Good evening!
How often do y'all notice your turtles sleeping? At night, during the day, doesn't matter.
With all my previous turtles (Southern painted, razorback musk, Mississippi map, giant mexican musk) I noticed them sleep pretty rarely except when I came up to them late at night when the...
Hi all,
I noticed this morning that one of my Rio Grande cooters has a decent dimple or dent in its shell. It looks like the center line was just pushed off to their left side. It is one of 4 in the tank and none of the others show this at all. The other 3 have normal, symmetric, high-domed...
Hi all,
I'm curious about sexing rio grande cooters. Generally turtles/tortoises can't be sexed until a few years of age. I noticed among my 4 Rio Grande cooters, two are quite a bit larger than the others. The large ones have relatively flat plastrons while the smaller ones have a relatively...
I have noticed recently the Rio Grande cooters in the indoor 180 gallon aquarium like to spend some time brushing the tops of their shells on things. It reminds me of that post the other day where a turtle scrubbed their butt on a suction cup brush in their aquarium. It turns out cholla cactus...
We've had a cold snap this week here in Albuquerque like I think a lot of the US. Temperatures have dropped down into the 30s at night and all the turtles have gone mostly inactive. I havn't seen many of the turtles in the last week, but this evening I poked my head outside and saw one of the...
Hi all,
I was feeding the turtles today and it seemed like everyone came out to be seen. The map turtles stayed pretty far back, but even they came out. It was a great opportunity to get a bunch of photos.
I was working on the new egg laying/basking area for the pond in the dark (once baby is asleep) and I noticed that with the flashlight in the dark Fatty swam right up to me.
Early spring she would come up to feed pretty regularly, but for the last several months I only occasionally see her...
Hello!
Today I received 4 Rio Grande Cooters (Pseudemys gorzugi) from Underground Reptiles. They were picked up from the local UPS store without issue and arrived active, looking around, and in good shape.
I'm excited to raise these guys out for a while and then move them out to the pond after...
Hi all,
I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts about me moving my giant mexican musk turtles out into my 8000 gallon pond from the 180 gallon indoor aquarium. They're about 10 months - 1 year old at this point and larger than any of the other turtles in the pond (1 southern painted, 1 razor back...
Does anyone have any ideas for getting skittish map turtles to come to the surface to eat? I'm trying to feed with just floating pellets, since I can buy them in much larger bulk for my pond.
My painted and razorback musk turtles are getting comfortable enough to come get some pellets at the...
We seem to be past our last freeze in 2023. So I've been adding some new plants, watching the old ones come back, and getting the pond going for 2023.
First up: Fatty is back outside.
Fatty weighed in at 6.6 oz in September when she went into the pond. After a health scare during brumination...
Here in Albuquerque we got warm again a couple of weeks ago for about a week. Then it went back into the 40s, but now we're coming back up.
Today I went outside and saw that one of the map turtles, who I saw swimming around a month ago after the worst of the winter, was at the bottom and...
@Markw84 @Yvonne G
Hello,
I just went out to check on the turtles bruminating in the pond and I noticed that Fatty (southern painted map turtle) was upside down. Three map turtles were in evidence at the bottom, the others I'm sure are hiding out somewhere. The map turtles all look fine. Fatty...
Its been pretty difficult to get any pictures of the turtles in their new pond since I put them in in September. I finally went out the other day and noticed that all of their daily sleeping positions for brumination were out in the open. Usually I can find 1 or 2 of the 6 turtles if I spend 30...
Today I added my 6 turtles to their new 8000 gallon pond. As expected, Fatty and Granny took to it immediately and can be seen all over the place. The 4 map turtles are much more skittish and I havn't seen since I placed in the pond on a lily pad. I took some documentation photos of them before...
I just finished my pond build a couple weeks ago and will be moving my current 180 gallon tank inhabitants out to it shortly. I'm still trying to decide on what to put in the 180 gallon tank (picture below) inside. My current plan is to get 3 - 4 hatchlings and raise them indoors for a couple...
Hi all!
I'm finally working on a pond at our new house here in Albuquerque, NM. The excavation is done and I'm currently working on getting concrete footings poured for the walls. The pond will be basically a 20' x 10' square with dog ears in opposite corners. The walls will be ~2.5' tall and...
I put the finishing touches on the new 180 gallon plywood aquarium today. We moved to Albuquerque a month or two ago and bought a house, so I got to put a nice big aquarium right near the front door. Its 3/4" plywood sealed on the inside with pond armor and silicone and decorated/reinforced with...
My wife and I just moved into our first house in Albuquerque and we're getting the turtles settled in. Eventually I'll have an indoor aquarium for the 4 map turtle babies (the old one didn't travel) and a pond in the back for the big turtles (1 southern painted and 2 razorback musk). For now I...