Mauremys nigricans

Or Kwangtung river turtles / Red necked pond turtles. These 2 little buggars arrived today. Very seldom do you see them become available. I'm beyond excited.......

harris said:

Or Kwangtung river turtles / Red necked pond turtles. These 2 little buggars arrived today. Very seldom do you see them become available. I'm beyond excited.......View attachment 210364 View attachment 210365

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Cute! Very cute! Congratulations!

They are cute. Do we get to see their home? Pond or aquarium? I specially love seeing pond pics.
Have fun with them and congrats.

I was also going to ask about where you keep them. . . outside or aquarium?

Nice animals.
That's a species that I've always wanted but since they were always inexpensive and available I waited...till 'one day' came along.
I even had a buddy offer me some extra adults he had--for free (!) about 8 or 9 years ago.
And then they became incredibly expensive and generally unavailable.
Sigh...

For the remainder of this year they will each be housed in their own 20 gal. Next year they will be moved together into a Waterland tub. I'm hoping by spring of '19 or '20 I can move them to their outdoor enclosure. They need to be big enough to not fit through the chain link enclosure. It's my former spotted turtle enclosure. I'm pretty excited to get it revived again.

cdmay said:

Nice animals.
That's a species that I've always wanted but since they were always inexpensive and available I waited...till 'one day' came along.
I even had a buddy offer me some extra adults he had--for free (!) about 8 or 9 years ago.
And then they became incredibly expensive and generally unavailable.
Sigh...

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That's so true. I'm in the same boat. I've always had a desire to work with C. dentata, but they've always been easy to get so I kind of put them on the backburner. No doubt the same will happen to these guys as well, just a matter of how long down the road. Their prices have started to rise a little here lately.

Wonderful! I Have a group of these guys and really adore them.

On the subject of their rising prices, I wrote an article last year for the TTPG's BATAGUR Magazine about nigricans and annamensis and how the prices for them seemed to skyrocket overnight. I decided to wait when I saw them for $35 each, then the price went up over night, literally in the blink of an eye, with annamensis hatchlings listed for 800 and nigricans for 2500 each! Prices on each have come WAY back down, but not quite all the way. We'll see.

Anthony P said:

Wonderful! I Have a group of these guys and really adore them.

On the subject of their rising prices, I wrote an article last year for the TTPG's BATAGUR Magazine about nigricans and annamensis and how the prices for them seemed to skyrocket overnight. I decided to wait when I saw them for $35 each, then the price went up over night, literally in the blink of an eye, with annamensis hatchlings listed for 800 and nigricans for 2500 each! Prices on each have come WAY back down, but not quite all the way. We'll see.

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I'd like to see that article Anthony.
In your opinion, what is the real reason for the sudden price jumps? Is it panicky buyers, breeder hype, a real crisis, or what?
Over the years I've witnessed numerous species that went through similar 'crazes' of pricing ups and downs...in most cases it was from an idea that they would soon be unavailable. It was what I would call, "the last there is" syndrome.

For those two rare members of the Mauremys genus, much like albino RES at that time, and Cuora flavomarginata the next year, prices are set by the Asian demand for the species in question. They were taking all of these available to set up farms. This is why the price then comes back down. People compete against each other when it seems that a particular species will be the next big thing to be invested in, to make sure they make their best attempt to carve out a piece of the future market on "can't miss" species. It seems like the Asian market is built on a fad-like system where things go into and out of favor very quickly, for the reasons I mention.

Awesome species I have been working with them for years . I remember at the NRBE in Daytona Beach I sold a guy a bunch of surplus males for $20 each he took all ten. My original female was on land last night I had her for 12 years the person I got her from had her for 14-15 years and she was an adult when someone gave her to him. She is still laying ,but I keep her by herself in her own pond. She didn't like going to male pond so he is put with her for a while then taken out of her pond. This blood line is pure and never been mixed with any other blood lines.
They are one of my favorite species to work with.
Thanks,
Mark

I live in Florida and keep mine out all year long.
I gave some babies to the late David Lee/Dave Lee I know he mentioned once they got size to them he was going to put them outside. I know it gets really cold where he was. That was over six years ago. I raise babies inside till about two months then put them out in rubber maid storage container wire lids on top. 3-4 inches of water, drift wood and cork bark. They love when I scoop tadpoles and dump them in their ponds.
Thanks,
Mark

I have 4 of these arriving any day. Very excited.

Anthony P said:

For those two rare members of the Mauremys genus, much like albino RES at that time, and Cuora flavomarginata the next year, prices are set by the Asian demand for the species in question. They were taking all of these available to set up farms. This is why the price then comes back down. People compete against each other when it seems that a particular species will be the next big thing to be invested in, to make sure they make their best attempt to carve out a piece of the future market on "can't miss" species. It seems like the Asian market is built on a fad-like system where things go into and out of favor very quickly, for the reasons I mention.

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Amen! Although the Chinese are apparently decimating their wild populations of turtles (at least in some areas) they are also mass producing many species in farms.
Much of the turtle 'market' for the US and European pet trade hinges on every little whiff of change with what the Asians are doing. I am convinced that many of the drastic fluctuations in demand/pricing of various species is based solely on hype and deliberate manipulation of the market...primarily by the Chinese, but also largely supported by US breeders with a vested interest in higher pricing for what they already have.
It's been my observation that US breeders happily raise the prices of their offspring to astronomical levels based on nothing but hearsay coming from the East.
I also find it laughable to see vendors at the Expo in Daytona with tubs filled with 'very rare and high demand' species with high price tags attached to them--and yet the same vendors also have tubs filled with animals of the same species from the previous year, and the year before that. This begs the question, if they are so rare and in such high demand to justify the ridiculous pricing, why do the vendors have so many left over from the previous years?

And here we are a year later. I have to say that I'm in love with these guys. The first couple of months they exhibited their "scent", which is what they're well known for. They haven't done it since. They are curious and eager, and that makes it a lot of fun.

That's a very pretty turtle!

Very beautiful and elegant!