New Maps!

Paschendale52

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Hello all!

It has been a harrowing couple of days with shipments, but with the outdoor ponds (a pair of 120 gallon tanks) set up and my southern painteds and razorback musk turtles safely in them and enjoying themselves for about a month, I decided to get a couple map turtle hatchlings to go in the newly vacated 120 gallon indoor tank.

I ordered a pair of Mississippi map turtles from undergroundreptiles Thursday afternoon to be overnighted. After waiting all day Friday for a shipment that was supposed to arrive by 10:30 am and contacting 3 levels of management from UPS on why I hadn't received them, I finally got my answer: "Sorry, we forgot to put them on a truck, they'll have to sit in a box in our warehouse until Monday." I told them with as much grace as I could muster that the live animals would likely not survive that and they gave me the "sorry for any inconvenience" answer. Well Saturday morning I heard back from one of the supervisors who said they had the package on a truck and it should arrive by 10:30am Saturday. Which came and went. Finally about 3pm today (5.5 hours after the revised estimate and ~30 hours after the initial estimate) a drive knocked on the door and handed me a package. The driver was nice enough to ask if I would open it to make sure they were alive so that he would be relieved. Lo and behold when I opened the package and not 2, but 4 baby turtles were inside. They were moving in the inner package and I quickly got them out and in the aquarium where they all swam around showing no signs of injury. After watching them for about an hour and seeing plenty of foraging, hiding, and hanging out at the surface in the mix of plastic and real plants I decided they were probably alright.

I'm not great at identifications, but it appears that in addition to the 2 Mississippi map turtles I ordered, I also received 2 black-knobbed map turtles. I'd be happy to hear opinions on if that is their true species. Luckily, the 120 gallon tank ought to have plenty of room for all 4 hatchlings for quite a while. It is full of water which I understand normally isn't good for hatchlings, but I've ready a few places that map turtles are the exception and even as hatchlings are great swimmers and appreciate the extra room. I've watched them swim top to bottom several times and have no trouble even in the small areas where flow is high near the filter output.

Thanks for reading! Now onto the pictures!

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One of the (I think) Mississippi maps, judging by the lack of color down the ridge.

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Both black-knobbed (maybe) hanging out together. Much more yellow to the eyes and darker skin.

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Another shot of the knobbed, this guy was definetely the most active and exploration focused.

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The other knobbed hanging out in the plastic plants.

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On the hunt!

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Underside of the exploration focused guy.


It seems I only got a picture of one of the (?) Mississippi maps. They move around and hide really well!

Thanks for looking, let me know what you think!
 

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Toddrickfl1

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I can't help you with identification but super cool turtles. They look happy already.
 

Markw84

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Not good picture for ID, but from what I see, you have 2 mississippi maps and most likely 2 that are mostly Ouachita maps.

Most maps we get today that are commercially bred are thrown together in ponds. The 3 that are fairly common pseudogeographica, kohnii, and ouachitensis are interbreeding and its often hard to say exactly what many are today.

Good pictures of head and neck striping and of plaston patterns would help a lot.
 

Paschendale52

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Not good picture for ID, but from what I see, you have 2 mississippi maps and most likely 2 that are mostly Ouachita maps.

Most maps we get today that are commercially bred are thrown together in ponds. The 3 that are fairly common pseudogeographica, kohnii, and ouachitensis are interbreeding and its often hard to say exactly what many are today.

Good pictures of head and neck striping and of plaston patterns would help a lot.

Ya I didn't think to take pictures before I put them in. I'll get some during feeding tomorrow. I think until they get used to pellets I'll probably have to catch them to move into a separate area for eating so that find food.
I'll get some tomorrow. Looking at more pictures of the Ouachita they look a lot more like that. I don't know what age the black-knobbed guys have their ridges grow so prominent, but the Ouachita seem to have the black coloring without as much protrusion of the knobs.

Thanks!
 

jeff kushner

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Nice setup.....don't worry too much about your H2O depth, you have plenty of resting areas on the grasses. Maps are some of the most ornate and beautiful water turtles to me.


Congrats of your new guys!

jeff
 

Paschendale52

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Nice setup.....don't worry too much about your H2O depth, you have plenty of resting areas on the grasses. Maps are some of the most ornate and beautiful water turtles to me.


Congrats of your new guys!

jeff

Thanks Jeff! These guys are absolutely beautiful and move around quite a lot.
 

Paschendale52

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Apr 23, 2015
Messages
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Not good picture for ID, but from what I see, you have 2 mississippi maps and most likely 2 that are mostly Ouachita maps.

Most maps we get today that are commercially bred are thrown together in ponds. The 3 that are fairly common pseudogeographica, kohnii, and ouachitensis are interbreeding and its often hard to say exactly what many are today.

Good pictures of head and neck striping and of plaston patterns would help a lot.

Good morning! On further investigation 3 are very similar and the grayer skinned hatchling is the odd man out.

Pictures below from feeding this morning. Its difficult to tell the skin tone, but I think the shell coloration and density of pattern is pretty apparently different for two of them.

IMG_0533.jpgIMG_0535.jpgIMG_0536.jpg
 
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