Musk Turtles ?

Question

Anybody here had Musk turtles. Im thinking of getting one and would like to know the basic care information, feeding life-span e.t.c for them, if you have had them in the past that would be great. I saw them last weekend and i know that they have to live in a heated tank, with a strong light above which they can bask in. A large rock to climb on and small gravel. Alos if you have had them as pets in the past could you please tell me how big they grow up to aswell and if you can take them out of the tank as all of the net information is all completely different. I thought someone with experiance with them would be best. If you can help that would be great and obviously you will get 10 points x

And no spam/crap please ive just had a load of that kk x

Answer 1

I've never owned any sort of turtle..but this should help you! :

American Mud and Musk Turtles
Natural History Information

Species: The taxonomic definitions of the mud and musk turtles are under continual revision. Kinosternon is now considered to include many species previously known by Sternotherus. Currently the American mud and musk turtles compromise over 20 species and 25 subspecies as being recognized.

Size: These are small to moderate sized turtles ranging 3 - 6.8 inches in length. Some examples of size ranges are:
Common Mud -- 3 - 4.8 inches
Striped Mud -- 3 - 4.7 inches
Sonoran Mud -- 3 - 6.8 inches
Yellow Mud --3 - 6.5 inches
Common Musk -- 3 - 4.9 inches
Razor-backed Musk 3 - 6.3 inches
Flattened Musk 3 - 4.5 inches
Loggerhead Musk 3 - 5.3 inches

Habitat: Can be found in almost any waterway that has a shallow muddy-bottom and abundant aquatic vegetation. They can be found in ditches, wet meadows, lakes, ponds, marshes, bayous, lagoons, swamps, reservoirs, streams, canals, oxbows, and slow rivers. Mud turtles are more likely to be found away from water bodies than are musk turtles. Common mud turtles have a limited tolerance for brackish water while some musk turtle species may be found in brackish water.

Sexing: Males have much thicker and longer tails that end in a sharp nail like point. They also have a deep notch at the rear end of their plastron. The vent opening in males occurs beyond the carapacial rim. Male also have two small patches of tilted scales on the inner surface of each hind leg. Females have much shorter, slimmer tails that lack the hardened point. They also lack the notch at the end of the plastron and have smaller heads than the males.

Breeding: Mud's breed March - May sometimes earlier in southern parts of their ranges. Musk's breed February - May in the south, and March - June in the north. Mud turtle males are fully mature at roughly 4-7 years of age and females 5-8 years. Musk turtles of both sexes typically mature in 2-4 years.

Nests: Nesting may occur February through September depending on the species. Mud's usually prefer sandy, loamy soils, but piles of vegetation debris may be used. Some will use muskrat lodges or alligator nests, and some will lay their eggs on the surface of the ground or under piles of boards. Musk's like to use the banks of lakes, beaches, gravel pits, as well as woodlands, roadside edges, rotting logs and stumps, leaf litter, and even in muskrat lodges.

Eggs: These turtles may lay 1-9 brittle, hard-shelled eggs spread out over 1-4 clutches.

Incubation: 60-100 is the normal incubation period dependant upon environmental conditions.

Food:Omnivorous. Some of their main food items include but not restricted to: insects, arachnids, millipedes, small fish, fish eggs, small freshwater snails and clams, crayfish, crabs, other crustaceans, leeches, worms, tadpoles, adult frogs, and carrion that may be found in the water. Plants eaten include various algae and vascular aquatic plants.

Notes: Lifespan average is 30-55 years.
Will occasionally steal bait from fishing lines. Musk's are accomplished thieves at this task. These turtles are often prone to algae growth on their shells. This growth of algae provides a superb camouflage for the turtles. Many juveniles are more prone to going after insects and later shifting to a mollusk (snails & clams) based diet as they get older. Will occasionally feed from the water's surface, but it is predominantly a bottom feeder.
Unlike most turtle eggs, mud and musk turtle eggs to not take up water during the incubation period. Unlike musk turtles, mud turtles can be terrestrial. Sometimes, when disturbed, musk turtles may secrete a foul-smelling, yellowish fluid from 2 pairs of musk glands under the border of the carapace, thus earning the name "Stinkpot". Musk turtles have very long necks and are able to bring their jaws as far back as their hind legs so watch those fingers.
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Tips for keeping them

While not as colorful as many other species of turtles, due to their small size and general lifestyle habits, these turtles often make for better pet aquarium turtles than most species of aquatic turtles.

Account of: This is a general overview for the captive care of mud and musk turtles and allows you some room to experiment. Some people have success following one path while others have success following another path. There is no true set directive that demands you follow this, this, and this 100% of the time or the turtle will die. Turtles to some extent are very adaptive creatures. You need to draw upon the knowledge of what your turtle is like as an individual, where its species naturally comes from, and the natural history of its kind in its native habitat in order to meet the needs of your turtle and have success in keeping them in the long term.

Aquatic // Semi aquatic-terrestrial // Terrestrial ??

The species and subspecies of these turtles occupy a wide range of habitats. Generally speaking - they can be found in almost any aquatic environment. Mud and Musk turtles are essentially aquatic by nature though mud turtles at times can be terrestrial.

Indoor / Outdoor ??

Overall, mud and musk turtles do very well when kept in captivity in either indoor or outdoor situations. For now I will go through a brief explanation of an indoor setup as this is the most common way of keeping these turtles in order to be able to view them on a regular basis.

