Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Every summer I teach a class at the local college for kids 1st-6th grade. It's a summer enrichment program held every June for these kids. There are 150 or so classes, I teach Reptiles & Rodents.
There are 2, 2 week long sessions so on the last day of each session we let the kids do show & tell because that's also parents day. The parents can bring the pets for the kids & then take them home so the kids aren't dragging a pet around with them all afternoon.
They can bring in any small pet that they have, no dogs or cats. They always bring in a lot of box turtles.
This year a kid brought in 2 turtles, I figured they'd both be box but no. The first one he pulled out was an adult male yellow mud. I couldn't believe it, they have this turtle living in the backyard with box turtles!
Thankfully the parents were there when I said "Oh wow that's a yellow mud!" The mother said "Really? We thought it was a desert tortoise!" Holy cow if it had been a tortoise, they'd really be in trouble since it's illegal to keep a TX gopher tortoise without a permit. We aren't even in gopher tortoise range here anyway. lol
Good thing I had my field guide with me so I could prove to them it's a mud & needs to be set up like a mud not a box turtle. YEESH!
That was a first for me to see a kid bring in something other than a box turtle.
I gave the parents Internet info so that they could do further research, I hope they did it.
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PHRatz

I didn't make this point, one of my pet peeves where I live is that there are hundreds of people here who keep turtles in their backyards without a clue.
Most I run into don't even know that the ones they call either "regular turtles" or "snapping turtles" are actually ornate box turtles. They stick them in the backyard for various reasons but often not good reasons.
Then to see someone with a yellow mud & think it's a "desert tortoise" just blew me away!
How can you properly feed one when you don't know what it is?
eeek!
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PHRatz

It aggravates me when people won't do the research to find out what kind of turt they have. I have heard of numerous people that have RES and call them "water turtles" and keep em in teeny tiny 10 gallons or death bowls with about an inch of water. It really gripes the heck outta me when I hear these people talking like that. I try to inform people and give them correct information so the turtles they own can lead a safe and happy life.

>>It aggravates me when people won't do the research to find out what kind of turt they have.

You & me both! It's so bad here with people keeping them in the backyard that almost every vet in this town including equine vets will treat box turtles. A lot of the local vets keep a feeding care sheet on their computers that they can print out because they see too many people bring them in sick & saying they feed them cat food.
There is no law against keeping them.. yet.

I know another couple that keeps a lot of boxies in the backyard & they were once asked to come pick up 3 turtles from the backyard of an empty house. Turned out one of those turtles was a mud too, but instead of being stupid about him they build a little pond for him when they found out what he was. I can respect that.
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PHRatz

How long had that yellow mud been living in the yard without access to water? I would love to know that.
That is a survivor if there ever was one!

>>How long had that yellow mud been living in the yard without access to water? I would love to know that.
>> That is a survivor if there ever was one!

That was my question when they told me they'd taken these turtles from a backyard. They didn't know the answer, didn't have any idea how long the house had been empty but they did say that there was something dripping at the house & there that little mud sat in the tiny puddle created by the drip.
Poor thing was apparently desperate for water.
They named him WT for water turtle lol.
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PHRatz

John Iverson, who is THE mud expert of them all, once told me that yellow muds were only active (in some populations) for a month or two the entire year. The rest of the time they either hibernated or aestivated.
I wonder that if this had been another species of mud turtle, the outcome might have been different.

>> I wonder that if this had been another species of mud turtle, the outcome might have been different.

Probably would have been different. I have the little yellow mud so I think your friend John is right about them not being very active.
They live right here in this region yet most people who see mine have never seen one before in their lives. They're always very surprised when I tell them that these are native turtles.
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PHRatz

