long overdue - a couple of my turtles
- Thread starter Miguel
- Start date
coura;1680144; said:You have some really gorgeous turtles Miguel. One question:are your matamatas outside?
No.MataMatas are in the house. Two baby ones, in a shallow tank. My big gigantic one died with septicemia, unfortunately
Weylin;1681415; said:
Around 30, presently.
Let me try to list:
- 3 Elseya New Guinae
-1 Emydura Subglubosa
- 3 Aussie Snakeheads
-1 Argentina Snakehead
- 1 Florida Softshell
-1 White softshell ( not sure of breed )
- 2 Pelomedusa Sub-Niger;
- 1 Staurotypus Triporcatus
-3 Staurotypus Salvinii
-1 Kinosternon Flavescens
-1 Kinosternum Cruentatum
-2 Kinosternum Carinatum
-1 Kinosternon Scorpioides ( I believe a cross with some unidentified Kinosternum )
- 2 Matamatas
- 3 Chelydra Serpentina Serpentina
- 1 Chelydra Serpentina Serpentina ( Texas sp ? )
- 2 Chelydra Serpentina Osceola
- 1 Macroclemmys Teminckii ( Alligator )
So Miguel, when do you plan on opening your zoo? 
That's a great list of turtles. Sorry to hear about the one mata mata.
That's a great list of turtles. Sorry to hear about the one mata mata.
That's what my wife says hehehe ( even so, lots of kids como around just to gawk at the critters )
Sorry to hear about your matamata 
amigo. I must have been a great loss bouth emocionaly and in a monetary kind of way.Have you consider to have a vet do a necropsi of your turtle? That can make a real diference because you ill be able to know what killed your animal and can even save your young matamatas lifes if they too become infected. In the mean time Ill give you great some tips i´ve learned whit some long term matamatas and soft shell turtle keepers that can save a turtle´s life. 1-dont feed your matamatas or softies goldfish. I know some have been able to do it for years whitout the turtles gething sick but more than one keeper has reported a turtle death just a few hours before eating feeder gold fish 2-dont feed live fish that havent been quarentinaized first. A great way to feed this turtle is to breed mosquitofish Gambusia afinis. If you have the space to have an aligator snapper, you can also have a small pond to breed healty food to your turtles. 3-dont give large peaces of meat,fish flesh or large hole fish to this species like you can do whit snappers because from my experience this turtles are unable to digest large peaces of food. Has a general rule a feeder fish, peace of meat,etc must not be larger than the distance between the turtle´s eye and the tip of is nouse and is bether at the half of that distance. Remenber that this turtles are large but they eat small prey items in the wild. and 4-Dont give them marine or frozen fish because the risck of tiaminase. That being said you can see how dificult this species are to properly look after.Her´s some safe foods:mosquito larve,blood worms,earth worms, and small house breed prawns like grass shrimp, small declawed crayfish, and easy to breed fish like convicts ,tilapia,etc. Between fry and full grown fish ther´s always a size that suits your turtles
Also some people have been able to train matas to take pelets and even gelatine turtle food.Hope this helps and that you dont lose any more of your turtles.Oh and by the way matas and soffties really benefit from a few minutes of UV ligth each day
amigo. I must have been a great loss bouth emocionaly and in a monetary kind of way.Have you consider to have a vet do a necropsi of your turtle? That can make a real diference because you ill be able to know what killed your animal and can even save your young matamatas lifes if they too become infected. In the mean time Ill give you great some tips i´ve learned whit some long term matamatas and soft shell turtle keepers that can save a turtle´s life. 1-dont feed your matamatas or softies goldfish. I know some have been able to do it for years whitout the turtles gething sick but more than one keeper has reported a turtle death just a few hours before eating feeder gold fish 2-dont feed live fish that havent been quarentinaized first. A great way to feed this turtle is to breed mosquitofish Gambusia afinis. If you have the space to have an aligator snapper, you can also have a small pond to breed healty food to your turtles. 3-dont give large peaces of meat,fish flesh or large hole fish to this species like you can do whit snappers because from my experience this turtles are unable to digest large peaces of food. Has a general rule a feeder fish, peace of meat,etc must not be larger than the distance between the turtle´s eye and the tip of is nouse and is bether at the half of that distance. Remenber that this turtles are large but they eat small prey items in the wild. and 4-Dont give them marine or frozen fish because the risck of tiaminase. That being said you can see how dificult this species are to properly look after.Her´s some safe foods:mosquito larve,blood worms,earth worms, and small house breed prawns like grass shrimp, small declawed crayfish, and easy to breed fish like convicts ,tilapia,etc. Between fry and full grown fish ther´s always a size that suits your turtlesAlso some people have been able to train matas to take pelets and even gelatine turtle food.Hope this helps and that you dont lose any more of your turtles.Oh and by the way matas and soffties really benefit from a few minutes of UV ligth each day
thank you Coura...my mistake, admittedly, muts have been to feed large pices of FW fish, which she gulped down in the blink of an eye...
she died of a septicemia, in 24 hours. I had a specialized vet look into her...as you know, turtles hide disease for a very long time before its effects catch up on them..in the 6-7 months I've had her there was no sign...she led an active life ( as far as matas go, of course )
she died of a septicemia, in 24 hours. I had a specialized vet look into her...as you know, turtles hide disease for a very long time before its effects catch up on them..in the 6-7 months I've had her there was no sign...she led an active life ( as far as matas go, of course )
