Carolina box turtle. Box turtles

Chinese box turtle

Population size of the Chinese box turtle in Lately has declined significantly due to the fact that it was exported to the United States for many years as a raw material for pharmaceuticals.

Lives in Southern China, Taiwan and Ryukyu Island.

APPEARANCE

The carapace is convex, the carapace and plastron are dark brown, the plastron is bordered with light yellow, and a clear light yellow stripe runs along the back. Unlike most species, in which the plastron is connected to the carapace by a bony bridge, the Chinese box turtle has movable joints called ligaments. The shell, fastened in this way, provides a reliable shelter in case of danger.

The animals have 5 claws on their forelimbs and 4 on their hind limbs. Top part The head is painted light green, with bright yellow stripes running from the eyes to the back of the head. Neck and chin apricot, pink or yellow color. Sexual dimorphism is weakly expressed: the tail of males is slightly wider and longer than that of females.

The length of the carapace of Chinese box turtle cubs is 31–44 mm, weight – from 8 to 13 g.

LIFESTYLE

Under natural conditions, turtles live in subtropical or temperate zone, in wooded areas or rice fields, near bodies of water overgrown with dense vegetation.

The mating process of Chinese box turtles occurs on land. It is preceded by the male's courtship of the female: he either chases his girlfriend to turn her over, or rubs his head against her chin. Sometimes the male gently bites the female. The courtship process in Chinese box turtles is accompanied by mating songs that resemble whistling. Courtship ends the moment the male bites the female and thereby stops her. The female's outstretched forepaws signify her consent to begin mating, after which the male climbs onto her carapace.

In warm climates, turtles mate throughout the year. If there are several animals in an aquaterrarium, you can observe manifestations of aggression of adult males towards other males of their species, while they are indifferent to turtles of other species.

Birth of a baby Chinese box turtle

In natural habitats, females begin building nests in March. As a rule, for this they choose a fairly shady place with moist, loose soil. Before laying eggs, females dig several holes about 10 cm deep. Female Chinese turtles make several clutches per year. In the clutch of large females there are 2–3 eggs, small ones lay 1 egg. The incubation period lasts 80–90 days.

Newborn Chinese box turtle cubs run quickly and begin to forage for food already on the 5th day after birth (in the first days they feed from the reserves of the yolk sac). The shape of the shell and coloration of the babies resemble adult turtles, but their tails are longer and splashes of pink can be seen on the light yellow patterns of the side plates.

Chinese box turtles are kept in spacious terrariums with clean water And bright lighting. In areas with warm climate these animals can be kept outdoors in a specially equipped pen. Adults are kept in the pen for the winter, as turtles of this species can withstand fairly cold (about -24 °C) winters. Burrowing into the soil, the animals hibernate.

The diet of Chinese box turtles must contain food of animal (earthworms, snails, slugs, mealworms) and plant (strawberries, melon, bananas, carrots, corn on the cob) origin. Calcium supplements or bone meal should be included in the diet approximately once a week.

For better development of baby turtles, the water in the aquarium is changed daily. As the babies grow, the volume of water in the aquarium increases.

Since female Chinese box turtles do not exhibit maternal instincts, babies born in captivity will need to be cared for by the owner. To do this, the cubs are placed in an aquarium, having previously poured settled water at a temperature of 23–25 ° C into it so that its layer is no more than 1–1.5 cm. The aquarium must have a platform of stones and soil, a heating lamp above it, and mineral fertilizer. To feed small turtles, a small amount of small tubifex or bloodworm is released directly into the water.

Once the turtles reach 6 months of age, they are placed in a communal terrarium or outdoor pen. The length of the carapace of a 6-month-old cub reaches 60 mm, body weight – 80–90 g. During the mating period of adults, the cubs are removed from the common terrarium.

Quite often, even a turtle purchased at a pet store has some health problems, which most often arise due to improper care of the animal during transportation or due to crowded conditions in the terrarium. Therefore, when choosing pets at a pet store, you should pay attention to their appearance and behavior.

Inexperienced turtle owners make the same mistakes: they do not let the animals out into the fresh air, they keep them on dry food. Turtles that are not outdoors often suffer from sombrero syndrome: their shell is wide and flattened, and their limbs are weak.

