Housing
In an outdoor pond, built of concrete, with a PVC liner (at least 0.8 cm).
When the ground is dug out, it is levelled so as to create ledges at different heights.
Once the pond is built, you must wait at least 2 or even 3 months before releasing the turtles into it. The slopes and gradients should be designed so that the turtles can climb out onto the edge of the pond at any time to bask in the sun.
Examples of pond plants: lotus, water lily, water hyacinth, buttercup, papyrus, horsetail, iris, water plantain, and so on.
Tropical species, which because of their temperature requirements cannot stay outdoors all year round, need an aquarium.
The aquarium is an artificial environment in which it is particularly unrealistic to recreate a natural biotope, so priority must be given to impeccable hygiene.
The layout includes a land area that takes up one third of the aquarium’s total surface.
The tank is cleaned about once a month, and the filter 2 to 3 times a month.
Feeding
Aquatic turtles are not all carnivorous, as many of us are inclined to imagine. A few species, or juveniles, are carnivorous, and on reaching adulthood they become mainly herbivorous. But the vast majority of aquatic turtles are omnivorous.
In captivity, the choice of foods offered to turtles must take strict account of each species’ dietary specifics. Adults are fed at least 2 or 3 times a week, whereas the young must eat daily. The aim is to offer them the most varied diet possible.
Foods suited to turtles’ needs:
Plants and fruit: algae, watercress, water hyacinth, spirogyra, dandelion, cos lettuce, beet leaves, broccoli leaves, turnip leaves, endives, chard, spinach, hibiscus leaves and flowers, mulberry leaves.
Meat: calf’s liver, poultry heart and gizzard.
Vertebrates: mice, rats and other rodents, frogs, chicks, whole fresh fish (minnows, roach, mosquitofish, guppies, eels, sand eels) but also pieces of salmon and hake fillet, frogs’ legs.
Invertebrates: aquatic and land snails, crustaceans (crayfish, shrimp, and so on), bloodworms and earthworms.
Artificial foods: reptile foods (dehydrated pellets), pudding (a gelatinous coloured paste whose ingredients vary with your inspiration! For example: cooking gelatine, fresh trout, fresh shrimp, mussels, beef escalope, eggs, milk, jars of baby food, rabbit or poultry liver, and so on).
Vitamin supplements: if the diet is balanced, there is no need to add any. On the other hand, you can scatter fragments of oyster shell and eggshell on the bottom of the pond, which the turtles eat regularly for their calcium intake. Cuttlebone is also recommended.
Plants: lettuce, escarole, courgette, carrot, cucumber, mushrooms, strawberry, banana, apple, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, Chinese cabbage, turnip
Meat: brain, kidneys, minced steak, cooked or cured ham.
Fish and crustaceans: sardine, smelt, anchovy, shad, carp, herring, bullhead, catfish, goldfish, dried shrimp or gammarids.
Dog and cat foods are strongly discouraged!
Reproduction
In general, females are larger than males, but the best distinguishing feature is the thickness of the base of the tail, which is greater in the male.
Tropical species mate throughout the year, but females tend to lay each year during the same periods. Courtship displays are more or less complex depending on the species, and more or less markedly violent. Because of his aggressiveness, the male can kill the female, particularly if she is not willing, so it is advisable to keep them apart and to put them together in the same tank only once or twice a year to trigger mating.
Laying: this takes place 3 to 4 weeks after mating. The female looks for a spot that is sunny, damp and fairly close to the pond, often near the enclosure fence. She digs a nest and lays her eggs in it before filling it back in. The entrance to this nest can be spotted by a trained eye, but may go completely unnoticed, so meticulous is the lady tortoise!
Females never look after the eggs or the newborns, save for rare exceptions. The eggs should be collected as soon as possible; the longer you wait, the riskier the operation. Turning a turtle egg over can cause the death of the embryo. They must then be placed in an incubator.
Hibernation
Aquatic turtles from temperate climates hibernate in the outdoor pond, and the majority hibernate in the water, but some species opt for the land part of the pond. A shelter of wood or solid material is then needed, along with several large piles of plant matter (used straw, mown grass, dry leaves or manure) arranged in the enclosure, under which the turtles can take refuge.