NEWS105
21
themselves,without any intervention at all
by theowner.
The aquarium for Redbellied Shortneck
Turtles
Because of its splendid pink, black, and
white coloration
Emydura subglobosa
is an
excellent ornamental animal that can be
readilymaintained in large aquaria with a
varietyofdécor.It isparticularlyadvisableto
keep fishes in the same aquarium, as the
latterwill veryquickly indicate (by falling ill)
that the water quality isn’t as good as it
might be, and they also help produce a
varied, constantly interesting scene.
Adequately fed turtles rarely go hunting
fishes.Occasionallya sickorweak small fish
may fall prey to the turtles, but the same
wouldalsohappen in thewild.
A tankof length150cmormore shouldbe
chosen for a paludarium of this type. This
willmake iteasier tosetupandwill suit the
turtles very well, as they are excellent
swimmers with a strong urge to keep
moving. The water chemistry is of lesser
importance, while the water temperature
should be 22-26 °C. A powerful filter will
ensure clear, goodqualitywater. For safety
reasons itwill ideally containan integrated
heater - a separate heater-stat such as is
used in fish-only aquaria is less suitable
because of the risk of breakage by larger
turtles. It isextremely important that theair
temperature above the aquarium is not
significantly lower than the water
male. But evenmales tolerate one another
astonishinglywell.After theonsetof sexual
maturity themales canbe recognizedvery
easily by the length of their tails – almost
double thatof the females.
Mainlycarnivorous
Feeding the Redbellied Shortneck Turtle is
easy. These turtles are mainly flesh-eaters
(carnivorous). Adults can be fed with
proprietary food sticks, dried
Gammarus
,
and deep-frozen foods such as shrimps,
whitebait,musselmeat, squid, etc.As far as
possible warm-blood meat shouldn’t be
offered, as it is only poorly digested and
heavily pollutes thewater. But balls of raw
meat areuseful treats if the turtlesneed to
begivenmedicationvia their food.
The rearing of specimens available in the
tradepresentsnoproblems.Essentiallythey
shouldbetreated inthesamewayasadults,
though naturally the food should be
correspondingly smaller. In addition to the
items
listed
above,
deep-frozen
bloodworms (for aquarium fishes) are an
important food for rearing.
You can tryofferingvegetable foodaswell
now and then, for example sweet fruit,
Dandelion, or similar. Some individuals
Adult albino specimen. Photo:ChristophFritz,www.reptilia24.com
In
Emydura
theneck iswithdrawn into the shell inanS shape (sideneck turtles). Photo:F.Schäfer
temperature, as otherwise respiratory
diseases can easily occur. The temperature
on the land area beneath the heat lamp
should reach30-35 °C. It iswisest tochoose
a spot lampwith aUV component.Heavily
gravid females in particular will make
extensiveuseof this“sunbed”.
Redbellied Shortneck Turtles are usually
verypeaceful among themselves sogroup
maintenance is possible. If space permits
one male should be kept with several
females,inorder toallow the femalesa little
rest from the constant attentions of the
