Eastern Chicken Turtle

1 Overview

The Eastern Chicken Turtle is uncommon in China, as its plain appearance is not popular, and as a tropical species it is rare in cold regions.

The Eastern Chicken Turtle is among the most ancient living reptiles. Its feature is a very solid shell; when attacked it retracts head, tail, and limbs into the shell. Carnivorous, eating worms, snails, shrimp, and small fish, and also plant stems and leaves. It inhabits vegetation-rich shallow ponds and lakes, and is found in ditches and cypress swamps. Native from the coastal plains between southeastern Virginia and Ohio, west to Texas, and north to Oklahoma and Missouri.

Chinese Name: Eastern Chicken Turtle

English Name: Eastern Chicken Turtle

Scientific Name: Deirochelys reticularia reticularia

Binomial: Deirochelys reticularia reticularia

Kingdom: Animalia

Phylum: Chordata

Subphylum: Vertebrata

Class: Reptilia

Order: Testudines

Family: Emydidae

Species: Eastern Chicken Turtle

Reproduction: Oviparous

Size: 25 cm

2 Physical Characteristics

Chicken turtles are expensive, often several thousand yuan, perhaps because scarcity raises price; they are uncommon in the market with few trade records, and subspecies differ slightly in appearance. Below are the subspecies variations.

Eastern subspecies (D. r. reticularia): carapace with narrow, slightly green or brown net-like lines and a narrow yellow edge, distributed on the coastal plains from southeastern Virginia to the Mississippi River. Florida subspecies (D. r. chrysea): carapace with broad orange or gold stripes and broad orange edge, orange or bright yellow plastron, in the Florida peninsula. Western subspecies (D. r. miaria): carapace with broad, faint net-like lines and a dark-seamed plastron, west of the Mississippi from Oklahoma to Louisiana and Texas.

They are often seen basking or wandering on land. Some are crushed crossing roads. Generally rather shy but also prone to biting. Chicken turtle meat was once popular in southern markets.

3 Care & Husbandry

The Eastern Chicken Turtle is a fierce species; unlike most turtles that retreat into the shell when threatened, it prefers to attack, subduing or being subdued.

I. What it eats. The chicken turtle is omnivorous; in captivity it eats small fish, shrimp, snail meat, tadpoles, and some plants.

II. Breeding. Egg-laying season varies by latitude: March in South Carolina, year-round in Florida. Several clutches per year, 5 to 15 eggs each, elliptical, 37 mm long, laid in nests about 10.2 cm deep. Males mature in 2 to 4 years or at 10.2 cm; females in 6 to 8 years at 18 cm.

III. Environment. The chicken turtle mainly lives in clear mountain streams, also in marshes, pools, rivers, and fields, mostly active at night, climbing rock walls or trees, supported by the tail, able to climb walls and branches longer than itself. Indoor observation: by day it hides in the pool, at dusk becomes active and may climb out onto sand. Wild observation: mostly at dusk and dawn, presumably hiding under stream bottoms or rocks by day.

4 Habitat & Environment

The Eastern Chicken Turtle moves fast and swims well; on the surface its tail tip lifts and limbs paddle, moving freely, so a reasonable environment is important, and its agility lets it catch more food.

I. Environmental needs. Around November, when water drops below 10 degrees C, it enters hibernation until the following year when water reaches about 15 degrees C. Before hibernation, build up condition, as its starvation tolerance is poorer than common turtles (observation: a month without food in active season can be fatal). Indoor turtles usually hibernate in the pool; wild ones in rocky stream caves.

II. Diet traits. The chicken turtle is typically carnivorous, especially liking live prey; in the wild it eats snails, earthworms, small fish, snails, shrimp, frogs, and dead fish and animal organs, not plant food; in captivity it also eats eels, loaches, small crustaceans, rat meat, pork, and other turtle meat; no time preference for feeding, likes eating in water, tearing food with front claws and strong jaws, swallowing with front-claw help.

5 Diet & Nutrition

The Eastern Chicken Turtle likes meat and is very active and usually healthy, so provide a large environment and its preferred foods.

I. Food choice. Although it eats anything, feeding only cheap, low-nutrition food causes imbalance; be careful. It needs much calcium, so feed calcium-rich foods. Balanced chicken-turtle pellets are now marketed and safe. Carp pellets and dog food are also suitable. Occasionally offer boneless fish, snake meat, or mice for variety.

II. Trace elements. Without UV light the chicken turtle cannot use calcium. Hatchlings with low calcium get soft shells; low vitamin A makes eyes turn white. These signs, besides vitamin A and calcium deficiency, may reflect long-term low-nutrition feeding and insufficient UV, i.e., husbandry errors. Provide balanced nutrition and sun-lamp basking to change the environment.