Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was thinking of getting a mud or a musk turtle. I have a 55 gallon tank which is completely filled with water. I have created a slope that creates a transition from the bottom of the tank to the top right side, where i have a 10" x 12" land area that hangs off the side of the tank. the light fixtures are all elevated 4" above the water with a wooden collar i created around the top edge of the tank. My question is...is there a significant chance that a mud turtle will drown in that much water? The water depth is 18", i believe, which is much deeper than what i have seen "recommended" for muds. However, with the shoreline slope i created, it would easily be able to simply climb up to the top and rest on a shallow ledge, or haul out onto the land area. Also,is a 10" x 12" land area sufficient for a mud turtle? I would get a musk, which is much more aquatic, but i like the idea of the mud turtle hanging out on land-which seems much more interesting to me. I currently have just a southern painted in this set-up. Anyone with mud turtle experience please reply.

It has been my experience that some of the tropical mud turtles (i.e. redcheeks, leucostomum, etc.) are rather poor swimmers in contrast to our native species. They sometimes get very 'panicky' in deep aquariums at least until they are used to them.
But I have been diving in many of the springs and rivers in north Florida and have seen loggerhead musk turtles happily walking on the bottom in 30 feet of water! In some of the clear rivers I dive I see them and common musks very often in at least 10 feet of water that has strong current. Doesn't seem to phase them.
Also, some three striped muds that I was keeping for a while were very good swimmers even as hatchlings and would cruise around just like a slider.

Before I knew how to properly house an aquatic turtle, I found a hatchling mud turtle. It was so small that I was able to bring it home in a baby food jar. I put it in my 55Gal. fish tank. I bought one of those 4"x6" plastic landings that hung on the side of the tank. It lived in that tank for 4 years. I never saw it out of the water. Sometimes at night it would cling to the landing while it slept. It spent 99% of it's life on the bottom. It ate whatever fish food reached the bottom and any fish it could catch was history. I had no UVA/UVB lighting, (who knew? it was 30 years ago)just the typical incandescent tube lights that fit into an aquarium hood. I couldn't keep any kind of catfish, it killed my loaches and even a pleco that was 7" long. It literally nibbled it to death. Finally at about 3" long I gave it different housing. It had figured out a way to trap my larger fish in the corners and that wasn't going to happen.
The thing that I realize the most now, when I look back on it, is that it took that mud turtle 4 years to grow to 3"'s, while the turtles I have now in a turtle sensative enviroment have gone from hatchlings to 3"'s in 9 months.
Wrong lighting and all, that mud turtles' shell was rock solid, he showed no symptoms of MBD, he was a fat turtle that lived on fish and fish food for 4 years.
Unfortunately, after living another year in an outdoor set-up, some one purposely let it out and it was run over by a car right in front of my house.
Bottom line. 24" of water never fazed this guy. Lighting didn't seem to be a factor, nor the steady diet of fish food. Which everyone says is too high in protein, which is supposed to lead to shell deformities. Sometimes ignorance IS bliss! But I could never house a turtle in this fashion today. Because now I know too much.
Somewhere in here, did I answer your question?
Bob, Philadelphia.

That's horrible!!! esopecially when u realize how ignorant and dimented a lot of drivers are. Thanks for the input--I feel much better about the whole mud turtle thing--after all...in the wild, 18" is nothing!

Just remember, he isn't in the wild, he is in an aquarium. Generally, wild habitats ie lakes, ponds, etc. are gently sloped. But your set up sounds fine, as long as it is nice and sloped like you said.

-Jesse