Platysternon (Big-Headed Turtles) & Podocnemis (Amazon River Turtles)

[TroyMIfishkeeper]

Anybody have any info on either of these species? From my understanding they are rare in the US (especially big-headed turtles, which I don't think have been bred captively here?), but I've found social media accounts made by people in Hong Kong and both seem to be quite common. I'd love to own one of them if I knew more about them.
In case you don't believe me about Platysternons...

I live near the Detroit zoo and they just added a Big-Headed turtle to an exhibit, most likely for a captive breeding program (the Detroit Zoo is famous for that). They also have several specimens of two different Podocnemis species. I'm curious when, if ever, these species will become more common in the trade?

 

[Frank Castle]

LMAO....look at the dome-piece on that thing hahaha If you're talking about Arrau, that's one heck of an enclosure for the world's largest FW turtle. I have never seen them at any expos, but I can ask around if you want. Don't know if that will do you any good since Detroit is pretty far from here, but at least you'll know if they are available or not.

 

[TroyMIfishkeeper]

Haha well I'm still not sure I know the taxonomy of the Podocnemis family very well. I know Arrau (P. Expansa) in is the largest, P. Unifilus (yellow-spotted river turtle) is a bit smaller but still very large, and I love P. Arythrocephala (red-headed). It may take me a while to get the money & enclosure together but I'd love to have one one day.

 

[Frank Castle]

Haha well I'm still not sure I know the taxonomy of the Podocnemis family very well. I know Arrau (P. Expansa) in is the largest, P. Unifilus (yellow-spotted river turtle) is a bit smaller but still very large, and I love P. Arythrocephala (red-headed). It may take me a while to get the money & enclosure together but I'd love to have one one day.

lol I think regardless which species or ssp.....that will have to be one MASSIVE enclosure

 

[TroyMIfishkeeper]

lol I think regardless which species or ssp.....that will have to be one MASSIVE enclosure

Yeah I'm sure you're right. Again, it's very hard to find information on these species though. Part of the reason I'm hesitant to purchase one.
The Detroit Zoo has two exhibits with Podocs, one with two Arraus and two dwarf caimans, and one with two P. Unifilus, two Mata Matas, and a few snake-necked turtles. They had a New Guinea snapper in there too at one time, not sure if they still do.

 

[Frank Castle]

Yeah I'm sure you're right. Again, it's very hard to find information on these species though. Part of the reason I'm hesitant to purchase one.
The Detroit Zoo has two exhibits with Podocs, one with two Arraus and two dwarf caimans, and one with two P. Unifilus, two Mata Matas, and a few snake-necked turtles. They had a New Guinea snapper in there too at one time, not sure if they still do.

Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but despite a lot of peoples' opinions, I LIKE Wikipedia
I know I hear a lot of stuff from people about how the information is jumbled or inaccurate or whatever......maybe the people I heard it from just had their way of doing things and when they read differently on Wiki they got mad, idk LOL. Ironically, I read this article early last week, so idk if it helps you but seems a good bit of information here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrau_turtle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podocnemis

Was totally random...I was reading about Archelon, the largest sea turtle that ever lived and I knew that for decades, but then I came across something apparenty BIGGER discovered more recently, in this exact same family of FW turtles, I think.....iirc......

yea, here we go, it was this bad boy:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stupendemys

have fun wit that one Troy. lol you can kind of see what I mean with the size listings...it's a little confusing still, IMO

 

[Chub_by]

An online vendor here sold some P.Unifilis a while ago, not even that expensive IIRC. Apparently care is pretty straightforward, apart from them needing cleaner water than most turtles.

 

[Frank Castle]

An online vendor here sold some P.Unifilis a while ago, not even that expensive IIRC. Apparently care is pretty straightforward, apart from them needing cleaner water than most turtles.

I've never thought about it really, but how many gallons do you need for an Arrau with a 30" carapace? If we go inch-per-gallon the turtle is gonna be like 10 Dovii in weight LOL FORGET inch-per-gallon rule, IDC how you measure it.


He'll be donating a ROOM for that thing....maybe more

 

[Chub_by]

I don't have exp. With big turtles but I think you can get away with a larger indoor pond... I mean if I'm gonna donate a room I can think of cooler reptiles to put in there

 

[TroyMIfishkeeper]

I don't have exp. With big turtles but I think you can get away with a larger indoor pond... I mean if I'm gonna donate a room I can think of cooler reptiles to put in there

True. Like I said I've seen some cool community setups with Podocs, with mata matas and Malaysian Giants. Who knows, maybe my AST would get along with them too XD I have seen them kept with Matas before as they share a similar hunting behavior.