Male Diamondback Terrapins..

[Redfoot NERD]

.. Travis ( Diamondbacks4life ) has all those females that make all those babies!

All I have are males .. well I do have a few females too but only one is old enough - hopefully these guys will get her attention.

[ all pics have been taken this month ]



This one I call GoldCrown.. just can't get over that "crown" on the top of his head.. plus the color of his carapace. He should be old enough next year...



He didn't want to co-operate for these pics so they're all left side as you can see -



The second one is hopefully old enough to make babies for 2015!

I call him FlowerBoy .. guess why?







There's a few more I'll post this afternoon.. 2013 hatched brothers.. and a couple rescues....

 

[wellington]

They are all beautiful. I think a trade should be in order. No one needs a bunch of females and not enough males, while you need a few more females, not just one to get pestered. Come on Travis @Diamondbacks4Life there's some beautiful fellas here

 

[Redfoot NERD]

And then there are the "Blue" ones. This is where it gets somewhat complex.

Reportedly the "Blue" are from the Chesapeake Bay area. But some have "concentric" patterns on their plastrons.. such as these two different males -



This "dark" one was raised in a rich brackish environment by a friend who knew about water quality, etc. A real beauty with superb carapace condition! Out of the flash shows the blue colors -



And the "concentric" plastron -



Have not seen a "blonde-blue / concentric" before -



His carapace is rough from being raised in ??? water quality.. but his color and patterns are incredible! Shown eating in fresh water tub -



Look at those head patterns!

And the typical concentric plastron patterns -



You'll see the different Chesapeake Bay plastrons in the next post...

 

[Redfoot NERD]

The "Blue" female that best "mates" the dark male above has this plastron pattern -



And a huge male that was literally rescued from the Chesapeake Bay.. the typical "bay" plastron -



He is not part of my group.. just showing for comparison...

 

[wellington]

All very nice. I do love the blue color too, but I really love the stark white probably the best. Oh, shoot, I pretty much like them all

 

[Redfoot NERD]

Along with "blonde" above came this well colored Chesapeake Bay "black" -



His carapace reacted even worse than his blonde buddy.. but has good head / skin patterns and colors -



And here's that "bay" plastron again -



Black is 4.25" .. and Blonde is 4" -



They are mature males and will be in quarantine over winter.

 

[Flipper]

Wow! These are my favorite water turtles Just beautiful!

 

[littleginsu]

OMG. So beautiful.

 

[Redfoot NERD]

LAST BUT NOT LEAST.. these brothers looked like this first week of August 2013 -



And now like this at 4+" -





The space between the scutes shows a "growth-spurt" that occurs at about a year old or there-abouts -



And his 'olive' brother -





These two of the three [ one went to friend ] had the same mother.. but no doubt a different "daddy"!!



This is how it started .. on May 24, 2013 -

 

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Haha I wish all females made babies. This year they just made themselves delicious scrambled eggs.

Though maybe I did get lucky? Call you tomorrow, if i dont die at work tonight... Worst week ever.

 

[Moozillion]

These are all SUCH gorgeous animals!!!