Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there. As a project, my herp club and I are planning to breed my pair of stinkpots (Sternotherus odoratus). I have no shortage of good homes waiting for babies if the project succeeds, but one major question before I go ahead. How large does the male need to be to breed? I have a pair, but the mal;e is only 3" long, while the female is well over 4". Is the male sexually mature at that size, and if so will the size disparity cause problems for breeding? I haven't come across the answers to these questions in my searching, and I just wanted to make sure before I put the turtles together. Thanks in advance for your help.

Kris

>>Hi there. As a project, my herp club and I are planning to breed my pair of stinkpots (Sternotherus odoratus). I have no shortage of good homes waiting for babies if the project succeeds, but one major question before I go ahead. How large does the male need to be to breed? I have a pair, but the mal;e is only 3" long, while the female is well over 4". Is the male sexually mature at that size, and if so will the size disparity cause problems for breeding? I haven't come across the answers to these questions in my searching, and I just wanted to make sure before I put the turtles together. Thanks in advance for your help.
>>
>>Kris

Males are normally alot smaller than females for stinkers. I've seen males 2 1/2-3 1/2 inches in SCL successfully mate with females.
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Jeff H.
http://www.jandsherps.com
http://www.pareptile.org

He if fine for breeding, in fact a little birdie told me that large males can drown a female during breeding.