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Caroline box turtle- a small animal that inhabits the coasts of Eastern Canada and the United States of America. The animal is popular in America. The Carolina box turtle is increasingly being purchased as a pet. This breed of reptile requires almost no water. They spend all their time on land. In winter, the animal prefers not to go into the water at all. The body color is unusual. The main color is black. There are many curved orange lines on the skin and shell. The upper part of the legs is completely orange. The length of the shell does not exceed eighteen centimeters. The length of the head is approximately eight centimeters. You can distinguish males from females by eye color. In males they are bright red. Females have darker eyes (burgundy).

The female can give birth several times a year. The mating period is repeated three times in twelve months, the process lasts three months. Up to ten small turtles can be born at a time. They live in captivity for approximately twenty-five years. Animals can be bred at the age of ten. Life expectancy depends on environment. It is not recommended to breed turtles at home. If the female has laid eggs, they must be moved to a special room where the babies will hatch under ultraviolet rays.

Recently, Carolina box turtles have become increasingly popular. Due to its endurance, ease of maintenance, this breed turtles take root well in human homes. A pet can live in a small aquarium. Cover the bottom with a thick layer of sand and peat. Remember: turtles need water as well as land. Therefore, it is necessary to build an aquarium where the pet can crawl ashore. It is advisable to change the water every seven days. The aquarium can be filled with ordinary tap water, the temperature of which should not be lower than twenty degrees. Too much warm water pouring is also prohibited. The bottom of the “shelter” can be decorated with algae. The reptile will feel comfortable among the plants. Place a lamp with ultraviolet rays above the shore to warm your pet. Make sure that the turtle does not crawl out of the aquarium. It is not recommended to give the animal “walks” on the floor (carpet). He may accidentally swallow “garbage”, which will lead to dire consequences.

The Carolina inhabitants of reservoirs feed on meat, squid, massive worms, and snails. You can also give your pet fish with bones. It is better not to give pork or chicken. Turtles are excellent eaters of liver. You can feed the animal weekly with carrots, apples, cabbage, and milk. Greens include spinach and lettuce. You can buy special food at the pet store.

Young turtles are allowed to be kept together with fish. But as they age, it is better to relocate them, because adults can begin to hunt the small inhabitants of the aquarium. They get along well with other breeds of turtles, snakes, lizards, and frogs.

Order: Testudines Fitz., 1836 = Turtles
Family: Emydidae = Freshwater turtles

Species: Carolina box turtle = Terrane carolina

The most common species is the Carolina box turtle (Terrape Carolina), distributed in southeastern Canada and the eastern United States down to Texas. Its color is quite bright - bright yellow spots stand out sharply against a dark gray background. on and stripes. The iris of the eyes is especially beautiful, which in males is bright red, and in females it is reddish-brown.

The Carolina turtle lives in forests, usually near ponds or streams, but is sometimes found in open places- in meadows, swamps or dry hilly areas. She spends all her time on land, only on very rare occasions she enters the water. It also overwinters on land, burrowing into soft soil or leaf litter, with its front legs folded for digging (and its hind legs when laying eggs). The turtle's food includes worms, mollusks, insects, as well as plant foods: greens, mushrooms, berries. Turtles also eat poisonous mushrooms without visible harm to your health. It is possible that this is why there have been cases of human poisoning from Carolina turtle meat.

Mating occurs in the spring, and in June-July the females lay from 2 to 7 eggs. In the fall, young turtles hatch from them and, without appearing on the surface, remain overwintering in the nest until next spring.

Carolina box turtle (Terrapene carolina)

Distributed in southeastern Canada and the eastern United States. In its homeland it is one of the most common species turtles.Among freshwater turtles, which are kept in our terrariums, it is one of the most “land-dwelling”. It is capable of wintering on land. Small in size (carapace length 14 - 16 cm to 18 cm), very bright. On a dark gray background, they stand out brightly - yellow spots and stripes. The iris of the eyes is especially beautiful, which in males is bright red, and in females it is reddish-brown.

The Carolina box turtle is fed in the same way as the red-eared or red-cheeked turtle. Moreover, the Carolina turtles are even more omnivorous: they eat raw mushrooms, berries, slugs. They are kept at the usual temperature for freshwater turtles, 20–30 degrees C, with a relative humidity of 70–90%. Sand or peat is laid out at the bottom of the terrarium in a layer of 5 - 10 cm. A small pool is placed in the terrarium, in which turtles like to take long baths. Mating occurs throughout the year, eggs are laid in May - June. (Material provided by Sergei Konovalenko) http://www.mtu-net.ru/reptile/

CAROLINA BOX TURTLE (Terropene Carolina)

There are 6 known subspecies of Carolina boxtail.

