Posted by:
bloomindaedalus
at Thu Oct 9 20:02:42 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by bloomindaedalus ]
Do mean chinese three keeled POND turtle or three keeled BOX turtle?
The former (Chinemeys reevesi) is more commonly reffered to as Reeve's turtle and i can tell you a little about that. The latter is Pyxidea mouhotti (and i know very little about that species but there are others here who do)
Could you have also possibly meant Chinese three striped box turtle (Cuora trifasciata)?
Pyxidea mouhotti
Cuora trifasciata
Chinemeys reevesi
Assuming you mean Chinemys reevesi, I can tell you the following:
I have several of these and am in the proces of negotiating to buy a friend's breeding colony. What do you want to know?
In gerenal: they are somewhere between semi aquatic and semi terrstrial; they swim better than wood turtles but worse than say, painted turtles. So i keep them accordingly (some deep water, lots of shalow water) lots of partailly submerged basking spots)and about 1/3 - 1/2 half of the enclosure is land to wander on.
Some people keep them as you might keep a slider or a painted, and indeed there is a an article on the web which suggests them as an alternative to a painted turtle. I disagree with this husbandry practice, I think it CAN work but the turtles seem much happier with larger areas of shalow water to walk/wade in.
They are omnivores (like most turtles) and seem very easy to feed (and hence to over feed, though they tend to exhibit fewer shell growth problems than many other turtles i have kept)
I use a variety of insects, fish and meats and well and some fruits and vegetables and some pellets as well. They seem to prefer to take food in the water. some people reporte that thye eat water plants I have had limited success with this.
They are smart and personable and rarely shy and i have never seen an aggressive one.
They are impressive climbers and very unafriad of people, dogs etc.. so if you keep them in a pen, make it secure and be careful not to step on them as they will walk right under your feet.
Right now i have some juveniles in a tank with water in the low seventies and a temp gradient in the air of about 75 - 95. One guy reports they don't do well if the water drops below 60 degress but i have always doubted this as they do hibernate in some parts of their natural range. i do not hibernate them.
Local breeder keeps them outside in arizona (they aestivate some, not all, days of summer) I had them aestivate in (milder than AZ) New York summers. Guess they can't deal with it too hot. Don't know what their crictical thermal max is.
They seem to be a very smart curious turtle. If you start with one in good health they even make a good beginner turtle.
There is some belief that a color/size variation occurs among the popilations in the wild:
Supposedly those from Japan grow to a larger size (as much as 12 - 15 inches) and are darker in color while the Chinese populations are lighter and remain smaller (4- 6 inches). I have seen mnay turtles described as reeves which looked intermediate between these two characterizaions so i am not sure about the details of this belief.
This species has been cross bred with mauremys mutica to produce the hybrid "Pricthard's Pond Turtle" Mauremys pritchardi.
In recent years it has been reported that this species is popping up in food markets in China at an alarmingly high rate. While generally thought to be an abundant turtle in the wild, heavy harvesting seems likely to lead to its endangerment.
Anything else?
darrell s (WCT) has a care sheet:
reeves at WCT
seneca park zoo has a blurb:
reeves at seneca park
CTTC has an article:
reeves by mae smith
the aforementioned article by d kirkpatrick
reeves as alternative to painted
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