The Great Salt Debate

[greentrees]

Ok, now you got me cookin’, thinkin’ and researching. I like getting input from everybody and all aspects. I don’t believe any one person has it all figured out on anything. So, I’m reading through Turtles of the US and Canada, by Ernst, Lovich, and Barbour, and they have a fairly extensive blurb about salt and dbts. If I’m reading this correctly, they say that juveniles can’t tolerate salt, or much salt, and they may seek out fresh water habitats to grow up in. In fact, if you keep juveniles in salt water, they don’t grow! And as they mature, they can handle salt intake, but it takes a big adjustment on their part to tolerate and pass the salt! Ok, if in the wild, if dbts have access to a the variety of habitats they need – freshwater to saltwater, upland creeks and marshes, bays/estuaries – couldn’t you be actually harming juveniles in a captive salt situation? Even keeping them in an outdoor pen in their native habitat, doesn’t give them access to the choices in different salinities they need? As far as age, this book says, “M.t. has lived in captivity for more than 14 years (1992), but Hildebrand (1932) estimated they may live longer than 40 years, and the lifespan of Florida M.t.t. was estimated to be 20 years by Seigel (1984). If any of you have this all figured out or know anybody who does, please let us know, but I’m still working on it. -Rick Van Dyke

[llgrn1987@aol.com]

In a message dated 12/9/00 12:45:10 AM SA Eastern Standard Time, greentrees@… writes:

[modelgrafx@aol.com]

Lori, I disagree. I think they make great pets. Well, I don’t know if “pets” is the right word but I enjoy having them and they seem to be thriving. I don’t have any problems and they breed readily. I don’t keep them in salt water and don’t have any problems with shell rot or fungus. They are very vigorous and grow like weeds. My large female that is about 5-6 years old dug her nest and layed her eggs while I was sitting less that a foot from her land area. She is very comfortable with me. It is rare that while the whole group is basking that one jumps in the water when they see me coming. They just usually just stretch out their other foot to catch the suns rays a liitle better. Because dbts are so personable there will always be people that will want to keep them as “pets” and I think it is our job as captive breeders to make them available so that dbts won’t be removed from the wild. I wonder if anyone has ever tried finding out whether a young dbt in the wild if given the choice of fresh or salt water bodies with plenty of food available in both would choose the fresh over the salt. Just curious. Vickie

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