My childhood animal lessons came mainly from my elder brother. He is the one who told us that those river terrapins we found were usually born with three legs only (it indeed happened). I was told about the secret behind the beautiful patterns on this creature’s shell too. Some unlucky one with unusual patterns are believed to be possessing some power to cure some sickness. They ended up in soup, too bad.

Recently, I met Pelf Nyok and she has a more bloody scientific method of studying this creature than my brother. Pelf has just graduated with a Master’s degree in Biodiversity and Conservation, and her major is Conservation Biology. For her Master’s, she raised a species of critically-endangered river terrapins in captivity, and ran feeding trials on them to determine the best practices to raise them in captivity.

She is kind enough to share with us the abstract of her study to help us learn more about this interesting animal.

HEAD-STARTING OF RIVER TERRAPINS (Batagur baska): FEEDING TRIALS OF HATCHLINGS AND JUVENILES

Chen Pelf Nyok (chenpn@gmail.com), Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Mengabang Telipot, 21030 Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia.

Growth experiments on the diet, feeding ration, satiation amount, feeding frequency and stocking density, which ranged from eight to 12 weeks were conducted on terrapins aged between two and 20 months old. The terrapins were raised in tanks with complete daily water renewal.

Two- and three-month-old hatchlings recorded a weekly weight gain of 18.04 g, 14.28 g and 13.34 g when fed with Mazuri turtle feed, pelleted frog and tilapia feeds, respectively. There were no significant differences among the treatments, hence tilapia feed is recommended because it is affordable and easily available. The growth of eight, 15 and 20-month old terrapins fed at feeding rations of 1.25, 1.5, 1.75 and 2% body weight of feed did not differ statistically. The eight-month-old terrapins recorded the highest weight gain (an average of 20.62 g per week) when fed with 1.75% of body weight of feed. The 15-month-old terrapins that were fed 2% of their body weight of feed demonstrated the best growth (average weight gain of 15.60 g per week) whereas the 20-month-old terrapins gained an average of 47.85 g per week when fed with 1.25% of their body weight of feed.

Terrapin hatchlings showed better growth when they fed at one feeding, compared to being fed intermittently. Satiation amount of the hatchlings was an average of 23.51 g per week, which could be translated into 1.01% of their body weight. Terrapin hatchlings fed 1% of their body weight of feed twice daily (a total of 2%) recorded the highest weight gain of an average of 14.78 g per week compared to hatchlings that were fed once daily and once in two days.

Finally, terrapins that are stocked at 20 individuals per tank (64.56 g/L) recorded the highest weight gain of an average of 24.04 g per week, compared to terrapins that were stocked at ten individuals per tank (35.38 g/L) and 30 individuals per tank (98.98 g/L). Survival of the terrapins was 100% in all the experiments conducted. The head-starting guidelines presented in the thesis will help to optimize growth of the terrapins in captivity and produce healthy individuals for release. Attainment of rapid growth will also shorten the need to keep them in captivity over extended periods of time.

Learn more about the marine turtle and river terrapin projects carried out by the Turtle Research and Rehabilitation Group of Universiti Malaysia Terengganu.

Read other animal encounters of Pin