NEWS113
25
A
Pelusioscastaneus
lookingat the camerawith interest.The speciesbecomes very tame.
In termsof color,theupper sideof theheadof
Pelusioscastaneus i
s themostattractivepartof the turtle.
castaneus
shouldn't in factbeendangered,
but therehavebeennoscientificstudiesof
the wild populations in themajor part of
itsdistribution.Littlemoney isavailable for
fieldwork, and hence virtually nothing is
knownaboutpopulation trends.Scientists
in Nigeria utilize a very interesting
procedure:theyvisitmarkets that regularly
offer "bushmeat" (i.e.wild animals sold as
food) for sale.Which also includes turtles,
of course. Unfortunately these visits have
established that among the tortoises,
populationsof thegenus
Kinixys
(therewill
be an article on
K. erosa
in the next issue)
are declining significantly. But
Pelusios
castaneus
is still regarded as not
endangered and not subject to any
international trade restrictions.
Pelusioscastaneus
in the terrarium
TheWestAfricanMudTurtle isveryeasy to
maintain in the terrarium. It is
undemandingandpeaceful.Because it isa
tropical animal it requires a year-round
water temperatureof 24-26 °C,and theair
should be 2-4 °C warmer. The aqua-
terrarium should not be too small (tank
length 5x shell length), as the species is
fairly lively and likes to swim. A piece of
corkbarkwill be adequate as aneveryday
land area, but females require a large and
aboveall deep landarea for egg-laying.
Ideally the females should be weighed
regularly during the breeding season -
their weight increases noticeably when
they are gravid. They can then be
transferred into suitably arranged
accommodation,with about 30 cmdepth
of substrate, for egg-laying. The eggs are
only slightly temperature tolerant, so the
incubation temperature should not drop
below 27°C or rise above 30 °C. A
temperature of around 29 °C has proved
ideal.Theyounghatchafter 55-60days.
Note that the individuals in the photos
were imported from Nigeria in 2006. The
two specimens - apair - havegrown from
a shell lengthof around6cm to18and19
cmduring their 8years incaptivity.
Ifyouarenow filledwith thedesire tokeep
and breed
Pelusios castaneus,
your pet
dealer can undoubtedly order them for
Literatur
:
Fritz,U.,Branch,W.R.,Hofmeyr,M.D.,Maran,
J.,Prokop,H.,Schleicher,A.,Široký,P.,
Stuckas,H.,Vargas-Ramírez,M.,Vences,M.&
Hundsdörfer,A.K. (2010):
Molecular
phylogenyof Africanhingedandhelmeted
terrapins (Testudines:Pelomedusidae:
Pelusios andPelomedusa). ZoologicaScripta,
40,115–125.
Luiselli,L.,Petrozzi,F.&G.C.Akani (2013):
Long-term comparison reveals trends in
turtle trade inbushmeatmarketsof Southern
Nigeria.Herpetozoa26 (1/2):57-64
StuckasH.,Gemel R.,FritzU. (2013):
One
ExtinctTurtleSpecies Less:Pelusios
seychellensis IsNot Extinct, ItNever Existed.
PLoSONE8(4):e57116.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0057116
you from a trustworthy wholesaler, for
examplehttp://www.reptilia24.com
