One of the mud/musk turtles I've always wanted to keep is the Chiapas musk turtle, Staurotypus salvinii. I had a giant Mexican musk turtle, Staurotypus triporcatus a long time ago and he was a neat animal to maintain. A few friends of mine who breed both species have been telling me that if anything, the Chiapas musk turtles are even more interesting to have than S. triporcatus. So I finally broke down and purchased a salvinii that was a couple of months old last year at the Expo in Daytona Beach. After looking thru a group of about a dozen I came home with this little guy. Here he is showing off the cute personality that these turtles are known for...
When I say 'cute' it is relative. A dinky little turtle that acts like a Tyrannosaurus rex is cute. But when that turtle becomes large you start to use other words to describe them.
Here are some photos of him as he grew during the past year.
The bulbous orange nose is typical of the Chiapas musk turtle.
These are incredibly responsive turtles and within a short period of time they become real beggars for food. Whenever they see you they tend to paddle back and forth in their tank expecting you to feed them. So you have to be cautious and not feed them too much as many individuals of both S. triporcatus and S. salvinii become obese in captivity.
This year I decided to pick up a couple more neonates to raise and see if I could end up with a pair. This past March I was given a new hatchling by Eric Holt of Empireoftheturtle.com.
Then two weeks ago I visited my friend Jason Bourque at the University of Florida's Paleontology Department. Jason is not only a fossil turtle expert, but he is also a top notch turtle keeper and like Eric Holt he too produced some S. salvinii this spring. Here is Jason in his lab with the holotype of the extinct mud turtle, Kinosternon skullridgescens that he described last year.
The actual specimen...
This is the little salvinii from Jason. He is showing what has to be one of the most typical behaviors of these little monsters.
The pattern on the plastron when very small is interesting but as the turtles grow it eventually becomes a dull yellow.
The turtle from the Expo last year has turned out to be a male. Hopefully Jason's turtle or the one from Eric Holt will be a female. But if they are both males, well, I guess I'll just have to raise a few more!
When I say 'cute' it is relative. A dinky little turtle that acts like a Tyrannosaurus rex is cute. But when that turtle becomes large you start to use other words to describe them.
Here are some photos of him as he grew during the past year.
The bulbous orange nose is typical of the Chiapas musk turtle.
These are incredibly responsive turtles and within a short period of time they become real beggars for food. Whenever they see you they tend to paddle back and forth in their tank expecting you to feed them. So you have to be cautious and not feed them too much as many individuals of both S. triporcatus and S. salvinii become obese in captivity.
This year I decided to pick up a couple more neonates to raise and see if I could end up with a pair. This past March I was given a new hatchling by Eric Holt of Empireoftheturtle.com.
Then two weeks ago I visited my friend Jason Bourque at the University of Florida's Paleontology Department. Jason is not only a fossil turtle expert, but he is also a top notch turtle keeper and like Eric Holt he too produced some S. salvinii this spring. Here is Jason in his lab with the holotype of the extinct mud turtle, Kinosternon skullridgescens that he described last year.
The actual specimen...
This is the little salvinii from Jason. He is showing what has to be one of the most typical behaviors of these little monsters.
The pattern on the plastron when very small is interesting but as the turtles grow it eventually becomes a dull yellow.
The turtle from the Expo last year has turned out to be a male. Hopefully Jason's turtle or the one from Eric Holt will be a female. But if they are both males, well, I guess I'll just have to raise a few more!
