Deirochelys reticularia chrysea

[Gerards]

I have decided to start keeping Fl chicken turtles again and have a nice little group of ch babies in the works. I really love this species and wish it was more represented in the hobby. No matter what crazy stuff I get now a days, these guys still rank high on my favorites list. Once I get my group together I will take some good pictures of the diversity and some locality difference, hopefully. Thanks for looking.

 

[Yvonne G]

That's a very pretty little turtle. I had never seen a chicken turtle before. Good luck getting your new group started.

 

[Benjamin]

I really like those vertical stripes on the rear. Very cool underrated turtle.

 

[Gerards]

I really like those vertical stripes on the rear. Very cool underrated turtle.

They're really cool turtles! It's the only hard shelled turtle I raise in tanks now a days. The first one I ever caught was sleeping in the mud, just the top of his shell sticking out and I thought it was just a slider. I was thrilled when I saw those vertical stripes. Have a good day!

 

[theTurtleRoom]

I really like those vertical stripes on the rear. Very cool underrated turtle.

They certainly are!

Good looking Chickens, Gerard!

 

[Anthony P]

Love those striped pants!

I heard that these guys were only successfully bred in Chicago basements, haha. Isn't the difficulty of breeding them the reason for their under-representation?

 

[redfoot_mama94]

Love them, their so colorful, and from what I've read a very entertaining turtle to keep! )

 

[EchoTheLeoTort]

wow the shell on that turtle is beautiful! Wish I had a water turtle

 

[oknursedana]

Beautiful. My daughter said its butt looked like a zebra.

 

[EricIvins]

Love those striped pants!

I heard that these guys were only successfully bred in Chicago basements, haha. Isn't the difficulty of breeding them the reason for their under-representation?

You would be surprised how popular they are. The "under representation" may just be the fact that there is so little supply and huge demand, which is why you don't see them offered to the general public all that often. They are bred and produced by many people. The only thing difficult about them is the way they need to be incubated, which has been figured out for at least a decade now...

 

[Anthony P]

That's great news. I've learned to take all of those "difficult" species reputations with a grain of salt. It seems that with so many advances in husbandry techniques and knowledge of rare or unique species, that stuff like that goes out the window.

My two favorite projects, Pyxis and Geoemyda have two of the worst reputations, historically, but that really doesn't mean much these days.

I don't know why, but the "Chicago basement" thing was something I heard years ago in a humorous conversation with a person better than I, who was no doubt being sarcastic. For whatever reason, it was a nugget of useless knowledge I never forgot, haha.

 

[Gerards]

Love those striped pants!

I heard that these guys were only successfully bred in Chicago basements, haha. Isn't the difficulty of breeding them the reason for their under-representation?

You would be surprised how popular they are. The "under representation" may just be the fact that there is so little supply and huge demand, which is why you don't see them offered to the general public all that often. They are bred and produced by many people. The only thing difficult about them is the way they need to be incubated, which has been figured out for at least a decade now...

The supply is exactly the reason, and quite a few people do produce some. Im going to set up a large group and aim towards fixing that problem. It's funny how many people thought that 12 years ago and told me it couldn't be done. I had no problem with them the first time I got some. The first year I caught 10 adults in West Palm and hatched over 100 babies from them. I was kind of disappointed it was so easy but they just really interest me and I want to play with them a little more.

 

[Penn]

If I could find them I certainly would love to care for these cuties [HEAVY BLACK HEART]

 

[Anthony P]

That's great to hear and not too much of a surprise. I think it's easy for people to dismiss animals as being "tough" to breed, like I did, just because they heard it from a few people who happened to not have the right luck or whatever.

I couldn't see any reason why you would have any trouble in your area with them, given your expertise and ability to provide great accommodations and all.