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Last updated on April 8th, 2024.
In this page, the descriptions that were edited or newly added in this updating are written in this color.
I have another Asian Box Turtle. An Indonesian Box Turtle in Japan
Feel free to e-mail me.
Last updated on April 8th, 2024.
In this page, the descriptions that were edited or newly added in this updating are written in this color.
I have another Asian Box Turtle. An Indonesian Box Turtle in Japan
Photo: Yuu, Oct. 1st, 2022.About my turtle:
Species / subspecies
Mine is "Cuora amboinensis" in the scientific name, that stands for Malayan Box Turtle. A man once visited here and told me that her photos indicate that she must belong to "Cuora amboinensis kamaroma". He seemed to know much about turtles, so I believe that it is correct.
Thank you!
Sex
Mine belongs to a female. Unless very young, we can tell which sex this kind of turtle belongs to, by watching its plastron and its tail.
Her name
I call her 'Yuu', which means 'excellent', 'superior' and 'dominant'. And this name in Japan can be both a man's name and a woman's. In short, 'Yuu' is a 'unisex' name here.
When I started caring for her / Her age
Yuu was bought on November 6th, 1999, when she was 1 year old, I think. I don't think she was older than 1 then. So I think her age is around 27.
How I care for her:
Growth
At first (November 1999) her straight carapace length (SCL) was only 113 mm. Then she weighed only about 280 grams.
Now her shell's SCL is 230 mm, and she weighs 3,530 grams. (Measurement on March 30th.)
(Click here to see the graphs on both my turtles.)
Diet
I feed Rep-Cal Box Turtle Food to Yuu as main food.
For these several months, she has been eating this food fairly well. But I feed her the food at most only 3 times a week. this is because she has been gaining weight little by little, since around 2020. If she was a young turtle, gaining weight should be important for her health, but she is now fully matured. In this case, the increasing of her weight must indicate obesity. So, I am planning to decrease her food gradually.
It is well known that this species comes to like eating greens better and better as he or she grows. Those vegetables (except for high-calorie ones such as carrots, melons and so on) will be still fed her with the same amount as I am feeding now. Because I think those greens rarely cause animals obesity.
However, I will continue to feed her favorite food such as raw fish, raw beef, earthworms or shelled shrimp from now on. This is because I don't want to remove her pleasure of eating, and because watching her movement when she finds her favorite food can help me detect her health problems when she has one or some.
Of course they all are high in protein and will easily make her obesity more serious. So I am always careful not to overfeed them to her.
Now I am trying decreasing her obesity mainly by smaller serving of usual food.
Health
At first (soon after she came my home), she was in so poor health, so I had to take her to a veterinary hospital once every 2 or 3 days. I don't know what kind of disease she suffered from, while the veterinarian gave antibiotics injection every time I took her to him. How relaxed I was when she started getting well! That happend in 1999 - 2000.
After that, sometimes she seemed to want to get out of the tank, that made me very anxious.
It should mean she was not satisfied with the environment and so that she attempted to escape
from the tank, especially when the surroundings around her tank were dark.Then I tried changing fluorescent lamps, and she got very quiet soon after then. I have seen her get calm just after changing lamps.
How she is doing recently
Since the middle of January this year, she has been almost always well. I have watched her appetite for food and her movement at that time, and just found her in good health.
Accommodation
The size of her tank is 90 cm W x 45 cm D x 45 cm H, set in an indoor environment.
Water - I set it around 26 degrees C (79 F,) and keep the water depth at about 12 cm (4.7 inches.)
The water is replaced all amount at least once every week.
Filtration - I set a new canister filter (Kotobuki PowerBox SV450X.) Despite the filter's work, the water got acid soon, until I put some smashed oyster shell in the canister filter.