community as possible, the rest paid for by our main company as these funds were not enough to cover our operating costs for the 16 years in Chinese Garden. We did not want to advertise as an entertainment place, as we work it as a community project & a learning programme, for kids. We reached out only to pre-schools. Yes, we have been around for 22 years serving our community. In ORTO, we brought up the price of the entrance fee to $10 and $6, which barely covers costs. Though worried as our main company was wound down for its space for the turtles, we strived on.

The new site, co-locating with GUI, will be a 1320sqm home for all the turtles under our care, and built specially with a space as conducive and homey as we can make for them to roam, be comfortable and be themselves.

An estimated hurriedly done breakdown of the build-up cost of the new premises, with friends’ help with reference to costing information from Arcadis, works out as follows:

1. Security, baby housing, artefact room and counter (2 story, 200sqm each floor)
400sqm x $1,700 = $680,000*

2. Outside turtle housing (30% of the cost of a single story warehouse)
1120sqm x $450 = $504,000*

3. Filtration & utilities system
$350,000

4. Medical station, quarantine & food prep area (Using non air-condition polyclinic cost)
105sqm x $2,200 = $231,000*

Professional fees
$100,000

Total $1,865,000

Please help us build a home for the turtles in the space that SLA had kindly arranged for us. Thank you.

*per sqm cost takes reference from https://www.arcadis.com/en/knowledge-hub/perspecti...