Adding some Musk into the mix

[ADestroyah@aol.com]

Hey everyone. I haven’t been posting much as of late, but I have been keeping track of the going ons. I have been occupied with some newcomers. One of which is a musk turtle. I’m not sure exactly what subspecies it belongs to yet, but it seems to be one of the giant musks since it’s shell is over five inches. I have the turtle isolated, since it came complete with a nice hole in the back of it’s shell, and a fine coating of algae to boot. I was worried that the hole may have been caused by shell rot, but that doesn’t seem to be the case. It was probably just an injury caused during capture. Getting to the point, are musks and DBTs compatible? The musk likes rummaging at the bottom of his tank for food. Since DBTs are messy eaters, and send a lot to the bottom, using the musk to get these bits seems like a no brainer. My main concern (besides any disease or parasites the musk may have)lays in the musk’s looks. It looks not so distantly related to a snapping turtle with it’s hooked beak. It seems very non aggressive when handled, but that doesn’t mean it will be the same way to the usually too curious for their own good DBTs. My second concern would be that the thing will drown in the tank given it’s set up. The musk turtle seems very clumsy, and not too great of a swimmer. I’m kind of worried that it won’t be able to climb or swim up for air. Finishing up here, how long do others keep new turtles quarentined for? I was thinking a week, but it’ll probably take that long just to get rid of the algae on this turtle’s shell.. I have been searching for a large species of fish (well, around Oscar or Cichlid size anyway) that would also be safe for my DBTs and my Goldfish. Anyone have any possible canidates? Lastly, here’s my two cents on the Fluval discussion. I was using a Fluval 404 for months, then we had a brief power outtage. The thing has to be “pump” started with some stupid little finger blistering, key shaped, fragile handle that has snapped on me not once, but twice! I am currently using a submersible pond filter that I bought at the Home Depot for just under a hundred. The Fluval 404 worked very well though until it started it’s breaking streak. Fluvals customer support is also excellent, and they sent me replacement parts in just a little over a week. If only I could get the darn thing working again.. You can never have enough filtration when it comes to turtles after all.

[guttata@vermontel.net]

Musk turtles and diamondbacks shouldn’t be kept together for lots of reasons. For starters, DBT’s are brackish water turtles and musk turtles are not. Water depth is a problem as well. Terrapins like deeper water where musk turtles prefer more calm and shallower water. And finally, they are a different type of turtle all together. Their needs are nothing alike. Terrapins with terrapins, musk with musks, and sliders with sliders is usually the way I like to keep things. I suggest a quarantine period of 60 days. 1 week is not nearly long enough to make sure your new turtle is healthy and parasite free. A good cure for the algae is hydrogen peroxide on the algae and leaving the turtle to dry out for a substantial amount of time before re-entering the water. Keep UV lights off him while in the water until the algae is gone or the UV light will build it back up as fast as you get it off. Good luck and please re-consider the mixing of your 2 turtles. Musks are easy to keep in a 10 or 20 gallon tank by themselves and a small filter. John C.

[Scott]

snappers ans softshells are different but do ok in the wild — guttata@… wrote: __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get email alerts & NEW webcam video instant messaging with Yahoo! Messenger http://im.yahoo.com

[guttata@vermontel.net]

“snappers ans softshells are different but do ok in the wild” What does that have to do with anything? I’m interested in that one if you can somehow tie a snapper and a softshell into his or my post?

[ADestroyah@aol.com]

reasons. For starters, DBT’s are brackish water turtles and musk turtles are not. Water depth is a problem as well. Terrapins like deeper water where musk turtles prefer more calm and shallower water. And finally, they are a different type of turtle all together. Their needs are nothing alike. Terrapins with terrapins, musk with musks, and sliders with sliders is usually the way I like to keep things.<< I'm not exactly dead set on adding the musk to my DBT tank, but, how are their needs nothing alike? Granted, they do prefer shallow water, and DBTs are brackish, but both factors are pretty insignificant in a captive enviroment aren't they? I do keep my DBTs in freshwater, and it shouldn't be too difficult to devise a way for the musk to reach the surface. (Even in the ten gallon that he's currently in, I use brick "stairs" for him to reach the basking spot. Shouldn't be too hard to make a larger version of this in the larger tank.) They do inhabit similar regions of America, and in some cases, even the same state. They both feed on similar diets, and they both do well at nearly identical temperatures. to make sure your new turtle is healthy and parasite free. A good cure for the algae is hydrogen peroxide on the algae and leaving the turtle to dry out for a substantial amount of time before re-entering the water. Keep UV lights off him while in the water until the algae is gone or the UV light will build it back up as fast as you get it off. Good luck and please re-consider the mixing of your 2 turtles. Musks are easy to keep in a 10 or 20 gallon tank by themselves and a small filter. I was thinking anywhere from the 60-90 day range after I noticed the huge algae build up. I will try out the hydrogen peroxide treatments tommorow, thanks for the advice. I may also leave them seperate, I was only considering adding the musk to help with the clean up. Try as they might, the goldfish don't seem capable of getting down left over bits of Zoo Med pellet, or Aquamax and usually spit them out after swallowing them and nibbling on them for a few seconds. My DBTs also made short work out of the cat fish that I bought in just a few hours. (Couldn't even find a whisker!) So that method of natural filtration is out of the question.

[ADestroyah@aol.com]

wild” What does that have to do with anything? I’m interested in that one if you can somehow tie a snapper and a softshell into his or my post?<< That's pretty strange.. Since when do they get along well in the wild? Any Softshells kept anywhere near snappers of relative, or larger size will have to deal with predation from the snapper. A Softshells soft shell is usually reason to keep it housed seperate from other species of turtles. But why anyone would want to put the turtle with the weakest form of defense, with one of the turtles with the greatest amount of offense is beyond me.

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