Cooling
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Flaviemys purvisi
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Soon as autumn hits, I let the turtles start cooling down from 26° in the day and 24° at night, gradually until they're down to 18° in the day and around 14° at night. During this time I'll also lower their water levels to half and cut the lighting intensity by half. This replicates the drop in water levels in streams and rivers during the cooler months where rainfall is less and the sun is less intense and the days are shorter. They'll then mate like crazy until winter where I'll let them come down as low as 12° day and night.
Mine have been mating for the last fortnight now and will continue to do so. I won't warm them up again until September at which point the tanks are quickly refilled with icy cold water to replicate the floods which many of the eastern flowing rivers in NSW experience in early spring, (I live in QLD but breed species endemic to separate NSW river systems). I will bring them up slowly, 2° a week until they're back up to 24° and return the lighting intensity to the spring/summer settings. This stimulates courtship and mating again until the eggs are ready to be laid in late October to early November.
The turtles could still successfully breed without this cooling however the cooling process makes the males a lot more amorous and their sperm productivity is a lot higher and more viable. Without cooling, out of a clutch of 15 eggs maybe 7 or 8 will develop and hatch. With cooling, all of them will develop and hatch.
The female can also lay viable eggs for the next 4 years from a single mating and a single clutch can be fathered by up to 5 separate males.
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Flaviemys purvisi
Very Well-Known Member
Sorry for the essay. Turtles are complicated. They have a lot of "triggers" that need to be set off for them to get going. It's not as simple as putting a male and female together and Bob's your uncle.
I wish it was!
Pauls_Pythons
Very Well-Known Member
Depends on the type of reptile, their natural environment and your current location.
If you have Diamond pythons and live in a location where these animals exist in nature then your cooling periods should be in line with what you see happening in nature.
If however you have the same animals in northern parts of WA, NT or FNQ you might find it difficult to replicate the night time low temperatures that these animals require for successful breeding.
For example we live in Vic and breed both BHP's and Diamonds. Its not difficult to provide an accurate climate for Diamonds in our location but the BHP's we have to supplement heat for most of the year, certainly in winter as our daytime highs through winter are not as high as these animals would experience in their natural environment.
So basicly the idea is to mimic the animals natuarl environment.
If you have Diamond pythons and live in a location where these animals exist in nature then your cooling periods should be in line with what you see happening in nature.
If however you have the same animals in northern parts of WA, NT or FNQ you might find it difficult to replicate the night time low temperatures that these animals require for successful breeding.
For example we live in Vic and breed both BHP's and Diamonds. Its not difficult to provide an accurate climate for Diamonds in our location but the BHP's we have to supplement heat for most of the year, certainly in winter as our daytime highs through winter are not as high as these animals would experience in their natural environment.
So basicly the idea is to mimic the animals natuarl environment.
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