Yellow-fronted closed-shell turtle is a very beautiful turtle, (scientific name: Cuora galbinifrons) also known as plum box turtle, plum box turtle, is a reptile of the genus of closed-shell turtles in the turtle family, also known as plum box turtle, flower back box turtle, Hainan closed shell turtle and so on. It is found in the Gulf of Tonkin, especially in northern Vietnam and Hainan, Chinese mainland, and in Guangxi and Laos, but its presence in northeastern Cambodia has not yet been determined. It generally lives in streams in mountainous areas, but the yellow-fronted closed-shelled turtle on Hainan Island lives in the lowlands. Due to their strong terrestrial nature, some scholars believe that the yellow-fronted closed-shelled turtle and the yellow-edged box turtle should be included in the genus Cistoclemmys. Yellow-fronted closed-shelled turtles are omnivorous, laying one to three eggs at a time in captivity.
Map of the origin of the yellow forehead of Vietnam
The pattern of the yellow-fronted closed-shell turtle's back carapace is very colorful and highly ornamental.
In the habitat, its brilliant pattern is an excellent protective color.
There are three subspecies of the yellow-fronted closed-shelled turtle:
The black-bellied subspecies, the nominate subspecies (C. g. galbinifrons), was described by Bourret in 1939, but the first individuals were not imported to Europe and the United States almost until 40 years later. This subspecies is found in southern Guangxi, Hainan Island, and northern Vietnam, and is probably also native to northern Laos. The population of Hainan was once considered a separate species, or at least a separate subspecies. The type origin of this subspecies is in northern Vietnam.
The Subspecies Of Cuora galbinifrons bourreti Obst & Reimann (1994) is found in central Vietnam, southern Laos, and northwestern Cambodia. The type origin of this subspecies is in central Vietnam.
The pictorial subspecies (Cuora galbinifrons picturata Lehr, Fritz & Obst, 1998) are found in southern Vietnam and Cambodia (except northwestern). The type origin of this subspecies is in southern Vietnam.
The following is a map of the distribution area of the yellow-fronted closed-shelled turtle in Vietnam, because the yellow-fronted and saw edges often cross in the wild, so the distribution of the saw edges is also mentioned here in passing. (Quoted from The Asian Turtle Program)
Below is a diagram of the kinship between the various yellow-fronted subspecies (quoted from "Molecular phylogeny of the critically endangered Indochinese box turtle (Cuora galbinifrons)" by Bryan L. Stuart and James Ford Parham)
In this paper, the authors obtained a treemap of the kinship between various turtle species through DNA analysis, of which A represents the black-bellied yellow front, B represents the Brinell yellow forehead, and C represents the pictorial yellow forehead.
From the above figure, we can see that the black-bellied yellow forehead and the Yellow Brinell's yellow forehead are more closely related, and the relationship between the yellow forehead of the picture and the yellow front of the other two subspecies is far away; many turtle friends have found that the habits of the black-bellied yellow-fronted and the yellow-fronted Brinell are similar, and they belong to the subspecies that are easier to breed in the yellow-fronted, while the pictures are more difficult to breed, and the habits of the yellow-fronted of the other two subspecies are quite different, which has also been verified from genetic analysis.
