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Posted by teepee on March 21, 2003 at 16:33:56:
In Reply to: It's like unprotected sex... posted by MiserMike on March 20, 2003 at 15:05:31:
I bought several species of water turtles as hatchlings and put them all in the same tank. They were about the size of quarters when I bought them. The Florida red belly turtles grew faster than the rest and ate the red ear sliders, and the map and painted turtles. The only survivor of the horror was one lone map turtle that turned out to be a male. They are still together, but I still worry about the map being eaten. At first I thought the others were dying and being fed upon after death until I found a live turtle that was about 25% eaten. I don't know why it was still alive. The two red belly turtles(one male, one female) and the lone male map turtle are all thats left from the original 12 turtles. Keep them separate unless you are breeding them, or you run the risk of loss.
::In a local reptile zoo over here they keep 3 commen snappers (20")together and they seem alright...
:Unfortunately, too many reptile zoos take chances they shouldn't, and if something goes wrong, they just clean up the mess and replace the victim. Their inmates are somewhere between scenery and livestock, not beloved pets. [Now don't everybody jump on me about the places that DO care about their animals. We all know the crummy kind are out there.]
:Keeping snappers together is like unprotected sex: you can take the chance and get away with it, sometimes for quite a long while. But sooner or later you're gonna get caught. In a full-natural setting, like a small lake, snappers probably don't feed on other turtles, but in any container, they're just too close, and can't flee far enough. Parasites are a much bigger problem in / on captive herps than wild ones for the same reason. True, herps raised together do get used to each other, and *may* live in harmony, but all it takes is one incident -- especially with common snappers. I'd compare it to keeping two pythons together. They normally don't feed on reptiles, like kingsnakes do, but if they were to grab the same prey item at the same time.... Now picture snappers arguing over the same food.
: Miser Mike
