Three-Striped Mud Turtles: BOLD & PINSTRIPE

Pastel Tortie

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And I think catching live earthworm prey is great stimulation for them!
I agree. Where earthworms are concerned, I think we will feed the turtles in separate containers, outside their enclosure. It would be much less messy that way, and much easier to monitor what each turtle eats.
 

Pastel Tortie

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I caught Pinstripe basking today.
wp_ss_20190324_0002.png
I watched Pinstripe climb up on top of the rock, and the tiny turtle did NOT take the easy way. The low end of the top of the (artificial) basking rock is in the water, so that would be the easiest route up. However, Pinstripe climbed up, out of the water, straight up the high end of the rock feature. Doesn't Pinstripe look pleased at that accomplishment?
 

Moozillion

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I caught Pinstripe basking today.
View attachment 268101
I watched Pinstripe climb up on top of the rock, and the tiny turtle did NOT take the easy way. The low end of the top of the (artificial) basking rock is in the water, so that would be the easiest route up. However, Pinstripe climbed up, out of the water, straight up the high end of the rock feature. Doesn't Pinstripe look pleased at that accomplishment?

HAHAHA!!! Gotta love those stubborn little guys!!!
He does look QUITE pleased! [emoji4]
 

CarolM

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I caught Pinstripe basking today.
View attachment 268101
I watched Pinstripe climb up on top of the rock, and the tiny turtle did NOT take the easy way. The low end of the top of the (artificial) basking rock is in the water, so that would be the easiest route up. However, Pinstripe climbed up, out of the water, straight up the high end of the rock feature. Doesn't Pinstripe look pleased at that accomplishment?
Soooo they are taking up rock climbing then? Better make sure you get them some harness for when they want to start on the really difficult climbs. Unless they are just training for escape day. [emoji6]
 

Pastel Tortie

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Do you think one might be male and the other female, that there is such a size difference?
It's entirely possible. I don't know if one sex is more likely to grow faster than the other. Females, on average, are slightly bigger than males (about 10 percent larger) in this species.

If I HAD to make a guess, it would be that Bold was female. Granted, that's just a wild guess, and I wouldn't bet ANY money on it. It's still too early to tell, but it wouldn't surprise me if Pinstripe turned out to be male.
 

Pastel Tortie

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We're going to have to rearrange the tank furniture this weekend (possibly sooner). Had a drowning scare with one of the turtles this afternoon. :( I'm glad I was there and able to respond, but I'm not happy about it.

We all know how hard-headed turtles can be... Often they're hard-headed about the size and rigidity of their shells and try to fit through places that they can't fit through.

Well, this afternoon, Bold was up on the high end of the large rock, basking for a good while. That part went fine. Bold was cute basking, so I decided to hang around for a while. Good thing I did, too. Normally the turtles jump off the rock via one of the long sides, where there is plenty of open room in the water.


However, when Bold went to jump back into the water THIS time, Bold tried to go off the far high end of the rock -- the part closest to the back of the tank -- and got caught between the rock and the tank wall on the way down.

If there hadn't been any drowning risk, I would have taken pictures of Bold's back end sticking up out of the water, plastron facing me, head under the water, and all four legs kicking trying to free the hard-headed turtle from this predicament. Bold managed to get mostly sideways but still not get the turtle head out of the water. I freed the flailing Bold and rotated the rock SLIGHTLY to put a LITTLE bit more room between the rock and the tank wall.

The only thing injured during the ordeal was Bold's pride...and my peace of mind.

I sure want to give that turtle a PIECE of my mind... Grrrrrrr...
 

CarolM

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We're going to have to rearrange the tank furniture this weekend (possibly sooner). Had a drowning scare with one of the turtles this afternoon. :( I'm glad I was there and able to respond, but I'm not happy about it.

We all know how hard-headed turtles can be... Often they're hard-headed about the size and rigidity of their shells and try to fit through places that they can't fit through.

