Mata Matas are like amongst my favorite of turtles, there right up there with pignoses a.k.a flyriver turts, Alligator Snappers & various softshells. I have had so many Matas of varying sizes, the largest was 16.5". They're some really super cool turts, easy to care for and cool to watch especially when there eating. Retail fifty to seventy five dollars on a 5-6" animal has been my experince, only the big ones with really clean shells or the odd balls go for big bucks. But I guess that all depends on where your at and the time of year, I find NY Matas are basically dirt cheap. I would to try an farm them, but my dollar and a dream hasn't come true yet.
matamata turtle
- Thread starter corey24
- Start date
zix;1136437; said:i have small baby that is main food is live fish whit some small frogs if i can get tham , she is in 10g tank whit inside filter, lots of plants , temps 28c to 30c , trying to get to eat dead food . here some pics
Good luck with that dead food bit. It mite easier to win your local lottery than to get your Mata mata to take dead food. Whatever you do please don't feed them Goldfish feeders, there anything but good for them. When your Mata get to a good size you can pop in a peeled shrimp or two right after a good size live meal and they may suck it up or attach a very thin thread to get there interest. But the best food for Matas in my opion is fresh live gut packed food. They'll even take crickets too as long as they are alive. They'll do earthworms in a heartbeat. Good Mata tank requires nothing more than a spongefilter some dead leafs and a muddy, sandy or no bottom at all. Matas water requirements are about 3-7" of water above there shell depending on the size of the Mata and that's it.
There like the easiest Turtles on the planet. Oh yeah you do need to keep the water temp no lower than 68-70 degrees just like keeping tropical fish.
Unlike other Turtles Matas generally won't try to eat fish that are larger than there mouths or them unless there not kept well fed. I have kept Matas with
frogs and really large fish with no problems that I know of. To this day I keep Matas in a 55G tank with out troubles in Spagum moss and leaf litter, they love it. I wish I never sold my big Mata
I have won the lottery as well then; what are the chances of that? Mine eats dead food (so do I!!) Must admit he eats goldfish and small koi that are dead. Is the consensus is that goldfish are bad for them? I did think about using him for when I cull my poor CA Cichlid fry (about 1 - 2") but worried about their hard fin rays. Has anyone ever had an issue with that?
Cheers now
Cheers now
Gold fish are bad for all types of live feeding due to mass production issues ( of the goldfish ).
It is easy to have matas eat dead. My big one ( check pix in the TURTLE STICKY ) eats slabs of dead fish with awesome ease. The small ones gety used to it by dangling thin slices of fish in front of their face ( pretend the piece is a swimming fish ) they quickly learn to gulp it.
And yes, cichlid fry is very good for baby matas.
It is easy to have matas eat dead. My big one ( check pix in the TURTLE STICKY ) eats slabs of dead fish with awesome ease. The small ones gety used to it by dangling thin slices of fish in front of their face ( pretend the piece is a swimming fish ) they quickly learn to gulp it.
And yes, cichlid fry is very good for baby matas.
so far i was only able to make her eat a small peace of prawm . she always have live prawms and gambusias whit her so she hunts every time she needs
but now is coming the winter so my stock gone be lower so must spend more time trying to make her eat more dead food
but now is coming the winter so my stock gone be lower
so must spend more time trying to make her eat more dead food