Re: Salinity
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I see so much controversy on salt in DBT’s, I thought I would throw $.02 in. I don’t keep DBT’s, but lived amongst them for a couple of years, and have read as much as I could get my hands on about them when living there. Interestingly, DBT’s are a member of the family of turtles called the “Emydidae” (I don’t know what it translates to.) and are called the “Basking Turtles) It is made up (in North America) of the Cooters, Sliders, Painteds, Spotted, Wood and Bog turtles, all of which are pretty much aquatic, and live in fresh water, the Box Turtle, which has left the water for a home on the land, much in the way of the Tortoises, and the Blanding’s turtle, which is A/C – D/C, living in both. (Really, Woods are like this too.) Now, the other member, the Diamondbacks, evidently found a niche in the coastal areas, and were able to make a living there due to a tolerance to salt water. The other members of this family who have this tolerance are the Chicken Turtle and the Suwannee Cooter, both having been found far out to sea, and with barnacles on the shell. Now tolerance does not infer a need for it; indeed, all of these, including DBT’s, can be found in fresh water, which is where the Chicken and Cooter prefer to live anyway. So, the idea here is that the DBT has a tolerance for salt, but not the gnarly adaptations of the Sea Turtles (tear glands that weep very salty tears, and can be seen on females when they come ashore for egg laying) for living 100% of the time in total salt. I have seen Terps laying eggs on coastal hammocks where the salinity of the water where the hatchlings would go varied according to the tides, rainfall, and the phase of the moon. I have also seen them laying eggs in an area of Needle Rush, where the water was almost fresh. However, if they went much upriver, they would run into competition with Cooters and Sliders, which wouldn’t do at all. So the point of all this rambling is; Do they need salt? No, not really, as they are adapted to a great range of salinity from fresh to almost full ocean salinity. Is it good for them? Maybe, as it seems to have some fungicidal qualities. Do I really need it in my tanks and enclosures? I think it is up to the keepers, as I have seen posts from breeders who never use salt, and their terps do fine. Note: The salinity range (tested with an optical specific gravity reader) in waters where I saw terps ranged from about .9 ppt (parts per thousand) to about 2.1. (Open ocean is 3.5, near shore waters vary from about 2.7 to 2.9.) Joyous Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Merry Yule, and to those of you who have finished Ramadan, don’t party too hardy. Greetings from…. Alex Netherton The Appalachian Naturalist Asheville, NC http://www.appalachian-naturalist.com alex@…
for those who do not know brackish water is 1/2 the salt of sea water i was told 100lbs of salt per 800 gals of water this may onkly help those with ponds . merry christmas , happy new year and happy holidays to all mikey turtle
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