Pelusios castaneus

West African Mud Turtle

Distribution: Senegal east through Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Cote D'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria. Then from Gabon to northern Angola. Also on Cape Verde and Sao Tome Islands.

Empire Stock: WC exported from Ghana.

Size: up to 29 cm.

Habitat: They live in a variety of water bodies including ; rivers, lakes, swamps and ponds. Many of these dry up seasonally and the turtles aestivate.

Diet: P. castaneus  are omnivorous in the wild, taking both plant and animal material. Turtles in my collection are fed Mazuri Freshwater Turtle pellets, fish, snails, Romaine, aquatic plants, Mazuri Tortoise diet, Banana, and Cantaloupe.

Sexing: Males have longer thicker tails and a slightly concave plastron.

Breeding: The eggs are unusual in that the outer surface is "chalky".  Clutch sizes so far have ranged from 11-19 eggs.

Temperature-dependent Sex Determination.

Notes: Much like Pelomedusa subrufa, the African Helmeted Turtle, this species is imported regularly. Again, like P. subrufa, CB offspring are not commonly available. Most of the imported turtles end up in pet shops, where they probably end up as "pets" or single specimens in collections.

Since they are inexpensive; they typically receive poor care from the exporting and importing dealers, leading to a higher mortality rate than there should be for so hardy a turtle.

Another reason they aren't commonly available as CB is that people who breed turtles for a living often do not keep them. They are not particularly colorful turtles and there isn't as much profit as there is with more uncommon species.

This species has never attempted to bite me when handled, cuts from claws are another matter.

Care Sheets: David Kirkpatrick

Adult female.

Unusual texture of the Pelusios eggs.

Outer coating that came off during handling eggs.

The first pip!

More pipped. Notice the difference in the eggshells' appearance in the photos above and below from the ones in the far above photo. In another species an egg discolored and spotted like this would probably be bad.

The first ones born at the Empire.

Trio of savages.

A closeup.

Yearling.

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