ABSTRACT.- A number of manuscripts have been written and published on Carettochelys insculpta but very few of them have touched the husbandry issues. In the last decade or so, the species' unique appearance has resulted in increased demand for this peculiar turtle and hundreds of specimens are shipped to South East Asian, European and American pet markets. Unfortunately, due to lack of knowledge, only a small fraction of these animals live pass their juvenile age as many of them die because of improper care. The purpose of this paper is to explain all husbandry requirements of Carettochelys insculpta and thus help decrease the number of specimens that prematurely pass away.

KEYWORDS.- captive husbandry, aggressive behavior, Carettochelys, Carettochelyidae, turtles

Introduction

     Carettochelys insculpta Ramsay, 1886, is a very peculiar turtle. Its morphological appearance, limited knowledge, and a set of coincidences all resulted in an incorrect phylogenetic placement of this species as well as a lot of uncertainty concerning its natural history. The fossil record for the genus Carettochelys dates back to the Miocene of New Guinea (Glaessner, 1942). Ramsay (1886) first described the species from material collected on the 1885 Everill Expedition of the Royal Geographic Society, the type locality being on the Strickland River. It was originally described as a Pleurodire (Ramsay, 1886) and proposed to be a link between the freshwater turtles and the sea turtles (Ramsay, 1886). The genus was assigned to a new family Carettochelyidae (Boulenger, 1887) and it was Baur (1891) who moved Carettochelys, and its family Carettochelyidae, to the Cryptodires and pointed out the similarity to the Trionychia.

     The first in-depth paper that has been published on the captive requirements or behavior in captivity of Carettochelys insculpta was a paper by Dorrian (1994). Other papers, such as Conservation biology of the pig-nosed turtle, Carettochelys insculpta by Georges and Rose (1993) or Carettochelys insculpta, Pig-nosed Turtle by Bargeron (1997) touched the captive husbandry requirements just briefly, leaving a lot of useful information aside. There are a number of Zoos and individuals that keep captive specimens of C. insculpta worldwide.

     The Zoos include the Bronx Zoo (NY, USA), Pittsburgh Zoo (NJ, USA), Zoological Garden Wilhelma (Stuttgart, Germany), Territory Wildlife Park (Berry Springs, Australia), Taronga Park Zoo (Sydney, Australia), Hartley Creek Crocodile Farm (Cairns, Australia), Australia Zoo (Beewah, Australia) and the University of Canberra (Australia). Both the senior and junior authors have kept the species for several years now and have done numerous observations that are summarized in this paper.

Materials and Methods

ANIMALS.- All Carettochelys insculpta specimens are from the private collection of the senior author. Four animals have been used in this study. The origin of the specimens is unknown as they were obtained from a commercial dealer.
TANKS.- Glass aquarium tanks of different sizes were used. Most of the time the specimens were observed in a tank with the following measurements: 1500 mm (length) x 600 mm (width) x 500 mm (height) x 10mm (thickness of glass sheets). Water in tanks was filtered by Fluval 4®, an internal water filter, and heated by Nathura In-Action®, an internal water heater equipped with a thermostat.

Housing

     Because the species is an excellent swimmer, a spacious tank is a must. Another reason for obtaining a big tank is that Carettochelys insculpta can grow up to 22.5 kg in weight and 56.3 cm in length (Rose, unpublished data). The size of the tank should allow your specimens to move around freely and, at the same time, to be able to hide if needed. When this species gets frightened, it shoots ahead like a rocket. A juvenile Carettochelys specimen was observed to jump from one tank to another. The tanks were next to each other, sharing one wall and the water-surface level in both tanks was only 20 mm below the top edge of the tanks. The bigger the tank, the smaller the chance turtles get injured.

     As Carettochelys specimens can get really aggressive towards each other (Georges and Rose 1993, Dorrian 1994, Bargeron 1997), a bigger tank helps to lower the specimens' density. The aggressive behavior becomes evident very soon. It was noticed among specimens only six months old, but it is possible this behavior emerges even at younger age. On the other hand, Roempp (pers. comm., 2003) said it was after five years that his two animals, which he acquired as hatchlings, began to show aggressive behavior towards each other. The aggression is exhibited by biting and the most frequently bitten areas are the posterior edge of the carapace (the 6th to 10th peripherals and pygal), [see Figure 1) the dorsal side of the neck and the folds of skin that extend laterally on each side from the undersurface of the tail across the thigh region and down the hind limbs. Due to the well developed jaws, the bites can be quite nasty and the affected area can even bleed.

     Pre washed river sand can be used as a bottom layer in your tank setup. If the layer is thick enough, it can serve as a hiding or resting place for Carettochelys specimens because they can bury themselves. On several occasions, they have been observed to do this activity at the end of which all that was left to see was the tip of the specimen's proboscis. If the density of your specimens in the tank is too high, usage of thick sand layer, together with underwater logs, is recommended in order to provide hiding spots and prevent specimens from biting each other.

It seems Carettochelys insculpta specimens can behave very differently when it comes down to their tolerance of other Testudines species. According to Dorrian (1994), the species displays no aggression towards turtles of the family Chelidae (Macrochelodina expansa, Macrochelodina rugosa, Chelodina longicollis, Emydura macquarii krefftii and Elseya latisternum).

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