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Hi

We got a new addition to our household this week - a Victoria River Red-Faced Turtle (Emydura Victoriae). Right now it's only a baby at about an inch and a half long, but eventually it will get to dinner plate size.

Here are some pics of it not long after it came home (in a critter keeper). I'll get some pics of it in it's new tank later today:

http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s250/Gone_Troppo/Turtle/

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Awwwww what a cutie troppo!

So ugly, its cute

Djrichie
"So Long, and Thanks For All The Fish" Douglas Adams

lol awww be nice now Deej....

I think it's a nifty critter indeed!

He certainly is a good little eater. You could cut his food up for him so he doesn't have to mess up the water by tearing it up.

Thanks for the comments folks,

Re: feeding and messing up the tank - the food is cut up! those cubes of food in the video are only about 5mm each.
It is currently being fed frozen, prepared turtle dinner which is what it was eating in the LFS (stinky, messy stuff ). I plan to introduce some less processed foods in the near future which I hope will be a bit less messy; until then it is lots of gravel vaccing and water changes, over filtering and the assistance of a few hungry delicate blue-eyes to keep the food waste in the tank to a minimum.

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

That turtle is a lot cooler than the Red-Eared Sliders that are sold around here.

Did you have to get special permits prior to purchasing it? I wish they would do something like that with turtles around here. Anyone with $5 here can buy a hatchling slider in a goldfish bowl at a flea market. And then they wonder why the animal stops eating and dies a couple months later...

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I'm not your neighbor, you Bakersfield trash.

Cute! That is just gorgeous!


For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett

yeah, I do need a permit to keep it - but that is just a matter of filling in name and address details on the appropriate form and sending it with a copy of the proof of sale from a licensed breeder /retailer to the authorities. I think the price of these little critters is more of a deterrent to impulse buying than needing a permit. At AU$150+ each it's not something that every kid could walk into a pet store and buy with their week's pocket money.

I'm beginning to get the impression that this species is not one that is widely kept, even here in Aus. I have been trawling reptile forums and websites and finding very little information on this particular species in captivity so I'm kind of running on general information about Emydura species and working things out as I go along.

One thing I have learnt, that may be of interest to any other turtle keepers is that the prepared "turtle dinners" are really not an appropriate diet for any freshwater turtles - it has been compared to feeding children chocolate for breakfast.. they will eat it, but that doesn't mean it is good for them - the red meat, salt and fat content of the prepared turtle food is likely to result in long term kidney and liver damage; similarly red meat generally ie beef heart, livers etc is not real good for them (and I've not heard any reports recently of a turtle jumping out of its pond to take a bite out of a passing cow, sheep or goat). As I kind of suspected, a natural diet of freshwater fish, inverts and plants is an infinitely better staple for long term health so my little turtle will be gradually weaned off the packaged stuff over the next couple of weeks.

G_T

Oops... just realised that I never got round to taking and posting any pics of the new tank setup - I'll have to get to that some time soon

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

i used to keep gorgeous turtles when i lived in malaysia - they cost about 50 cents australian each, and i had 6, bought them about 4cm across, in a kid's wading pool that i did out for them - heaped up gravel hills, plants, logs etc. they ate good vegetable matter - dandelion leaves, peas, lettuce etc, worms, flies, any incidental insect life that fell in, plus tadpoles and guppy fry. they would just sit still in the water and then lash out when one came close - never saw them miss.

Well I finally got around to taking some semi-reasonable pics of the new turtle setup.

The tank is 2 ft in length (about 17 gal total capacity) which we expect will be suitable for this little turtle for about 12 months; after that we will need to look at upgrading to a 4 ft or larger tank and probably a pond eventually.

so.. here's the tank

and another couple of the turtle resting in its favourite spot in the water sprite checking me out: Pic 1]http://i154.photobucket.com/albums/s250/Gone_Troppo/Turtle/turtle_24-3-08.jpg[/link], [link=Pic 2

G_T

Never be afraid to try something new. Remember that a lone amateur built the Ark. A large group of professionals built the Titanic.

Love
LOVE
L-O-V-E

I love reptiles.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~