Mary Allen
The musk turtles of the genus Sternotherus are subdivided into the species Sternotherus carinatus, Sternotherus depressus, Sternotherus odoratus, and Sternotherus minor. The latter is the most commonly kept genus of musk turtles.
Habitat and Distribution of the Musk Turtle
The home of the musk turtle Sternotherus minor is the southeastern United States, from outer southwest Virginia and southern Tennessee to central Florida and between Mississippi and the Atlantic coast of Georgia. Sternotherus minor peltifer is only known in eastern Tennessee and southwestern Virginia to eastern Mississippi and Alabama.
Description and Characteristics of a Musk Turtle
Sternotherus minor is a small species that lives almost exclusively in water. It often only leaves the water section in the aqua basin to lay eggs or in stressful situations. The color of the shell is light brown, sometimes almost black-brown. The size of the small turtles is between 8 and 13 cm. The weight is between 150 and 280 g, depending on gender.
Keeping Requirements of a Musk Turtle
An aqua terrarium measuring 100 x 40 x 40 cm is ideal for keeping one male and two females. You should also set up a land section. It is best to attach this at a height of about 10 cm. It should be roughly 40 x 3 x 20 cm. To heat the part of the country, which serves as a sunny spot and is also used extensively by the animals for this, attach an 80-watt spot above it. Depending on the time of year and the length of the day, this should be switched on for between 8 and 14 hours.
You should adjust the temperature of the water to the seasons. But make sure that a temperature of 28 ° C is not exceeded in summer. A lowering at night to around 22 ° C is advisable. In no case should the water temperature exceed the air temperature? It is different with rigid winter. It takes place from the beginning of November for about two months. The optimal temperatures during hibernation are around 10 to 12 ° C.
Nutrition of the Musk Turtle
Musk turtles mainly eat animal food. They prefer aquatic insects, snails, worms, and small pieces of fish, which you can also get very conveniently as canned turtle food. They also like to accept dry food such as JBL’s Turtle Food. They are also very greedy for shell snails.