I have kept a male (15 cm carapace, 220 g) and two females (an ancient looking one of 20 cm length, weighing 760 g, and a younger one of 18 cm length and a weight of 600 g). All of them had a shallow but noticeable groove running lengthwise along the center of their carapace. In all three individuals the carapace scutes were somewhat transparent so that the underlying bone sutures were visible and all had patches of thorny looking tubercles on their thighs. The male's shell was noticeably lower than that of the females and also more elongate, too, while its tail was much longer and thicker.

They were housed in a 300 l aquarium with two underwater caves made from cork bark and a small land section measuring 30 x 50 cm. The water temperature was kept at 26 - 27° Celsius, lighting was provided by one 60 watt light tube and a 60 watt spotlight for basking purposes above the cave adjacent to the land section. To my knowledge none of my animals has ever basked.

All three of them would typically spend most of their days in the caves and become active & swim about as soon as the lights went off. Their typical diet was made up from pieces of fish & meat, pellets & small fish. Small snails were eagerly consumed. I have never seen them eat any plant matter.

Whenever I fed them the results of 'pond-shopping' (go with net & bucket and fish for plankton, water insects, tadpoles and fish fry) these turtles would have a field day - they'd be out of their hideout in no time and would not return to it until the last moving object was eaten. I have once sat down and counted the number of good sized tadpoles eaten by the male: well over one hundred (among countless Gammarus and others)!

Watching them on these occasions shows what they are made for: suction-feeding on small prey objects. They showed a marked dislike for big chunks of food and would always prefer small pieces.

A mid sized Sternotherus odoratus which I housed with them for a day or two was, though so much smaller in size, the clear ruler in the tank. I tend to believe that they are a fairly gentle species and could be trusted with other, even smaller specimens.

Among each other they were fairly indifferent, the male only making a few mating attempts after water changes (even then not seeming to be overly enthusiastic). Maybe he was more active at night because after about one year the older female layed fertile eggs on three occasions, once in the water and twice on land - but only after I installed blinds around the land section and a heating cable in the sand/peat moss mix of the land section.

The eggs were spherical and hard-shelled. 6 of 7 eggs laid in total showed some development before going bad (I had tried incubating them at 27°C).

Updated 17.November 1997