Enclosure Size:

Indoor tanks need to be at least the equivalent of a 40 gal. long aquarium and bigger is always better especially if keeping more than 1 turtle. Mud and Musk turtles are active foragers and need plenty of horizontal space to move about on the bottom of the tank. They do not require deep water like many other types of aquatic turtles. Providing water depths of up to 6-8 inches is sufficient.

Basking Setup:

A section of the tank will have to have an area set up for a basking site. Mud turtles will make use of this basking site more so than musk turtles will, but this does not mean that you should ignore putting one in if your are keeping only musk turtles. All aquatic turtles need a spot to be able to get completely out of the water on occasion. The basking behavior in musk turtles is poorly developed. Musk turtles and even some mud turtles prefer to do their "basking" while resting in very shallow water with their carapaces breaking the water's surface. One way to work this into your setup is to provide a stationary, submerged platform that has about 2 inches of water covering it. Add to it a section of area with some additonal flat rocks to provide a complete "dry haul out area" so that the turtles can choose this if they so desire.

In my current 40 gal. long setup for these turtles I have 4 bricks stacked with a large, flat piece of blue stone about an inch thick sitting on top of the bricks. The blue stone is the same width of the tank and takes up about 1/4 of the total length of the tank. Additional bricks are placed in front of this platform in such a way as to provide a graduated set of steps to reach the full basking area overhang. At the other end of the tank, I have stacked two irregular pieces of bluestone as an underwater resting spot. The turtles when hanging on the sides of this formation can easily reach their heads above the water's surface to breathe. Overall, the depth of the water in the tank is about 10 inches at its deepest and 1 inch at its shallowest.

Provide a small basking (heat producing) light at the same end as the haul out area. The wattage should be around 60-75 watts. You might also want to provide a fluorescent (non-heat producing) UVB light such as Vita-Lite and Repti-Sun. UVB is necessary for most reptiles (mostly turtles and lizards) to synthesize D3 in their bodies which in turn helps them to make use of the calcium also floating around in their bodies. In nature, the sun provides the reptiles with the necessary UVB they need. In captivity, when kept indoors they cannoy get this unless you provide them with it. Orally given UVB supplements are dangerous and should not be used. It can be too easy to overdose which can cause serious health problems down the road. Setting tanks near windows is not good as the glass filters out most or all of the UVB. Also placing tanks near windows can cause the water temperature to rise to dangerous or lethal levels. Normal water temperature should range between 70 - 78 degrees F.

Herbivorous // Omnivorous // Carnivorous ??

Mud and musk turtles are omnivores though they tend to lean heavily on the carnivore side. They will readily accept commercial turtle pellets/sticks, however, these really should not constitute more than 75% of their total diet. It is always best to supplement with as much naturally found foods as possible. Commercially prepared turtle diets have not been verified as truly being nutritionally complete. Some brands on the market are worthless as companies are just out to defraud money out of concerned owners who want the best for their pets. Among the better commercial foods for aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles areTetraTerrafauna's Reptomin floating Turtle sticks and Wardley's Rep T.E.N. floating turtle sticks. These two brands have shown me consistent growth and overall good health with my turtles unlike other brands. Because turtles can eat a lot and commercial foods are expensive, if you have a limited budget you can help spread out your use of these foods by mixing it with trout, koi, or cichlid fish pellets. Don't feed your turtles items such as hamburger, hotdogs, or canned dog and cat foods as they contain too much fat and sodium not to mention low calcium levels as well as the fact when they compromise 50% or more of the total diet they can cause long term and possibly fatal health conditions. It is best if you can provide your turtle with naturally found protein sources like earthworms and insects.

Mud and Musk turtles will on occasion take vegetation materials. They may be more likely to eat naturally found aquatic vegetation plants, however, you may be able to get them to eat other types of vegetation material. Dandelion and pigweed leaves are great "weeds" to give and are a natural source of important vitamins and minerals. Some fruits and veggies may be accepted as well. Try to experiment with different plant materials and see what happens.

Breeding: When it comes to breeding, it is best to let nature take its course rather than trying to force the issue. If you intend to breed your turtles then your haul out area will need to be changed to one that has at least a couple of inches of dirt in it for the female turtle to lay her eggs in. Also, keep in mind that having such material in a tank setup will cause a big mess when a female turtle is flinging dirt all over the place. Mud and musk turtle eggs are very small and very brittle so extreme care will be needed if you move them to an incubator. Unlike most turtle eggs mud and musk eggs do not absorb appreciable amounts of water or expand during the incubation period so high humidity is not as critical for hatching. Some moisture in the substrate the eggs are kept in is all that is really needed as well as a temperature of 78-82 degrees F.

Hibernation: If you are keeping your turtles in an inside enclosure then hibernation is not necessary unless you wish to breed them and find it necessary to ensure breeding courtship. Some individual turtles do not seem to need the hibernation stimulant to encourage breeding. In nature, mud and musk turtles will usually hibernate buried in as much as 12 inches of mud on the bottoms of ponds or other water areas. They also make use of beaver and muskrat lodges. They begin their burrowing when the temperatures start to drop.

Answer 2

There are countless loopholes in the regulation and this is truthfully criminal for human beings to own them, purchase them or maybe sell them. do no longer difficulty. The regulation became into exceeded in 1975 by making use of the FDA because of the fact infant turtles have been actual commonplace and there have been some cases of salmonella from them. as a question of actuality, all turtles can probably carry salmonella in spite of length, yet as long as you wash your palms after coping with them, you would be nice. you have an stronger possibility of having salmonella poisoning from uncooked chicken than you do from a puppy turtle.

Answer 3

Keeping Musk Turtles