Enrico Büttner ged the
Enrico Büttner ged the dietary regime a little, omitting the Lundi pellets due to their high salt content (verbal comms. Ronald Bakowskie and Andreas S. Hennig). In their stead, I now use a knife’s tip worth of Korvimin ZVT for supplementing the turtle’s diet. I furthermore fortify the halved feeder fish with pieces of cuttlefish shell to improve the calcium intake. Following a keeping period of about 13 years, the female produced her first eggs at a carapace length of 35 cm and a weight of approximately 6,000 g. On 09.10.2012, I discovered six eggs in the water, followed by another one on the next day. All these eggs measured 47 × 30 mm each. Their weight could not be identified, as I had no scale available that would have been accurate to the gram. In order to prevent a possible case of egg-binding if the turtle was carrying more eggs, I raised the water temperature from 24 to 28 °C with the aid of the installed aquarium heater. There were no further eggs on that day, however. On 12.12.2012, I came across another egg in the water, though, and three days later, I discovered the female being busy depositing eggs in the terrestrial section during the morning hours. In order to not disturb her, I retreated from the turtle room. I returned an hour later and found a distinct mound having been heaped up in the terrestrial section. It covered a total of seven eggs that again showed the unusual oval shape. According to Meier (2008), who has been keeping the Orinoco form, Matamata eggs are supposed to be spherical, not unlike a table tennis ball, with diameters of 35–39 mm. The Matamatas in the care of Staljanssens & Nijs (2012; Amazon form) produced eggs of 31–37 mm in diameter. I have no explanation for the abnormal shape of the eggs I obtained. In the absence of a male since July of 2008, all eggs produced by my female were infertile. Fig. 3. The female while laying eggs in December of 2012. 32 RADIATA 23 (2), 2014
Matamata, Chelus fimbriata (Schneider, 1783) Fig. 4. The cautiously opened nest pit from Fig. 3. Fig. 5. A total of seven eggs could be recovered. RADIATA 23 (2), 2014 33