The dome-shaped, brown or black-brown carapace has a barely noticeable stepped keel. The shell is decorated with yellow, orange, olive spots and stripes that resemble letters of the alphabet.

Thus, on the side shields there is a sharply outlined letter “E” of a beautiful golden yellow color.

These intricate writings perfectly hide the turtle in the thickets; her protective coloration flawless. In the Florida boxtail subspecies T.s. bauri the scutes are slightly swollen and have radial lines. The plastron is yellowish and sometimes covered with dark spots. The oblong, ovoid head is covered with brown and yellow spots.

Noteworthy is the hooked upper jaw, which looks like the beak of a bird of prey.

Females are somewhat larger and their plastron is smooth; in males a long tail and depressed plastron. The sex of Carolina turtles, in addition to generally accepted methods of determination, can be determined by the iris of the eye - in the male it is from orange to red-brown, in the female it is from yellow to pale yellow.

Reaches a length of 15-17 cm (depending on the subspecies); the largest subspecies are three-fingered (18 cm) and coastal (22 cm). Distributed throughout the eastern states of the United States from the north (southeastern Canada, Maine) to the south (Louisiana and Texas); the western edge of the range is limited by Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Mississippi. Further, the range goes to eastern and southeastern Mexico (states of Nuevo Leon, Veracruz, Yucatan, Quintana Roo).

The ecological characteristics of the species are extremely heterogeneous, and it is not so easy for the Carolina box turtle to imitate the conditions of a terrarium - however, this is not surprising given such a vast range.

Different authors vying with each other report conflicting information about the habitat of the Carolina turtle, and, summing up all this information, we must proceed from the fact that everything depends on the specific population, and within its limits, take into account individual preferences from individual to individual.

Yet most of Its range is characterized by dry and hot summers but harsh winters.

Thus, it lives in relatively dry areas, including mixed and foothill forests, but is attached to bodies of water, which can be lakes, shallow ponds, and even puddles. The main thing is consistency of water. After the spring rains, turtles come out of hibernation, look for new shelters and food, rummaging in forest litter.

As for their diet, these are very “convenient” animals: they are omnivores. True, young animals prefer animal food. They eat earthworms, any mollusks, including naked slugs (with obvious disgust, clearing the mucus from the muzzle with their front paws), woodlice, any insects, their larvae and caterpillars, small salamanders and frogs, as well as flowers, berries and mushrooms, and poisonous. It is believed that old turtles switch exclusively to a mushroom diet.

It is said that in the past, people who ate box turtles were poisoned and died because the mushroom's poison was concentrated in the turtle's body.

IN natural conditions She also eats carrion. Thus, turtles are attracted to colonies of herons and other fish-eating birds. Pieces of half-rotten fish that have fallen from their nests are a real treat for the Carolina turtle.

In captivity, she eats food invertebrates (mealworm and its larvae, cockroaches and others), newborn mice, beef liver and heart, fish, dandelions, any fruit, cabbage, carrots and lettuce. Fanciers of past times offered them, in addition to the above, meat, bread and boiled potatoes and reported that the Carolina turtle was “crazy” for half-rotten bananas.

To prevent turtles from being picky, before feeding, vegetables are grated and mixed with offal or fish, adding lettuce and oat sprouts. Bone meal is added to the mixture once a week and “tetravit” once a month at the rate of one drop per turtle. In any case, this is how they fed the Carolina turtles at the Moscow Zoo.

In hot summers, Carolina turtles appear early in the morning, in the dew, eating plants, and also in the evening, especially in warm rains. In severe drought, they hibernate for several weeks, only appearing for a short period in the autumn.

Other populations, on the contrary, are supporters of water; They stay in meadows and swamps and not only swim, but also dive. An aquatic lifestyle is more typical for young animals. They love to take “mud baths.”

Eastern box turtle in nature (T.s. Carolina) goes into hibernation for several winter months, burrowing into silt, rotting vegetation at the edges of streams and lakes, forest litter, and also into half-rotten stumps.

During warmer months, box turtles are usually released into the outside of the terrarium. The terrarium should be spacious (at least 1 m2 per pair), since these turtles are very active and tend to wander. In nature, they travel long distances, but remain attached to their territory. Their individuality should also be taken into account in captivity.

