Can you remember the first time you saw a Pied Ball Python? How about an IMG BCI or a Black Dragon? Animals like this represent more than just new morphs, colors or patterns within a species. They represent possibilities. Possibilities to selectively breed animals that display new traits which have never been created before. Those possibilities are the driving forces which motivate the dedicated people in our hobby.
The Chelonian world is somewhat late to the morph party in some respects. Just over the past 10 years have you been able to see some of the different slider morphs, box turtle variations and even snapping turtle variations become more commonly made available on the internet. From what we can tell, there are two reasons for this. Firstly, and most obviously, most chelonians take significantly longer to sexually mature than their other cold blooded relatives. So, even if you were the lucky person to hatch the first albino of your favorite turtle species, you would be looking at anywhere from 2-7 years before you could try to prove it out with most commonly kept species and significantly longer for others. The second reason having an effect is somewhat related to the first. In our modern world full of instant gratification, most people aren’t willing to put the time into waiting the years it takes to be able to breed most chelonian species. Because of this, poaching wild animals has become a major problem. This not only hurts wild populations of the turtles we love, but it can also turn the turtle breeding community into somewhat of a sketchy place at times. A Google search will shed light on this problem if you’re unfamiliar with how significant it is.
The choice to breed Diamondback Terrapins was an easy one for us. 1) They are soooo much cooler than other turtles. 2) With 7 unique subspecies, the potential for variations and morphs is far greater than with most other species. 3) They don’t get too large for the average hobbyist to keep. 4) Terrapins have more personality than any reptile we have ever kept. 5) Did we mention how much cooler they are than other turtles?
We are definitely not the first people to breed Terrapins and hopefully we aren’t the last, but we feel like the party is somewhat just getting started for this species. With less than 30 albino terrapins known to be in existence in the world (most of which are in China), the development of true genetic morphs is just beginning. Within just one of the seven subspecies there are 6 different skin colors, 5 skin marking patterns and 4 common shell patterns. Those are just the naturally occurring variations one could observe in wild animals down the gulf coast of Florida. Just imagine what will be able to be produced when albino, hypo and melanistic animals are more commonly available… This is the stuff that gets us excited.
Many newer people in our little corner of the hobby scour Kingsnake or Fauna Classifieds, buy up a bunch of terrapins and thrown them into a melting pot tub while hoping for the best. While this can produce some great looking terrapins (we have seen some incredible ones produced by others using this very method), we are taking a different approach. Over the past 3 years, we have methodically built our breeding groups to include the most unique diamondback terrapins we could find from most of the seven subspecies. We now have over 100 terrapins in our groups and we have 17 different breeding tubs set up. This allows us to single out the animals we are wanting to pair together in order to prove out the traits we are shooting for.
Selectively breeding turtles is somewhat like being a pioneer. There is very little literature on the subject and if you ever want to venture into this crazy turtle world, you will also find that many experienced breeders simply won’t help others “learn the ropes” or share tips or helpful information with aspiring breeders.
That’s a mentality that we want nothing to do with. There is nothing new under the big sun that shines on all of us and if someone genuinely wants to learn about something we have experience with, we are happy to help if we are able to. Our passion for this species and the breeding potential within it has us excited everyday and we genuinely love meeting others who share the same love for terrapins that we have found.
Breeding
One of the highlights of our passion is breeding. It’s an amazing feeling when you have worked so hard to dial in your husbandry, and the turtles are happy and healthy enough to give you eggs. The basics of breeding diamondbacks is simple. They need clean water to swim and spend most of their time in, a place to bask, and an area of sand at least 8” deep to lay eggs in. Getting them to actually lay fertile eggs is another story.
What has worked for us, is loosely replicating each subspecies natural environment. For example. The ornate diamondback comes from Florida. Living in Illinois can make that challenging. So, we use artificial heat and light to achieve our goal. Once summer comes to an end in Illinois, we will heat our facility to mimic the still warm Florida season. As Florida air temps drop, we begin to drop our air temps as well. As water temps drop in Florida, we drop our water temps. We do the same with daily light cycles. Fewer hours of light combined with lower air and water temperatures, puts the turtles into a brumation state. Some of the turtles will stay slightly active, and some will choose either water or sand to sleep, sometimes for multiple months. Because they are in a brumation state, they are able to go without food for many many weeks. We still offer them small amounts of food if/when they are active and as long as the water temps aren’t too cold for their digestive systems to process the food.
As the seasons begin to warm up in Florida, we begin to raise our temperatures. In our observation, raised temps seems to provoke breeding behavior. Once breeding begins, it takes roughly 3-4 weeks for the females to lay eggs.
This is where it can get tricky for the untrained eye. There are usually indications that a female is ready to lay, but there are almost always one or two females in a group who can surprise you. The typical signs are the following: She will begin to act slightly frantic. She will start to sniff around the nesting area, looking for that perfect place to lay. We try to create as many heat and moisture variations in the sandbox as we possible. This gives the nesting female options. Once they find their ideal nesting location, the digging begins. From time to time, they will dig a nest, and not lay eggs for whatever reason. Once the perfect spot is found, and the eggs are deposited into the nest, they burry the eggs, and pack down the sand. It can be almost impossible to locate the nest If you aren’t prepared. To help us locate nest sites, we use cameras that notify us when there is activity in the sandbox. Even if we don’t catch them laying the eggs, we can observe nesting behavior, therefore knowing eggs will be soon to follow. Sometimes if a female seems unable to find the perfect spot, we will block them in the sand box, and eventually, they find an acceptable spot to lay.
Once eggs are located and recovered from the nest, we prepare a container to place them in for incubation. Incubation time depends on the temperature that the eggs are being incubated at. The lower the temperature, the longer the incubation period. The higher the temperature, the quicker the incubation period. Eggs incubated at or under 81 F will produce all males, almost 100% of the time. Incubating eggs at 84 F and above will produce mostly female hatchlings, and temperature in between those will produce a mix of males and females. One risk of higher incubation temperatures is possible scute deformities.
Once the baby terrapins have hatched, we keep them in the incubator with a moist paper towel until their yolk sac has absorbed. At this point we introduce them to shallow, warm filtered water. As they grow, we increase the depth of the water in their enclosures.
Some interesting Terrapin facts
- The diamondback terrapin is a brackish water turtle. Found from Cape Cod Massachusetts, all the way down and around the Florida coast to Texas.
- The history of the diamondback terrapin is an interesting one, and the almost demise of the species included a soup bowl and a bottle of Sherry. Years ago, terrapins were an abundant species. SO abundant in fact, that they became a main staple for a quick meal in colonial America. Fast forward to the early 1900’s. The terrapin turned from a quick cheap meal to a delicacy. Terrapin soup became so popular and profitable, that the turtles were almost wiped out to extinction. Many northern populations were so depleted, that people started traveling down the east coast, to collect wild specimens of the southern subspecies populations. As these subspecies were collected, they were brought to ranges beyond their own. Many of them became foundation animals for breeding stock at terrapin farms, living and breeding in large concrete ponds.
- An unlikely hero saved the day for diamondback terrapins. Prohibition! Once prohibition hit, people were no longer able to use one of the main ingredients in the soup. Sherry. Once the liquor was removed from the soup, people soon realized that turtle soup without the liquor didn’t taste very good. It didn’t take long for terrapin soup to become almost obsolete. So what happened to these terrapin farms consisting of collected mixed subspecies? They were dumped into the local coastal waterways. What is interesting about this, is that to this day, you will come across wild northern specimens that exhibit traits of their southern relatives, and vice versa. The diamondback terrapin has been making a steady incline ever since.
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