Captive Habitat

If you decide to keep Geoemyda spengleri adults together, it is important to provide multiple hides, sight breaks and water dishes to avoid stress in submissive animals. We keep our G. spengleri adults and youngsters individually. Adults are only brought together for breeding purposes, which reduces stress and helps the keeper maintain detailed notes on parentage and overall health. When deciding whether to keep G. spengleri together or not, one should keep this in mind. A friend of theTurtleRoom recently lost two male G. spengleri when their reproductive organs we severed by bites from other animals in the enclosure that had perhaps mistaken them for a live prey item. Individually, housing for G. spengleri does not need to be very large. 18-Gallon rubbermaid tubs can be used as a minimum for one adult. The tall, opaque walls reduce stress and help maintain humidity.

Geoemyda spengeri can be kept with success on a substrate mixture of organic topsoil, peat moss and cypress mulch. The topsoil and cypress mulch retain moisture and helps increase overall humidity of the terrarium, while peat moss lowers ph and wards of mold that may grow in damp areas. Oak leaves can be used in enclosures to help reduce stress. One would think that a turtle shaped like a leaf would do well in a situation where they could hide amongst fallen leaves. We use clay pot halves or cork bark rounds as hides and various items as water dishes in adult enclosures. Hides can be arranged to provide "look-out" areas where spengleri can rest and observe their surroundings.

Live plants should be incorporated within the enclosure to provide security to the animals, raise the humidity, and help break down waste in the substrate. Many Southeast Asian plants can be found for sale as house plants. Korean and Upside Down Ferns and Japanese Peace Lillies have been used with great success. One seasoned G. spengleri keeper once told us that "if the plants are thriving, the turtles should as well." Basking heat sources are not as important in this species as proper humidity levels. The importance of UVB is also unknown, as they live under heavy canopy in the wild. Some keepers do not keep their animals with a UVB overhead, while those who do use a UVB source seem to do so for peace of mind. We use a UVB strip light over all of our G. spengleri enclosures for that very reason.

The enclosure is sprayed daily to maintain humidity. Uneaten food items like earthworms are left to inhabit the enclosure. We add springtails to our G. spengleri habitats as well. These small insects work to break down waste left behind by the turtles. Springtails can be purchased from our friends at NEHerpetoculture.com.

Captive Diet

Our animals are fed a mixture of live food, pellets, fruits and a lean meat mixture. Most often, live prey items like earthworms, crickets, snails, slugs, and pill bugs are appreciated greatly. A mixture of pellets can be offered in a dish with chopped fruit. We prefer to use Mazuri Aquatic Turtle Diet above all other pellets and a variety of fruits are accepted by our adults. Geoemyda spengleri seem to prefer over ripened fruit that is red in color. Strawberries, grapes, blueberries, and tomatoes have all been eaten here. The meat mixture we use is a combination of lean ground turkey meat, chicken feed and vegetables, usually finely chopped carrots. This mixture was an idea borrowed from the care regiment of a zoo close to one of tTR's breeders.

Temperatures

It is widely believed that G. spengleri should be kept between 68 and 80 degrees. Our adults are left to experience temperatures in a much larger range than that, allowing for nighttime drops and seasonal fluctuations. Temperatures in the mid 90s have been experienced temporarily during the summer and temperatures in the 40s have been experienced temporarily during the winter, both with no ill affect. We aim to maintain our G. spengleri above 60 and below 85 degrees. In our experience, when this species is subjected to temperatures below the mid 60s, they slow down greatly, sometimes not moving for weeks. While we are still unsure whether such extreme temperature fluctuations are necessary, we feel that they, coupled with a healthy diet rich in fruit, may play an important role in producing healthy hatchlings.

Breeding and Incubation

Breeding in Geoemyda spengleri is relatively straight forward. When kept separately, males will run towards females seconds after introduction. Incubation takes roughly 70 days and can be done so at fluctuating room temperatures. Many seasoned keepers believe that such fluctuation in incubation temperatures helps to produce larger, stronger hatchlings. It is widely believed that G. spengleri eggs will die if exposed to temperatures above 80 degrees. TheTurtleRoom breeders have had eggs reach temperatures as high as 92 degrees temporarily with no issues (though these temperatures have not been sustained for long periods of time). It is more likely that prolonged temperature extremes will cause more harm. At this time, a lack of males in the United States, particularly in the U.S. SSP for this species, has led to many keepers incubating eggs at a lower temperatures. As far as we know, it has not been proven at this time that G. spengleri possesses TSD, but U.S. keepers should strive to provide incubation temperatures between 68 and 80 in hopes of producing males.

Common Health Issues

During the turn of the century, many Geoemyda spengleri were available for incredibly low prices in the United States. Then, one could often find freshly imported adults for as low as $30 USD. Today, breeding adults often fetch close to $1000 USD. In those early years, this species earned a reputation as being difficult to acclimate. Those individuals that were acclimated may have taken years to breed and/or produce viable eggs in captivity as well. However, once acclimated, this species is a rather easy animal to care for, besides their need for a varied diet consisting of various live food items. Hatchlings are a different story. They are much more fragile, timid and picky than their close relatives, Geoemyda japonica.

Hatchling Captive Habitat

We keep our hatchling Geoeymda spengleri in sterilite tubs filled with sphagnum moss and an inch of water. Inside those tubs, the turtles are provided with a vine of pothos ivy to hide under and a half of a plastic plant pot as a hide. This more aquatic environment is chosen for its ability to maintain a high humidity level. The keeper must select an area for the hatchlings to reside that stays within the high 70s.

Hatchling Captive Diet

Hatchling Geoeymda spengleri will eat a diet similar to adults. Smaller worms should be selected as moving prey is always much more appreciated. Pellets and fruit may be offered as well, but pellets may not be eaten and fruit will almost certainly be refused. We chop earthworms into small, manageable pieces for our hatchlings.