At the Moscow Zoo, five turtles (2 males and 3 females) were kept in a terrarium measuring 200X70X50 cm. The pool (45 x 40 x 20 cm) was filled with wet peat. Sometimes peat is mixed 1/3 with sand and 1/3 with potting soil; substrate layer -8-10 cm.

As in nature, some individuals lead an exclusively terrestrial lifestyle, while others prefer wet habitats, where they dive into water and bask in it for a long time. There is a mention when one copy T.s. Carolina had the habit of bathing in the outdoor pond at least four times a day with aquatic turtles, and he warmed up with them on the island. The proper temperature for this subspecies is from +20 °C to +28 °C, and it should not drop for a long time. Relative humidity — 70—80 %.

A heated house should be installed in the outdoor area where turtles can take shelter during bad weather, although they can withstand short period and even lower temperatures.

Carolina turtle tournaments are frantic and last for hours; the same applies to long hours of mating; it occurs in shallow water.

At the beginning of summer, the female lays eggs in the sun 2— 7 round white eggs, carefully burying them. The Carolina turtle has 4 clutches per season. Hatching occurs from 50 to 90 days; The hatching deadline is 150 days.

In captivity, the hatching rate is determined by the incubation temperature (from +22 °C to +31 °C). The Carolina turtle retains the ability to store active male sperm for 5 years.

As the experience of the Moscow Zoo has shown, before mating, box turtles were given artificial wintering for a month at a temperature of +8 °C +13 °C. The wintering box with turtles was covered with a 10 cm layer of shavings, and they were covered with hay on top.

After hibernation, the turtles began to actively mate, and on July 13, 1985, one female laid three eggs. After 53 days, 2 turtles hatched (the eggs were incubated at a temperature of +29 °C +30 °C).

Under natural conditions, young turtles, without feeding, remain to spend the winter with the adults, choosing shelter from the northern winds and burrowing into loose soil. They appear at the end of April.

It was found that the growth of box turtles is influenced by many seasonal factors: temperature, precipitation, the abundance of grasshoppers on which they feed - climatic conditions determine growth by speeding it up or slowing it down.

The growth rate of a young Carolina turtle in the first year of its life is 68%, in the second year - 28.6%, in the third - 18% and in the fourth - 13.3%.

The fourteen-year-old tortoise grew by only 3%.

At 5-7 years they reach sexual maturity, and a twenty-year-old turtle can be considered a mother. There is evidence that they lived to be 80 years old and even passed the century mark.

Box turtles retain the ability to regenerate: the damaged shell is replaced by one third within 1-2 years; in museums there are specimens with completely updated shells.

The Carolina turtle quickly gets used to it in captivity, eats from your hand and can be taught the simplest tricks by reinforcing its reflexes with treats. However, sometimes she bites her owner and, as zoologists say, “being irritated, she also protects her life, bites and does not easily release what she grabs.” As for the temperature regime, all this applies to the nominal subspecies, the so-called eastern box turtle (T.s. Carolina), most cold-resistant. Naturally, subspecies from the southern states of the USA (Louisiana, Florida, Texas) require higher thermal indices.

Thus, it is advisable for the hobbyist to determine the species or subspecies of the box turtle, and, consequently, its origin and temperature conditions in the terrarium.

Head of a SHORE or LARGE BOX TURTLE (T.s. major) light, and there are no reddish spots on the limbs. It ranges from southeastern Louisiana to western Florida. There are 4 claws on the hind legs.

The most spectacular, elegant of the box-shaped ones is MEXICAN (T. s. mexicana). It has a similar pattern of carapace scutes in the form of diverging rays, like the Florida (T.s. bauri), it is decorated with yellow, red and brown. Living in northeastern Mexico, it, unlike YUCATAN (T. With. yucatana; eastern Mexico), has three claws on the hind legs, like the Florida one. The Yucatan has four. She prefers semi-deserts and heathlands.

In addition to two subspecies of the Carolina turtle that live in Mexico, in the same country it is distributed exclusively rare view— WATER BOX, or BOX COAHUILA (T. coahuila), named after the Mexican state and limited by rivers and swamps near the town of Cuatro Cienegas. She retained her passion for aquatic environment, she has a single-color carapace, and pronounced swim membranes on her hind legs.

On the contrary, NELSON'S BOX TURTLE (T. nelsoni) dry-loving; she lives in mexican states Sonora, Sinaloa and Nayarit. It is clear that both the two subspecies and the two species of box turtles from Mexico require more high temperature, than turtles of temperate regions.