Today was the day that Miss Beasley got to meet Katsu. Both are captive hatched Staurotypus salvinii that I've raised from tiny juveniles. Katsu was purchased at the Daytona Expo in 2012 and Miss Beasley was a gift from Jason Bourque in 2013.
They've both grown fast and reached adult size by the end of their second year but neither are the slightest bit overweight or obese. In fact, they're rather lean for captive turtles.
Staurotypus have a well deserved bad reputation for being rough on each other and from what I've heard from many other keepers is that males will kill each other fast and females will kill each other faster. Then there is the danger of females killing their mates, or males killing their females, and so on. So when I put them together this morning it was more or less just a trial introduction.
These photos were taken after Miss Beasley was in Katsu's tank (75 gallon with a water depth of 23 cm) for less than two minutes...
A little apprehension from her but that was over after about 30 seconds.
There's a lot of throat pumping going on but no biting
One minute later and... that's enough foreplay
There wasn't a lot of moving around and they basically remained like this for about a half hour.
Both were about to reach the water surface to breathe.
And then suddenly, that was it. They parted and decided to kill each other. So I guess that meant that their date was over.
They've both grown fast and reached adult size by the end of their second year but neither are the slightest bit overweight or obese. In fact, they're rather lean for captive turtles.
Staurotypus have a well deserved bad reputation for being rough on each other and from what I've heard from many other keepers is that males will kill each other fast and females will kill each other faster. Then there is the danger of females killing their mates, or males killing their females, and so on. So when I put them together this morning it was more or less just a trial introduction.
These photos were taken after Miss Beasley was in Katsu's tank (75 gallon with a water depth of 23 cm) for less than two minutes...
A little apprehension from her but that was over after about 30 seconds.
There's a lot of throat pumping going on but no biting
One minute later and... that's enough foreplay
There wasn't a lot of moving around and they basically remained like this for about a half hour.
Both were about to reach the water surface to breathe.
And then suddenly, that was it. They parted and decided to kill each other. So I guess that meant that their date was over.
