About Loggerhead Musk Turtle
| Size | Small |
| Length | 15 cm (5.9 in) |
| Type | Aquatic |
| Lifespan | 20 years |
| Food | Commercial pelleted turtle diet, snails, fish, insects, worms |
| Difficulty Of Care | Low Maintenance |
| Comparable Breeds | Razorback Musk Turtle, Common Musk Turtle |
Loggerhead Musk Turtle General Info
The Loggerhead Musk Turtle is one of a few Musk Turtle animal species. Loggerhead Musk turtles make incredible pets, including fledglings. However, you should know that, when these animals become incredibly focused, they will wind up setting a yellowish glands that are found beneath the carapace edge. This gland will be fusty, and it is their safeguard instrument against hunters. In any case, these turtles are famous in the pet exchange since they are not difficult to oversee and they are responsive and amiable. Loggerhead musk turtles hardly leave the water except to lay eggs. Males and females reach sexual maturity in approximately 4 and 8 years, respectively. They may have two to five clutches of between one and five eggs each. The females lay their eggs in cursory holes at the bases of trees or beside tree trunks. It takes 61 to 119 days for the eggs to hatch based on temperature. The hatchlings are about one inch in length.
Native Habitat
The Loggerhead Musk Turtle occurs throughout the southeastern part of Alabama from the Apalachicola River drainage to Tensaw River, in Tennessee, Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, and Florida.
Loggerhead Musk Turtles need creeks, streams, and rivers of slack waters with soft, muddy bottoms that facilitate foraging. They prefer lakes and ponds with dense aquatic vegetation. Such turtles mostly have shallow areas with ample hiding places- submerged logs or rocks- and such areas provide convenient shelters from predators as well as resting sites. Loggerhead musk turtles bask less frequently than most other species because they seem to draw on the heat of their aquatic environment. They thrive in environments characterized by clear, oxygen-rich water, which thus supports their primarily active predatory behavior.
Overall Description
The Blockhead Musk Turtle includes a keeled carapace. While taking a gander at these turtles, you will likewise see that they have a genuinely huge heads, and the size of their head added to their normal name. You will likewise take note that the carapace of the Blockhead Musk Turtle is a piece serrated. It likewise includes horizontal falls, which could disappear as your turtle progresses in years, alongside a vertebral fall. This turtle’s nose is portrayed as cylindrical, and it includes barbels on its jaw.
Loggerhead Musk Turtles make incredible pets, including for amateurs.
Colors
The carapace of the Blockhead Musk Turtle will be orange, dim olive, or brown, and it will likewise highlight dim-hued creases. The shell could exhibit dim streaks or spots, while the body and the top of this turtle will be orange, light brown, dim, or pink and highlight dim shaded markings like splotches and spots, yet it could try and have yellow stripes. The plastron will normally be anyplace from yellow to pink in variety.
Environment
This oceanic turtle breed will require a huge estimated tank that will take into consideration complete submersion and be open to swimming. As such, the fenced-in area for your Blockhead Musk Turtle should have profound water. The base nook for this breed would be a 30-gallon tank. However, if you will be lodging more than one turtle in a similar tank, you should give them extra space.
Likewise, even though these turtles don’t relax much of the time, you should give a region where your pet can move out of the water to get dry. You can make a luxuriating region effectively utilizing a stone that ventures from the water, but young turtles may be fine with drifting oceanic plants that are non-harmful.
Remember that these turtles are dynamic, and they are untidy eaters. Therefore, you should put resources into an excellent filtration framework that will keep the water in the nook as spotless as could be expected. As far as substrate, you can keep the lower part of the tank uncovered or you can select to put downstream rocks.
It is also necessary to keep up with the temperature in your Blockhead Musk Turtle’s fenced-in area. The air temperature should stay between 75-83°F, while the relaxing region should have a warmer over it to guarantee it arrives at the mid-80s to low 90s Fahrenheit. At long last, a great water warmer should be utilized to keep the water temperature anyplace from the mid to high 70s Fahrenheit.
When Blockhead Musk Turtles become agreeable, they will be very responsive and active instead of modest.
Care Requirements For Aquatic Box Turtle
It can be kept with a high-quality commercial pelleted diet, especially for aquatic box turtle. In addition to pellets, you should supplement them with a variety of live or frozen foods. Other foods to feed them include small fish, worms, aquatic insects, and snails. Most of the live food items provided should represent their natural diet in the wild, high in protein to support their growth and good health. This can also be done by supplementing its diet with greenery, leafy greens, or any other form of vegetation. Proper feeding allows for a well-balanced diet to keep your Loggerhead Musk Turtle active and healthy in its aquatic environment.
Behavior
Have confidence that, when your Blockhead Musk Turtle becomes agreeable in your home and in his walled-in area, the chances of him delivering the putrid fluid will be thin. Additionally, when these turtles become agreeable, they will be very responsive and active as opposed to timid.
On the off chance that you wish to lay out a local area tank with different turtles, Blockhead Musk Turtles will do well with Sliders, Cooters, and Painted Turtles. They can regularly live calmly with these different species since they lean toward living in profound water while different species bask. Simply ensure you give a lot of room in the nook for the turtles to be all agreeable, and every one of the different animal types in the walled-in area should develop to be generally a similar size as your Blockhead Musk Turtle. At long last, use alert if lodging different Musk Turtles together, as guys could become forceful.
Possibly handle your Blockhead Musk Turtle when it is truly important to do as such. These creatures have solid jaws that can deliver an excruciating chomp when upset.
LoggerHead Musk Turtle Lifespan
Eastern Box Turtles are said to be long-lived, with some living up to 30 to 40 years in the wild. Some even exceeded the age of 50. One can attribute the long life of these turtles to their slow metabolism and protective shell as well, thereby retreating into it when in danger, hence staying away from predators and threats of the environment.
With proper care, Eastern Box Turtles can live long. With a balanced diet, scheduling regular veterinary check-ups, and maintaining clean habitats are all linked to their longevity. By taking care of their natural environment and addressing the specific needs of these turtles, owners can help their pets remain healthy and content.
Related: Eastern Box Turtle