Wildcaught diamondback terrapins

[greentrees]

I was wondering what experiences people have had keeping wildcaught diamondback terrapins. I was never able to keep them alive in the past and gave up. I have lots of captiveborns that I have raised up rarely any troubles. I do have one wildcaught female that was established by someone else and then I bought her that I’ve had for one year. She eats pellets like a pig. My understanding is that people give them lots of fresh seafood. What are your stories and opinions? -Rick Van Dyke

[Rowena Tan]

I’m assuming that my dbt is a wild caught, though I bought her at the Chinese market. *knock on wood* she seems to be doing okay, though I wish I could give her all of the nice settings that everyone else seems to have. She is a strange eater who won’t touch pellets at all. I tried the shrimp stuff, reptomin, zoo med, krill, worms, etc. No luck. She will nibble on anacharis and go on binges, yesterday she ate 10 goldfish and 3 minnows. Before that, she didn’t touch anything for at least 10 days. If I go to the bait shop and put 2 dozen minnows in her tank, she will eat almost all of them in an hour–then she won’t eat again if I add another dozen. She will only eat live things so they know me well at the bait shop. She usually eats minnows, goldfish, and she used to eat crawdads but I am convinced they made her sick. In terms of live food, how much does a typical adult female eat?

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