A lady brought a turtle in to the pet shop where I work, and said that it had been given to her by someone claiming it was a box turtle, and had been keeping it as such. She suspected it was aquatic and had no room for it so she brought it to us. We couldn't legally take it to sell, but I brought it home at least temporarily until we can find it a home.

After doing some research, I think I've got it narrowed down to the genus Pelusios, but I'm not sure of the species. He looks like an African sideneck, but his neck is not particularly long. He also has very long, almost forked posterior scutes on his plastron. I think he's either P. rhodesianus or P. subniger but I have no idea. Can someone identify him???

the lighter colors are due to wear on the shell and the fact that he's dry, he's actually a deep wood-ish color.


Look at how forked the end of his plastron is, I've nicknamed him the "swallow-tailed terrapin"


here are some shots of his face, the pictures kinda make him look darker than he is.





can anyone help?

Also, I have a male RES that I was planning on moving up to a big, 150 gallon set-up and I had been planning to get him a friend anyway, if they have enough room would the two get along? I've read that P. subniger can be aggressive. I'd really like to be able to keep him, but he'd have to be able to go in with my slider. Either way he'll find a good home
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1.0 RES, Spunky
1.0.1 Mali Uromastyx, Ajani, Guban(Goober)
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa, Nico
0.0.1 Northern Blue Tongue Skink, Owajabi(Jabi)
3.1 Cats
1/2.0 rabbit (friend and I went 50/50)
0.1 Gerbils
1.0 Betta, Nigel

[ Hide Replies ]

• Help! Pelusios subniger or P. Rhodesianus??? (kinda long, sorry) - snake_girl85, Fri Jan 6 20:18:47 2006
• RE: Help! Pelusios subniger or P. Rhodesianus??? (kinda long, sorry) - snake_girl85, Fri Jan 6 20:39:04 2006
• RE: Help! Pelusios subniger or P. Rhodesianus??? (kinda long, sorry) - egyptiandan, Sat Jan 7 17:12:09 2006
• RE: Help! Pelusios subniger or P. Rhodesianus??? (kinda long, sorry) - erico, Wed Jan 11 14:58:48 2006