Mud turtle question
- Thread starter Rmayes
- Start date
Moozillion, hi and thanks for all the tips. I currently do not have uvb but will get it this weekend as far as the temp all of my tanks are at about 78 degrees, I live in Florida so my temperature stays pretty good year round. Everytime he goes in the water he only swims at the top of the water I have not seen him walk the bottom at all. For the most part he sleeps on the land where I built him a cave in the rocks towards the beginning of the waterfall area that also lets him be in the water. In the picture you can see him standing on top of the cave. The heat source over there is coming from a regular light bulb but that will change also very soon. Im gonna add some things in the water as well for him to climb on and hide under. It looks like he is a three stripe.
One of the most useful toys, umm, I mean turtle care tools 
I have is one of those infra-red temperature guns. You can quickly and easily check all the temperatures of the tank: water, different parts of the land, your turtle's shell and his skin, etc! My turtle's shell is often one degree different than her skin! I got my temperature gun from Lowe's for about $30 or so.
It's important that he have a basking spot where the heat is in the high 80s or low 90s, even if he doesn't use it often. Being cold blooded, he relies ENTIRELY on his environment to modulate his body heat. Sometimes he'll NEED to be warmer in order to digest food properly or combat any illness. My turtle used to bask a LOT when she was little- less so now. If he's not checking out the bottom of his tank, it might be that the water feels too deep to feel safe, or he wants more "furniture" to clamber up and down in the water or it might be too cool for his liking.
My hubby loves the temperature gun: the cats chase the red dot that it shines, and he reads the temperature of things you would never bother with. Apparently the temperature of my NOSE is different than the temperature of my hair, etc...
I have is one of those infra-red temperature guns. You can quickly and easily check all the temperatures of the tank: water, different parts of the land, your turtle's shell and his skin, etc! My turtle's shell is often one degree different than her skin! I got my temperature gun from Lowe's for about $30 or so. It's important that he have a basking spot where the heat is in the high 80s or low 90s, even if he doesn't use it often. Being cold blooded, he relies ENTIRELY on his environment to modulate his body heat. Sometimes he'll NEED to be warmer in order to digest food properly or combat any illness. My turtle used to bask a LOT when she was little- less so now. If he's not checking out the bottom of his tank, it might be that the water feels too deep to feel safe, or he wants more "furniture" to clamber up and down in the water or it might be too cool for his liking.
My hubby loves the temperature gun: the cats chase the red dot that it shines, and he reads the temperature of things you would never bother with. Apparently the temperature of my NOSE is different than the temperature of my hair, etc...
Haha that's awesome, I will definitely get him some more stuff and a uvb and heat light. I do have a couple more questions, no one likes to talk to me about my turtles as much as I want lol and im always looking for new things to do with them. I also have a cooter turtle and a painted turtle that share a tank. Right now it is a 40 gal breeder but I want to move to a 100 to 125 in the next year when I purchase a home. Once that is done can I put "albus" the mud in there with them? Also is it true that my uvb bulb can stop producing uvb before the light burns out?
I get my temp guns on Amazon for about $10-15 - They have a bunch of different models / brands. Here's one:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071NBJJ2Q/?tag=exoticpetnetw-20
I don't know about putting the mud turtle in with the other two - the size differences and habitat requirements might not make it feasible, but I could be wrong. Be prepared to separate them at any moment if you do put them in together. I started off with two turtles in one enclosure and now have three turtles in three enclosures (adopted another along the way) because of fighting and bullying
I agree with vladimir about multiple turtles. It often leads to bullying that can be difficult to pick up.
While these types of turtles all may appear in the same areas in the wild, they don't really cross paths much: the muds prefer the muddy shallows and the cooters and painted prefer the deeper waters. Plus they have the huge wild outdoors to give each other plenty of space. I have guppies, mollies and ghost shrimp in with my mud, and she pretty much ignores them unless they're stealing her food.
Yes, it's my understanding that UVB bulbs generally quit putting out UV light before the bulb burns out (I've been advised to change out the fluorescent UVB bulbs every 6 months or so). BUT I BELIEVE that the mercury vapor bulbs make their own UVB, so they don't quit? I AM NOT AT ALL SURE ABOUT THAT, SO DON'T TAKE MY WORD FOR IT. We need to hear from more knowledgable people on the UVB topic.
