1. When the hatchlings are born, do you leave any adults with them, or do you need to keep them separate?

I always keep babies of every species away from adults...just in case. Whether purposely or accidentally, mixing the two could be disastrous.

2. I am being advised to keep the male away from the female...and that you can expect the female to lay several times during the year. How do you cycle the male in and out with the female?

Turtles can store sperm from matings and produce viable young for many clutches...having said that, I don't know about research regarding this in spotteds specifically. So, why not put them together every couple of weeks in the spring and early summer? If anything, it'll keep the male happy. You should keep them separate because the male is relentless, and may try to mate constantly with the female. This could make for a very unhealthy and unhappy female. Also, multiple clutches will depend on how much and the quality of what you feed the female, whether they're brumated (hibernated), their health, and age. There's just no predicting it. Tom seems to have a lot of experience and success with breeding spotteds, so maybe he'll chime back in.

3. I am also assuming that you cannot leave a Watertub outside without some kind of protective cover to keep the predators out. Am I missing anything here? One of my options is to keep the tubs underneath my second story deck, next to the house. I still worry that a racoon will find his way to the tub.

This can be really complicated to answer, and it really depends on your situation specifically. Here's a list;
- If you live in a hot climate, you need to make sure that the tubs don't get too hot. Most of these tubs are black, and will absorb heat from the sun. Spotteds like it pretty cool, and too much heat can literally kill them.
- Spotteds need some sunlight for basking, but not too much sunlight(for the reason above). If you live in Pennsylvania, they may be able to handle 6 hours of direct sunlight. If you live in South Carolina, they may be able to tolerate only 2 hours of direct sunlight in the am...it all depends.
- I keep all of my turtles of various species outside as soon as possible. I don't keep any hatchlings out, as they are extremely vulnerable. Even something as small as a shrew can devouor a hatchling spotted turtle. Even ants! As for adults, I live in a rural part of the Southeast with many racoons, opossum, hawks, owls, crow, and the rare coyote. When the turtles are about 4 inches and have hardened shells, I'll put them outside. I have rigged up an electric fence that guards the perimeters of my pens. It is simply a cheap 2 mile unit with several hundred feet of thin metal wire. It's suspended several inches above the pen walls. It keeps out most of the above mentioned undesireables. Also, I have a staffie-bull terrier who guards my turtles. I've never had a predator problem, but I know some people who've had to cover their pens with hardware cloth on sturdy frames. It's really a judgement call...and you don't want to learn the hard way. I'm sorry for the novel, but you have some detailed questions. I hope other people chime in...I'm sure that I'm leaving out a lot. I've just been doing this so long, it comes as second nature.

P.s. If I were you, and had the space, I'd keep the waterland tubs indoors with full spectrum UVA/UVB lighting. Spottes are one of the few species that seem to have very little trouble being kept indoors.

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]