Well, this afternoon, Bold was up on the high end of the large rock, basking for a good while. That part went fine. Bold was cute basking, so I decided to hang around for a while. Good thing I did, too. Normally the turtles jump off the rock via one of the long sides, where there is plenty of open room in the water.


However, when Bold went to jump back into the water THIS time, Bold tried to go off the far high end of the rock -- the part closest to the back of the tank -- and got caught between the rock and the tank wall on the way down.

If there hadn't been any drowning risk, I would have taken pictures of Bold's back end sticking up out of the water, plastron facing me, head under the water, and all four legs kicking trying to free the hard-headed turtle from this predicament. Bold managed to get mostly sideways but still not get the turtle head out of the water. I freed the flailing Bold and rotated the rock SLIGHTLY to put a LITTLE bit more room between the rock and the tank wall.

The only thing injured during the ordeal was Bold's pride...and my peace of mind.

I sure want to give that turtle a PIECE of my mind... Grrrrrrr...
Oh dear. That is scary. We think that we cover everything but there is always something we don't cover. So glad that nothing serious happened.
 

Moozillion

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We're going to have to rearrange the tank furniture this weekend (possibly sooner). Had a drowning scare with one of the turtles this afternoon. :( I'm glad I was there and able to respond, but I'm not happy about it.

We all know how hard-headed turtles can be... Often they're hard-headed about the size and rigidity of their shells and try to fit through places that they can't fit through.

Well, this afternoon, Bold was up on the high end of the large rock, basking for a good while. That part went fine. Bold was cute basking, so I decided to hang around for a while. Good thing I did, too. Normally the turtles jump off the rock via one of the long sides, where there is plenty of open room in the water.


However, when Bold went to jump back into the water THIS time, Bold tried to go off the far high end of the rock -- the part closest to the back of the tank -- and got caught between the rock and the tank wall on the way down.

If there hadn't been any drowning risk, I would have taken pictures of Bold's back end sticking up out of the water, plastron facing me, head under the water, and all four legs kicking trying to free the hard-headed turtle from this predicament. Bold managed to get mostly sideways but still not get the turtle head out of the water. I freed the flailing Bold and rotated the rock SLIGHTLY to put a LITTLE bit more room between the rock and the tank wall.

The only thing injured during the ordeal was Bold's pride...and my peace of mind.

I sure want to give that turtle a PIECE of my mind... Grrrrrrr...

Oh, MY!!! What a scare!!!!
SO GLAD you were there to free Bold before it was too late!!!!
 

EllieMay

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We're going to have to rearrange the tank furniture this weekend (possibly sooner). Had a drowning scare with one of the turtles this afternoon. :( I'm glad I was there and able to respond, but I'm not happy about it.

We all know how hard-headed turtles can be... Often they're hard-headed about the size and rigidity of their shells and try to fit through places that they can't fit through.

Well, this afternoon, Bold was up on the high end of the large rock, basking for a good while. That part went fine. Bold was cute basking, so I decided to hang around for a while. Good thing I did, too. Normally the turtles jump off the rock via one of the long sides, where there is plenty of open room in the water.


However, when Bold went to jump back into the water THIS time, Bold tried to go off the far high end of the rock -- the part closest to the back of the tank -- and got caught between the rock and the tank wall on the way down.

If there hadn't been any drowning risk, I would have taken pictures of Bold's back end sticking up out of the water, plastron facing me, head under the water, and all four legs kicking trying to free the hard-headed turtle from this predicament. Bold managed to get mostly sideways but still not get the turtle head out of the water. I freed the flailing Bold and rotated the rock SLIGHTLY to put a LITTLE bit more room between the rock and the tank wall.

The only thing injured during the ordeal was Bold's pride...and my peace of mind.

I sure want to give that turtle a PIECE of my mind... Grrrrrrr...

Scary!! Good thing you were hanging around!!!
 

Pastel Tortie

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I weighed and measured both three-striped mud turtles today.

PINSTRIPE
SCL 1 & 29/32 inches (getting closer to 2")
Weight 27 grams

BOLD
SCL 2 & 17/32 inches (just over 2.5")
Weight 57 grams
 
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