yup tortoise can be overweight and eats anytime. what kind of tortoise are you referring too? what's the diet?


i think got some caresheets on the 1st page of this thread. by the way, as you're still using those round plastic containers, i presume the turtles are still small. how can you be sure of the sex?

filter is a must unless you're willing to frequently change the water, as res eats and poops a lot. uv is also a must unless the turtles are housed outdoors or being frequently exposed to sunlight.

res always seem to be hungry bro, need to control their diet or some complications might occur. also, try to give them live food like feeder fish on certain days of the week so they can get exercise by chasing them. other alternatives include using strong pump and deep water, so they have to swim against the current, good workout.

if your mum throw vege a certain day, might not have to feed them other food that day.

don't get too many pets all at once la bro, otherwise you won't have the time to take care of them. one at a time, maybe one a month or so and then add some more when all the requirements are met and the care fits your schedule. not 4-5 (or maybe more?) snakes a month and now tortoise, especially not for a starter. no offense bro, just some advice. don't get too excited in this hobby, it will cause burnout.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Jun 7 2007, 07:35 PM

and how often do you go back to hometown?

put them in toyogo or something with some water and driftwood. then put them in the sun and leave them be. they will bask if they need to. just make sure they can't climb out.

if the weather's too hot they won't bask either, so morning sun is the best.

can't be at too many places at once...

maybe if this thread get segregated into into different threads: a thread for tortoise, a thread for turtles, thread for imports, etc. the discussion will be more focused and attract more participation.

even rodents got several threads...

i hate people who keep on changing pets to keep up with trend

hey, let's not digress and keep on talking about chelonians here. i'm gonna contribute with this piece:

Malayemys subtrijuga - Malayan snail-eating turtle





This smaller species is hard to come by nowadays and not recommended for beginners. WC specimens seems to always have severe shell rots, which requires extensive cleaning ups. Further, Malayemys have specialized diet (aquatic snails), and most likely they won't take pellets. I have to breed snails for 2 months before getting my specimens, as I don't want to risk these precious turtles end up getting starved.

(Western collectors usually bought in large amount, and only work on specimens that converted to pellets. Their logic is 'with large amount, some will adapt'. Those that didn't adapt would starve to death)

Saying all that, keeping healthy specimens could be quite rewarding, especially after all those hard work.

Hope this information adds up to our knowledge, i'll try to post other lesser-known species when i have the time. Enjoy.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Jun 22 2007, 02:37 AM

apple, ramshorn, nerite.... can only give them snails of certain size, i'll explain at the last part of this post.

I haven't kept Malayemis for too long, as finding them is quite hard and the preparation takes time. used to have lots of them in paddy fields, nowadays even paddy fields are hard to find.

yeah quite easy. they need clear (preferably flowing) water, space, enough food, sunlight. snails breeding wouldn't be successful without all these. they'll live, but wouldn't breed. if you give them veges, need to always monitor and throw away leftovers before water became dirty. quite easy actually once they established.

i breed mine in three 6'x2' tank and some smaller tanks as well. i start with 10 brown apples and 10 golden apples, after 2 months they've multiplied to a few thousands.

the requirements for nerite and ramshorn is quite similar, but both are heavy algae eaters compared to apples that would consume almost anything thrown at them.

i think what ekiddie is trying to say is, the turtles eat the snails, not their own eggs

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more info:
Malayemys have specialized feeding mechanism. They would bite a snail, crush the shells with their powerful jaws, grab on the meat and do some head bobbing to clear the shell pieces off the edible parts. in order for them to properly do this, the snails must be of certain size range; snails that are too big would not fit in their jaws and performing their feeding feats on snails that are too small would be hard.

of course they could be taught to take other food, but that takes lots of times and efforts.

has he grown bigger since i last visited? you pamper him too much, give crayfish summore! expensive food....

i thought they moved to aman suria already... and yeah, the one in the picture is an ally snapper.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Jun 28 2007, 09:31 PM

actually they are different in built... malayan box are more domed and have hinged plastron, so they can hide their limbs under their shell completely if there's danger. RES don't have hinged plastron.

since sliders are damn good swimmers and are more aggressive compared to the shy boxie, therefore like uzairi said there might be problem during feeding time, cause the RES would likely eat the bulk of the food before boxie can have its share. plus, RES are always hungry...

assuming that your turtles are Red Eared Sliders, your setup seems ok. you only need to add on basking light and uvb lighting (warning. UVB is more expensive than your whole setup) or you could opt to put them in outside enclosure and let them enjoy natural sunlight. food, turtle pellets will do for now.

however, the most important part is not to throw them back into longkang/river/lakes/etc as these turtles are invasive species and would disrupt local ecosystems.

sam, could you do a little elaboration on this? thanks.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Jul 1 2007, 09:36 AM

no.. no... what i meant was elaborate more on the statement below. my bad, didn't quote properly.

probably both. because specimens that we received includes both adult and yearlings, all suffered from shell rot. rots into the organs inside, its that bad.

in a paludarium setting, i noticed that malayemys stays on completely dry area most of the time, sometimes in shallow water and seems to avoid deep water. probably the captors failed to emulate this (which captor provides paludarium anyway?) or maybe they're used to shell rotting in paddy fields?


nobody breed apple snails in planted tanks. if you wanna try, just stop by my place and i'll gladly give you some. just note that ur planted tank would be like padang jarak padang tekukur in no time (in that case, please save some java moss for me 1st LOL)

ramshorn, nerite, trumpet won't grow/breed fast enough and they remain small, bad choice for staple.

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Jul 4 2007, 06:00 PM

like 20 became 10,000 in a month kinda fast...

actually i don't know exactly .. bought them at 88, labeled 'tiger snail'.

hey, since your ramshorn and trumpet had already became nuisance, why not just pass some to me? extra breeders would certainly boost my breeding projects.

not much luck with nerite man, slow breeder. last time, salinity (or rather over salinity) almost kill the population LOL

that's why i concentrate on apples. good food for turtles. hardy, breeds like crazy. plus, as apple eats almost anything, it's easier to gutload them with pellets/supplements compared to algae eating species.

pinkie... never cross my mind that you'll be here. i thought you're gonna quit with pets?

want 40 also can get... if can get pass the customs

leslie: ally snapper is 100 times more dangerous than tri colored

This post has been edited by camillenoir: Jul 24 2007, 04:39 PM

hey, i love my Corallus, biters they are. anyway, with these aggressors, i'd always be prepared, read the signs, wear glasses and always cautious. was bitten only once, and that's only superficial wound.

with turtles, i tend to slip off hahaha. most of the time, injuries are cuts caused by hind legs of giant specimens but had some close calls with bites too. and ally snappers are the worst when it comes to biting, bite force is over 1000 pounds. some keepers don't realize this, they know that the bite is strong but don't know it is strong enough to break bones.

anyway, snappers will happily bite the owner, i assure you

happens.. a male of mine won't take leafy greens anymore. usually can feed them with grape leaves, hibiscus, grass & pellets, sometimes supermarket greens. now he's basically living on lady's finger and pellets. not good, but since it seems that he'd rather starve for a week than eat leafs, got no choice. got to gradually reform him.

i think uzairi's whole collection is facing the same problem now.

bro, where are you located? exoterra tortoise pellet is available in many shops. pet safari, pets wonderland, 88 all have. mazuri is another choice, but getting one is difficult here.

opuntia is high fibre, part of their natural diet.

timothy hay will do, but i think getting the grass form is better (more moisture contents).