Cuora Flavomarginata love story

janevicki

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Hello All! I have been around for a long time, but have not posted much due to trying to make a living and taking care of all the rugrats. I finally have some time and can tell You All what has been going on with my beloved Cuora Flavomarginata turtles:

14 years ago I was fortunate to get two beautiful female Cuora flavomarginata baby turtles; Scarlet and Violet, and have raised them all these years from little squirts.

5 years ago, I searched for a boy friend for them, and got nowhere and I gave up. Out of nowhere, Terese from North West Tortoise emailed me about 2 years later that she got a boy C. flavomarginata turned into her organization and would I like to have him.

I got the male from her rescue. The boy was kinda homely and roughed up, his poor jaw was misshaped and could not shut properly and his shell was all bumpy and not as smooth as the girls. The boy, (now named Boudreaux), was interested in the girls but also afraid of them at the same time and would run from them. Boudreaux must had a lot of turtle trauma in his past. Since I got him (about 3 years ago), the girls would not pay any attention to him or just kinda turtle-glared at him to leave them alone.

When they came out out of their hibernation this year, Boudreaux's whole demenor and appearance has changed; his shell smoother, his jaw is completely healed. He has now turned the girls heads! They all sun bathe in the same spot, Even seeing one of the girls gently resting her head on him. This never happened in the past. Hopefully he has been "getting it on" with his newly found he-turtle vigor. Now we have 2 eggs that I found in their leaf pile. The two eggs are in the Hova-bator now.

I hope they are viable. I can't wait to be a turtle grandma.

Story to be continued. I will be posting pictures of the eggs in the breeding forum to have the eggs-perts tell me if the eggs look like they are viable.
 

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mark1

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could I ask what temperatures you hibernate these turtles at ? and for how long ?
 

janevicki

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10 Year Member!
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Oct 3, 2012
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Near Disneyland
could I ask what temperatures you hibernate these turtles at ? and for how long ?

Hi Mark my little family of 3 are completely outdoors in Southern Californian weather.

The story short is average winter temps here are at the worst 45oF but mostly about 50-60oF at the most. The Cuoras decide when they want to go to hibernate and come up on their own. Sometimes I check on them and they are fine and move a little when they are at rest. They started their hibernation about October and they came out in mid February this year.

The long story and more importantly is that their pen is next to a persimmon tree that gives them protected shade on some areas of their home and ample sun areas in spring and summer. When winter comes we pile as many persimmon leaves, bamboo leaves grass cuttings into the pen and they sleep in the ground under the leaf litter. So the key is that the leaf litter protects them from drastic weather changes and provide food (earthworms) for them when they wake up. So we always keep some leaf/grass clippings for them to play in. (We feed them other foods but Scarlet especially is fond of earthworms.) if you have any other questions, let me know.
 
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