Captiv Husbandry
Indoor enclosure for juvenile animals
Enclosure for hatchlings: Separated for different species, sizes
and/or food preferings.
In generall I try to avoid the 'all-year-arround-same-conditions' keeping, as this does often not reflects the living conditions of the turtles in their natural habitat. These subtropical species entcounter different conditions in their natural habitat througout the year.
C. longicollis for example is distributed in southeastern Australia where it sometimes even hibernates during cold periods. But also tropical species as M. parkeri and M. rugosa will entcounter different climatic conditions such as rainy seasons with high water level, or with long periods of droughness in the habitat of C. oblonga.
These conditions are difficult to simulate in captivity. However I think that seasonal fluctuations in light, temperature and water level is helpfull in captive keeping and breeding.
All of my turtles are keept in indoor enclosures during the winter. All subtropical and most tropical turtles are transferred into a greenhouse enclosure during the warmer period of the year.
These species apprechiate a change in the environmental conditions and even tropical animals can tolerate lower temperatures fo a while. However they should be carefully watched during this period and if any sign of discomfort appears, they should be returned to the indoor enclosure.
Large basement enclosure to keep the breeding groups during the cold seasson
Greenhouse where most turtles stay between May and October.
Greenhouse is devided into several parts for the different turtles.
Inside view of the greenhouse. Pond is build with pondliner.
Artificial rock in the middle where turtles can hide under or
climb on top of it for sun bathing. Shade is provided by
several plants.