Plus, I've heard that if water splashes on a Mercury vapor bulb (like when a basking turtle suddenly decides to plunk back into the water) the bulb can
SHATTER, sending glass shards and TOXIC MERCURY all around. AGAIN, I AM NOT TOTALLY SURE OF THIS.Ok thanks, I keep the turtles in the living room because I currently live in an apartment so they are under constant supervision and get things off attention. I think I should change my bulb then, linus like a lot of turtle shopping this weekend. I do have a couple of corydoras in the tank with the mud and a guppy just because she had babies so I separated them. For some reason the male died the same night she was having babies. As far as the other 2 I'm not sure if they are male or female but I think male, I'm judging by the tail, I don't think it's very big.
Hello welcome to the forum.
You will need to replace your uvb source every 6 months they stop putting out uvb.
It's a little odd and concerning your baby mud turtle is basking and sleeping on land, that's not normal. Also not swimming to the bottom. Does your turtle kind of float when it tries to swim? Some turtles will act like this when they're suffering from a Respiratory Infection. If your turtle is eating though that's great! In fact as long as it has an appetite I wouldn't worry too much.
You will need to replace your uvb source every 6 months they stop putting out uvb.
It's a little odd and concerning your baby mud turtle is basking and sleeping on land, that's not normal. Also not swimming to the bottom. Does your turtle kind of float when it tries to swim? Some turtles will act like this when they're suffering from a Respiratory Infection. If your turtle is eating though that's great! In fact as long as it has an appetite I wouldn't worry too much.
It swims on the top of the water back and forth and eats everyday as far as being on land he has dug down in to the rocks to where they're is a little puddle of water that it spends most of the time in. But yea im not sure why he doesn't swim under the water. How would I know if he had a respiratory infection? He will float when he's not moving around and I've been the one moving him from his little cave to the water when I'm gonna feed him. I haven't seen him go to the big area of water by himself but like I said his cave has a pool of water that he has been staying in.
That makes more sense. I thought you meant basking out in the open. I wouldn't worry about an RI too much then. Just keep your temperature good and as long as your turtles eating no need to worry. If it stops eating then there's a problem.
Pastel Tortie
Well-Known Member
Welcome to the forum! From another Floridian...
Some of us went to the National Reptile Breeders Expo in Daytona Beach this past weekend... and we came home with two three-striped mud turtle hatchlings (and a bearded dragon). I've done research on this species for the past year or so, but now we finally have them. They are soooo tiny! Right now they're about the size of a nickel, with heads about the size of pencil erasers (when they're sticking out). They weighed in at 2-3 grams each.
I refer to the pair as our "Micro Muds"... We'll upgrade them to Mini Muds when they're quarter size or so.
Oh wow their stripes are much brighter than albus is, I adopted albus from my sister she tried to take care of him for a month but gave up. One of her cats actually brought him in her house. I added some more stuff to his tank in the water area but he still won't stay in the water. He just hangs out on the rocks.
Pastel Tortie
Well-Known Member
I'm thinking he is a three-stripe, especially from one of the earlier pictures you posted. Also, they are native to much of Florida, so he is a good candidate species for something the cat brought in (literally). How visible their stripes are varies greatly, depending much on location but also on other factors. Keep in mind these were captive bred, and often that has a different look than a "natural" specimen. Even between my two, their stripes are different (and that's how we tell them apart).
Their "working names" (which work for now precisely because they are descriptive) are Pinstripe and Bold Stripe. They have somewhat different preferences in food, even at this young age...and they may be starting to show a few slight differences in personality, too. One may also be just a bit older than the other.
The Micro Muds are housed individually in separate sections of a large divided Herp Havens Breeder Box. (Think of a critter carrier but on a larger scale.) The clear plastic dividers allow water to flow through at the bottom, and they can see each other, but they can't accidentally chomp the other's foot or face or anything. They each have a long vining piece of plastic plant and a small tile to climb onto to get out of the water. The water level right now is only 1/4 to at most 1/2 inch (probably closer to 1/4 inch) deep. They have very small pieces of cuttlebone in their respective"rooms," and they have been nibbling those the last couple days or so.
