Re: Digest Number 711

[Terrapin Station at USNA/GP]

Terrapin Station at USNA/GP

February 15, 2003 at 11:08 am #18283

I think the swelling is a result of body salt content being greater than the current water condition. At the moment in my containment tank I am trying to establish a salinity comparable to the salinity of the wild-water from which the animals were harvested. I am not using prepared salt, like Instant Ocean – great stuff, but too expensive when you are setting up a 1000 gallon operation. I have a intake set-up from the natural water source to the inside of the lab. We are iced in at the moment, so I have suspended the intake operation. I once made the mistake of over-salting my hatchling tank which caused the hatchling to dehydrate. Fortunately it was only a short time 15 minutes, before I noticed my mistake. I placed the hatchling in fresh water at which time it extended all limbs to absorb as much fresh water as possible. It was fine after that. However, a high salinity can kill terrapins – they must have a fresh water source. I read that a harvester in VA was providing male terrapin to a researcher in CA, a medical college, for use in kidney research. The salt processing abilities of terrapin would be useful in this regard since a type of human kidney failure produces a retention of salts which causes fluid retention which can cause the lung tissues to drown. I tried to track down the work with no luck. The article was from 1976 Baltimore Sun – the school was in BC CA, I think.

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