1. Habitat
In nature, the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle is mostly found in mountainous areas, hilly wood edges and weeds and bushes, the activity area is not far from the water source, often appears in ponds and streams, and hides in dark and quiet places such as tree roots, grass, and rock crevices during the day. On rainy days, the yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtle is unusually excited, crawling in the rain to feed. Yellow-edged closed-shelled turtles have a gregarious habit, and multiple turtles inhabit the same cave. Its activity law changes with the seasons, 6 to 8 months of high temperature season, hiding in a cool place during the day, frequent morning and evening activities, most of the night is still; April to May and September to October, morning and evening temperatures are low, less activity, high temperature around noon, more activity, almost no movement at night; from November to March of the following year in the Yangtze River Basin, the temperature drops below 12 °C and enters hibernation. Hibernation is in the grass on the slopes of the sunny mountains, under dead leaves, or in loose soil covered with dry grass and dead leaves.
Habitat of wild yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtles
Second, eating habits and growth
Yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtles are omnivores whose diet is mainly animal food. In the wild, it likes to eat animal food such as earthworms, mealworms, centipedes, scarab beetles, snails, geckos, crickets and young snakes; when animal food is scarce, it also eats some plant-based baits such as tomatoes, strawberries, bayberry, bananas, carrots, watermelons and pumpkins.
The feeding temperature of the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle is 20~35 °C, and the most suitable feeding temperature is 26~33 °C. Temperatures above 35 °C and below 25 °C reduce the amount of food ingested, and there is basically no food intake below 20 °C.
In the wild, yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtles grow slowly, taking more than 10 years to grow from seedlings to adult turtles (with reproductive ability). There are two reasons: one is that the yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtle crawls slowly, the amount of food intake is insufficient, and it is often in a state of semi-starvation; the other is that the annual feeding season is short, so the growth season of the turtle is short. In the Yangtze River Basin, in mid-to-late March, the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle wakes up from hibernation, crawls out of the nest, and has little activity, but due to low temperatures, it does not feed; it takes one month to eat a small amount in mid-to-late April; may to August has the largest amount of food intake, which is the peak growing season; the amount of food gradually declines in September; and the intake basically stops in mid-October. Due to the slow growth rate, the annual rings of the turtle's back armor shield are fine.
The yellow-edged closed-shell turtle is also known as the ke snake turtle, because the wild yellow-edged closed-shell turtle has the "divine skill" of the ke snake. In terms of crawling speed, the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle is not a snake's opponent, but the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle cleverly kills the snake by means of lure and ambush. When the yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtle sees the snake swimming over, it opens its belly carapace, and the moment the snake's head reaches into the turtle carapace, the abdominal carapace quickly closes, clamping the snake's head tightly. The snake instinctively wrapped its body around the turtle, the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle was not in a hurry, let the snake wrap, the tighter the entanglement, the snake's body became thinner and thinner, a few minutes later, the internal force accumulated by the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle suddenly broke out, opening the abdominal carapace, the snake's muscles and bones were broken and paralyzed on the ground, and the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle enjoyed the snake meat beautifully.
3. Reproductive habits
Under natural conditions, the yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtle takes more than 10 years to reach sexual maturity, and the male turtle weighs about 300 grams and the female turtle weighs about 450 grams. From April to October every year, yellow-edged closed-shell turtles have estrus mating phenomenon; however, from August to September every year, it is the peak period for yellow-edged closed-shell turtles to estrus mating. Mating hours are mostly in the morning and evening. On rainy days, yellow-rimmed closed-shell turtles are more likely to mate in heat. Female turtles mate once and can maintain fertilization ability for 1 to 2 years. During the mating season, in order to compete for a mate, the male turtles have a phenomenon of fighting with each other, and the weak male turtles lose. The male tortoise circling the female, and if the female is crawling, the male chases after it; if the female does not move, the male climbs on the female tortoise's back carapace, wraps its tail around, and inserts the genitals into the female's cloaca. If mating is successful, the genitals of female and male turtles are interlocked, and the mating time is 10 to 15 minutes.
The time when the yellow-edged closed-shell turtle begins to lay eggs every year is related to the habitat temperature, and spawning is from late May to late July in the Yangtze River Basin, the peak spawning period from early June to early July, and spawning in April and August is a very rare phenomenon. In South China, the laying time of yellow-edged closed-shell turtles is 15 to 30 days earlier than that of the Yangtze River Basin, and most of the female turtles lay eggs in the evening, and very few turtles lay eggs in the early morning. Female turtles lay their eggs on quiet, damp, sunny and shaded sandy grounds. Take turns digging the soil with two hind limbs, digging a cave 5 to 8 cm deep to lay eggs, and then covering the turtle eggs with the excavated soil with the hind limbs, and compacting them with the abdomen, before leaving. There are also a small number of turtles that lay their eggs in the grass or under dead leaves. The eggs are white and oblong-oval. Eggs are laid 1 to 2 times a year, usually 2 to 4 eggs per spawn