Bernd Wolff Fig. 5. Plastral aspect of a hatchling of Hydromedusa tectifera. Fig. 6. Hatchling of Hydromedusa tectifera, the same specimen as in fig. 5. have turned out to only augment this problem. Only the introduction of small bowls that offer little space and water volume and the joint accommodation of small groups have eliminated these losses. The first food consists of live black and red mosquito larvae. Once the baby turtles have consumed these for a few times, they also readily take chopped-up earthworms and small mealworms. After two to three weeks, no further problems with their accepting or not accepting food can be expected. What must be borne in mind though, is that only moving prey is recognized as food during the first six months of life. Also, it has proven to be of advantage to keep water temperatures at between 26 and 28 °C and to make available a lot of cover. Growth is very constant, and juveniles have kept on developing very nicely with all keepers who received juveniles from me so far. The first baby of 1997 still lives in my collection and has meanwhile grown to a carapace length of 25.8 cm and a weight of 2,310 g. Health issues, and necroses of the skin or shell in particular, have as yet not emerged in both juveniles and adults. Thin, transparent layers of the shell are regularly shed as signs of growth during the warmer season. Author Bernd Wolff Druslachstraße 8 67360 Lingenfeld Germany E-Mail: wolff-lingenfeld@t-online.de 68 RADIATA 17 (3), 2008
Hybrids of Phrynops geoffroanus and Phrynops hilarii Ronald & Ronny Bakowskie Hybrids of Phrynops geoffroanus (Schweigger, 1812) and Phrynops hilarii (Duméril & Bibron, 1835) in Captivity Fig. 1. Phrynops geoffroanus (left) and the hybrid. Introduction What does a keeper of turtles do if he has to clean the large aquaterrarium of his Hilaire’s side-necked turtles (Phrynops hilarii)? Quite right, he either just exchanges the water while leaving the animals in their tank, or the turtles are taken out if cleaning is to be thorough. The question is where to put the large animals after they have been taken out of their tank. Plastic containers of a size that would allow to temporarily house adult specimens of the genus Phrynops are not always at hand. The easiest solution is therefore to temporarily place them in another large aquaterrarium, and this was exactly what the authors did. In their case, it was a tank housing, amongst others, Geoffroys’ side-necked turtles (Phrynops geoffroanus). What the authors underestimated, though, was the urge to mate of a Phrynops hilarii male. Even though it was in the company of Phrynops geoffroanus for only about 30 minutes, it was enough time for this male Phrynops hilarii to mate with a female of the other species. That it had achieved this feat was not noted before the respective babies had hatched and were compared to other Phrynops geoffroanus offspring, however. General notes Hybrid turtles in captivity are not exactly unheard of. As far as side-necked turtles are concerned, Fritz & Baur (1995) catalogued crossbreeds of various species, describing Australo-Papuan side-necked hybrids, but also a number of South American Chelidae Fig. 2. Phrynops geoffroanus (left) and the hybrid. RADIATA 17 (3), 2008 69
