Cuora amboinensis    (Daudin, 1802)

My personal experience in keeping this turtle is limited to one freshly hatched specimen which I raised to a length of
about 10 cm before selling it. It was quite shy and a regular basker.

I kept it together with 1,1 Rhinoclemmys p. manni. In order to maintain & maybe improve the beautiful orange &
red colors of the Rhinoclemmys I fed them a color enhancing food made for Koi carps. The little Cuora grew really
fond of those pellets and after a few weeks the bright yellow parts of its plastron turned pink and the seams bright red.

At the "wet" market in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, I saw a few huge specimens for sale as food. Even though I did not
measure any of them I think they may even have exceeded 25 cm in length. 

I once caught an adult male on the banks of a fresh water reservoir in Singapore. It was wandering about in inch-deep
water and did not attempt to flee when it noticed me. Instead, it just closed up its shell. Its plastron was quite concave and the carapace was quite narrow, almost constricted in the middle.

In the same waters lots of indigenous turtles, as well as large numbers of introduced specimens (Chrysemys, Pseudemys)
could be seen swimming around a viewing platform, waiting to be fed.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

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