Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I split my Turtle albums into two, so I've got an "thru '02" album, and an '03 album now. I went out this weekend and photographed all of the outside turtles (all 26), and put them in, along with some pen shots and such.

Oh, and Dawn, I found and updated those photos of Durk for you in the thru '02 album, the one of him mounting PennyGirl is really good.

'03 Turtles Album

Nice Pics -Again. What is that "meaty" substance you are feeding them?

Bill

In those photos it is chicken dog food for older dogs. It has less fat than other canned dog foods. I like the canned foods because they are already moist, which is nice for the land turtles. They get that maybe once a week. Their diet is mainly vegetables, then fruit, then meat by proportion. Of course they prefer to eat it in the opposite direction, but it seems to me this is likely due to the fact that they provide more energy in the opposite direction.

I use chicken and beef dog foods, adult or older dog varieties, of generally the cheapest I can find, but I buy a case of it from Costco and it lasts forever. I'm not even but maybe a third through this case and I got it about a year ago.

Sometimes for meat I will use fish, leftovers of our cooking (if not spiced), eggs, soaked dog chow, earthworms (I flood the pens with a huge order of a couple thousand of these each year, they pig out the rest live in the pens and they hunt them) and other things I might find (like I accidentally wacked a frog with the mower, he was hiding under it when I started up, so he got tossed in and eaten), bugs, etc.

Sounds good - The turtles are obviously doing well.

I just viewed your beautiful "03" pictures. Who do you order your worms from? I love the hosta and frog pics. Do you know the name of the hosta that the frog is sitting on? Is it a Love Pat?

I wish I knew, but my wife does all the hosta planting and I know she had no clue, just bought random ones that looked different at our local garden center. Last year in the drought that one was doing terrible. This year with the rain (and it living in shade all day) it went berserk so much that what you see in the photo is half of it. We cut it in half a few weeks ago and moved the other half to a garden patch.

When we order worms I will do a search online for the best price (including shipping) on a couple thousand earthworms and go with whoever is cheapest. I order the normal sized earthworms rather than nightcrawlers, as from some reading I think they are more likely to survive my yard's conditions (I still find them a year later and the area was flat baked clay when I started the pens).

I have a pet theory that I have no way of verifying. I know that many birds and some reptiles develop stronger colorations based on the eating of crustaceans or insects that have certain materials. The colors of my animals seem to enhance with more space outdoors, and with more space I see them doing a lot more hunting and eating a lot more random bugs and things that they would not get in an indoor diet or even a small outdoor pen. I think in my case by mulching the pens and having them full of plants and all kinds of things it creates a situation attractive to bugs (especially these GIANT millipedes we have that are black with yellow legs) and that may in turn be providing the turtles with something extra giving a boost to their colors.

I know they love the millipedes a lot, goldenboy in particular (the very yellow shelled eastern juvenile hatched in '01) will go nuts and catch them or steal them from others and run away with them. Anecdotal to be sure, but it sticks in my head.

I agree, having a variety definitely helps accentuate the color patterns that are all ready there - probably not going to increase the natural patterns of the turtle, but will probably increase the colors of those patterns. What do you think?

Yeah, I'm thinking there is a genetic "potential" they can reach, and a good healthy life and varied diet including these little natural foods might help them reach their full potential.

Nice turtles!
Questions though. for the water containers i noticed you're using cement mixing tubs. are those hard to clean? because when i used em they either attracted mosquitos or got dirty fast and it was a pain to lift it out, rise and refill every other day. Also, is the large mixing tub big enough for a pair of spotteds? if it is, that'll be what i use!
JJ

in my spotteds pen, the mixing tub is indeed a cement mixxing tub. I in fact use these in all four of my larger pens. My younger turtles have the sloped paint roller tray, a green one called a "big ben" roller tray, it's extra wide, and I filled the trench at it's entrance with gravel so they would not fall in there.

The cement mixing tubs are very easy to clean. I go out every weekend, remove the cement block step and scoop out the water with a watering can (as much as I can) and water my willow tree or whatever I want with the gunky water. Then I pull out the tub, spray it out with a hose (every few weeks I will scrub it with a brush) and put it back in, replace the cement block, and fill with water.

I have seen a superior method which I will employ in my newly expanded pens as soon as I finish them. In this method you buy a sink drain flang, silicon, and a rubber sink stopper and install it into the bottom of the tub, so you can simply pull the plug and rinse it out and it will drain on it's own. In my clay soil I will build a wooden frame twice as deep as the tub, but sized so the tub sits on it with it's lip, and fill the lower half with gravel so the water can drain from the tub to the gravel when I pull the plug.

The tub for the spotteds is a very large tub, probably four feet by two feet or so, and my pair does fine in it for now (they are getting a pond soon) and is sharing it now with the two juvenile wood turtles which are the same size as them.

Wow,
Great lookin turtles!

Thanks a bunch!

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