Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have been reading up on breeding my mud turtle(i dont even have a mate for her yet) its something in the future for sure. i have yet to find what temps to incubate at. mine is a 3lined mud turtle and read that they are temp sexed but no temps were given, any help would be appreciated
adam
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hybrid breeders association
0.1.0 normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0.0 snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0.0 amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
0.0.1 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons

I used to hatch my striped mud turtles eggs by keeping them in with my colubrid snake eggs. There is a big window that they will hatch in but I think I usually kept them at around 82 to 84 degrees.

how deep of a substrate did you use for the female to lay her eggs in? what type of substrate did you use? was the substrate heated or in a basking area or shade? do you have any pics of the new borns with a size comparison in the photo?
thanx for your help.
adam
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hybrid breeders association
0.1.0 normal corn het hypo,anery
1.0.0 snow corn het hypo,anery,amel
1.0.0 amel corn unknown hets(4ft 8inch long)
1.0 sinacorn
0.0.1 snapping turtles
0.0.1 3 lined mud turtle
1.1 kenyan sand boas
0.1 mbk
0.1 albino nelsons

I used sphagnum moss as a substrate for incubating K. baurii eggs.
My setups for breeding all mud turtles is the same. I use a 20 gallon long or a 55 gallon tank that has a section divided by glass that has been siliconed. Usually this smaller divided area is about 1/3 the length of the aquarium. I fill it up with either cypress mulch or sphagnum moss and then top with several inches of small gravel or sand. There is a wedged piece of corkbark or other wood that allows the female to gain access to the 'land' area. I have also used a number of dead leaves on top of the sand or gravel too. The females readily nest in such a setup. Depending on the species, they will either dig a fairly deep nest, or simply lay the eggs in a depression on top of the substrate.
I also use spotlights and full spectrum bulbs for lighting.

This is an old aquarium that I have used for egg laying female muds for over twenty years. I have had striped, redcheek and white lipped mud turtle females nest in it over the years.
In this photo the corkbark is not next to the land area as it should be when a female is housed here--- I think I had some other young turtle in the tank when I took this photo.
The bottom of the land area had been filled with commercial bonsai soil, which is also a good egg laying medium, when this photo was taken. The larger pebbles that cover the bonsai soil are good at keeping the water from getting dirty but I found that they were not easy for the females to dig through and have since changed them.
I have used this same basic design in larger aquariums with good success.

Arrggghh I am so jealous. That aquarium looks like it's on the bottom shelf of the stand.. exactly the type of set up I am looking to find.

My DH had a suggestion last night & I'm going to look into it. He said "see if you can find someone around here who can build what you want out of acrylic."
I'm going to try that route.
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PHRatz

That is just a typical wrought iron aquarium stand. I have that same thing for my 55 gallon tanks too.