Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Are these two males the same subspecies?

The turtle on the right is classic peguense and the other one is probably megacephalum. Peguense is usually characterized by a distinct yellow eye stripe, a small central plastral figure and more of a central keel on the carapace. Shui is characterized by numerous bright pink distinct spots on the side of the head. There are other differences related to head shape etc. In my years of collecting, however, I have seen individuals that appeared intermediate between megacephalum and peguense, so there is no ironclad rule for all individuals.

I'm just wondering where you got those fella's, because I've been searching for a big headed turtle for at least 6 months! and no luck, any suggestions? They look gorgious by the way.

I happen to stumble upon a guy on the internet who wanted to sell off part of his collection. I got 2.2 of them for a great price and I have had them for about 4 years now. If your into asian turtles, go to turtleforum.com. It has alot of activity. If your looking to buy turtles, the classifieds on this site is the best and most active. Yahoo groups has a platysternon group that was active 4 years ago, but is pretty much dead now but there is the occasional post.

you are very lucky! Thanks for pointing me in a direction though, i'll be looking very frequently. Awww I really hope i find one, they're pretty aggressive aren't they? Do they swim really well?

They can be aggressive towards each other...male on male, male on female, female on female. Mating can be really rough too. I have one male that is just too large to mate. I worry he will damage the female during the mating ritual. They often bite the female's eye sockets while mating. They are not great swimmers but they are great climbers!
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Michael
http://turtletracker.com

I run the Platysternon yahoo group. The reason I think it is dead is because no one is really buying, selling, trading, or producing big heads! Hopefully more will be hatched out in captivity because imports are pretty much non-existent. A buddy of mine found none in Thailand recently. He used to find them on past trips.
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Michael
http://turtletracker.com

that's a shame! They are gorgious turtles, it's like having a piece of history. If you happen to come across any i'd apperciate a heads up, i've been looking and looking. There are some breeders in asia, I believe in china that are increasing the population of big-headed turtles, but i could imagine they would be trying to keep them there until there is a good number of them back on the map.

Hey Michael, that was a great place to go when you first started that group, but, I think you are correct, that there are no more imported into the U.S., (but that may be a good thing unless they are taking those same turtles and selling them to the food market)and very few people have them so there is little interest. I think you may have sold me some of my Platysternon years ago? How many do you now keep? Here are two females, one super friendly small one I almost passed on but am glad I decided to buy it.

Hey Mark,
I think I did sell you some a few years ago. Did you get that really small one from me? I called it "PeeWee"...does that ring a bell? My friend that went to Thailand just wrote me and said there were none to be found in places that traditionally had big-heads available. The locals basically said forget about it. Kind of sad that at least that one area has been hunted dry.
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Michael
http://turtletracker.com

hey i been looking for these turtles for a while do know were you can buy one , or do you have any hatchings