I have lots of Yellow Mud stories! I've been wild collecting and releasing them for more than 25 years. I was very fortunate to grow up next to a drainage ditch/creek for a good portion of my youth. It was full of herps and other fauna, especially Yellow Muds. I have also collected them around a 3 county area for the last few years. They are a very tough and adaptable turtle. I used to catch them by the dozens in small roadside ditches in the late '70s and early '80s, in water 3 inches deep hiding underneath trash like cardboard boxes. I have also caught many of them wandering over land (possibly in search of water when their ditch or pond dried up). Some of the older literature on them says that they are at least semi-migratory and I agree with the aestivation/hibernation statement. Here in South Texas, the summers are brutal and can be very desert-like, but this does not stop the Yellow Mud from wandering. I just caught and released ( at a protected marsh) a little 2 incher crossing the road not far from where I live. The only water nearby is a couple of puddles in a very shallow ditch! I have witnessed mating which is very rough, but released the turtles before any eggs appeared.
A caution about them: they can be very rough on each other, especially males to females. I used to keep the females seperate because the males always wanted to mate and would not leave the females alone! They are also territorial amongst males, I have witnessed bullying and they don't care for other species of turtles either. I have seen one incident of canibalism; I was keeping a Yellow Mud and a Reeve's turtle of equal size together, came home one day to find that the mud had killed and partially eaten the Reeve's! They were both well fed. I have been considering getting back into Yellow Muds but I don't want to keep wc. It seems like they would be very easy to breed!
I agree with you about people's ignorance of what kind of turtle they have and herps in general. Around here most people call every turtle a "Snapping Turtle" even though they are not native to the area!

>>, I have witnessed bullying and they don't care for other species of turtles either. I have seen one incident of canibalism; I was keeping a Yellow Mud and a Reeve's turtle of equal size together, came home one day to find that the mud had killed and partially eaten the Reeve's! They were both well fed.

AHA!! You've confirmed what I've read before.. that they can & will kill other species. I have a western painted male too but he & my mud have always lived separately.
I call my fast swimming painted the speed boat, my clomping around the bottom of the tank mud is the row boat. My painted is quite aggressive, my mud very docile but I've always believed that if the 2 of them were together, the mud could kill the painted, not the other way around. They like their water temps different, they like different foods anyway so I never saw any need to keep them together.

>>I agree with you about people's ignorance of what kind of turtle they have and herps in general. Around here most people call every turtle a "Snapping Turtle" even though they are not native to the area!

OH YES! Everything they see is a snapping turtle even if it doesn't live in water they think it's a snapping turtle lol. We've had a neighborhood kid problem lately too many of them wanting to see our sulcata tortoise (who they thought was a snapping turtle)
Before I started locking the gate 2 kids came to my front door with 2 box turtles. At first I thought they'd found them then realized hey these are MY box turtles put them down now!
One kid asked me if one of them is a snapping turtle because he tried to bite.
Yeah he's an aggressive male box & you kids just scared the heck out of him of course he tried to bite!
I always tell them this:
If it has a mouth it can bite.

Oh & lucky you, it's been very interesting to read your post about growing up near water where mud turtles lived. Here in West TX where the yellow muds are native they aren't seen much because there isn't much water. So far I have yet to meet anyone who's seen my mud that had a clue he's native.
I don't care for taking animals from the wild but I took him in because someone had found him & by the time he got to me, I had no idea where to release him so he stayed.
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PHRatz

Yellow Mud turtles are really cool, they are nothing like normal muds. I currently keep a 1.1.1 and they spend more time in the dirt than they do the water. They would survive if they were kept with box turtles. I wouldnt house them together but they would definatly survive.

>>Yellow Mud turtles are really cool, they are nothing like normal muds. I currently keep a 1.1.1 and they spend more time in the dirt than they do the water. They would survive if they were kept with box turtles. I wouldnt house them together but they would definatly survive.

I haven't been around normal muds lol. How are they different?
Those people I know who took in the yellow mud do keep him in a yard with box turtles but they did build him that shallow pond & from what I hear their turtles are all doing great. They do have a huge backyard though. It's big enough for each species to have it's own territory so the yellow mud seems to be happy.
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PHRatz

My personal experience is that the Yellow Mud Turtle likes land more than other Mud species.

>>My personal experience is that the Yellow Mud Turtle likes land more than other Mud species.

Then that would explain why the people I know who're keeping one in the backyard is doing ok without a tank.
My own yellow mud though has the choice to get out of his water in his tank but seldom does that.
He loves his hide box & tends to stay under that in the water more than any other place.
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PHRatz