The distribution areas of saw-edged turtles and yellow-fronted closed-shelled turtles overlap a lot, and the living habits of the two species of turtles are similar, so some hybridized individuals of the two kinds of turtles can also be found in the wild, of which the hybridization of Brinell and black-bellied yellow-fronted and saw-edges is more common, while the hybrids of the pictorial yellow-fronted and saw-edged are very rare, and in recent years people have gradually noticed and collected some crossed individuals of the pictorial yellow-fronted and saw-edged hybrids, A likely new natural form hybrid of "Cuora serrata" (Cuora picturata x Cuora mouhotii obsti) and its presence in the wild in Phu Yen province, Vietnam》
(Authors Richard P.J.H. Struijk and Torsten E.G. Blanck) mentions natural hybrids of pictorial yellow foreheads and saw edges found in recent years in Phu On Province, Vietnam:
Phu On province is the natural origin of the picture yellow-fronted and saw-edged turtle
A specific case is mentioned: in August 2014, locals caught an adult female turtle with a pictorial sawf at Suoi Dua village, Sông Hinh district, Phú Yên province, which was sold to a turtle dealer for 85 euros, and the turtle seller sold it to turtle dealers in the field at a higher price. (I accidentally got the local first-hand receipt price ~~)
In the place of origin, the survival pressure of the yellow forehead is increasing. Vietnam's natural rainforests are cut down and destroyed every year, many natural woodlands are transformed into plantations, planting a single economic tree species, although the green area has not decreased, but the single tree species of woodland destroys the ecological diversity, serious pests, poor land, people have to use a large number of pesticides and fertilizers, such woodland is no longer suitable for the survival of yellow foreheads.
Pictured below is a yellow-fronted closed-shelled turtle that died in the fire.
The locals also use hunting dogs to arrest the yellow forehead, which is almost the same as catching the yellow edge, do you all discuss it?
Yellow-fronted closed-shell turtle is not easy to adapt to the artificial breeding environment, so it has not achieved large-scale artificial breeding, because it does not conform to the breeding and business model of our domestic farms, the yellow-fronted closed-shell turtle has not been hyped up, so the price of yellow-fronted turtle has not been high in recent years. Due to the high difficulty of reproduction, the price of CB seedlings has not been low, and in the United States, a CB yellow-fronted seedling is between 750-1000 US dollars.
Turtle friends must be fully prepared when introducing this turtle, the yellow front is a very beautiful and fragile species, do not let them die on our hands, novice turtle friends do not recommend raising new downhill yellow forehead.
The following picture is the Bryde's yellow-fronted seedlings bred by foreign turtle friends themselves, which is really beautiful:
New turtle conditioning
In order to improve the survival rate, please choose healthy turtles as much as possible - there is no obvious trauma, the eyes are sharp, the shell is strong, and the shell can be easily pried open, the turtles are often weak and need more professional care.
After the new turtle arrives, it needs to be replenished immediately, and soaking in water can reduce the turtle's sense of urgency while replenishing the water, and can also promote the turtle's defecation and urination. It is necessary to soak in water every day during the conditioning of the new turtle, each time in about half an hour to 1 hour.
The first two soaks in water use anti-inflammatory drugs, you can use oxytetracycline or gentamicin sulfate injection, if you use gentamicin, 80,000 units of 2ml, the concentration is about 1 L of water. After a long period of transportation, the turtle's immunity has declined and severe, and some have different degrees of internal injuries, so it is very important for the turtle to take a certain dose of anti-inflammatory drugs.
After the anti-inflammatory drug is soaked, multi-dimensionality is added to the water, mainly to improve the immunity of the turtle.
After a week, if the turtle is not found to have symptoms of internal injuries, infections and enteritis, the turtle is mainly allowed to rest and eat after it adapts to the environment. In order to condition its stomach, you can add some probiotics when soaking water, the current mainstream is to use Mommy Love, but Jarro-Dophilus EPS is better, put one capsule at a time. This is a kind of capsule medicine that gives people to condition the stomach and intestines, which can be used as a health care drug or as a medicine for the treatment of enteritis, its main ingredient is probiotics, does not contain antibiotics, so there are no side effects, relative to Mommy Love, its live bacteria components are higher. After eating a turtle with a bad stomach, it was found that the effect was very good, especially the turtle with diarrhea, after eating once or twice, the feces will be formed, highly recommended, haitao is about 28 US dollars a box (120 grains), the major domestic e-commerce websites can be found.
Environmental arrangement
Yellow-fronted turtles are very sensitive and timid, long-distance transportation to the new environment will make them have a sense of urgency, do not eliminate this sense of urgency if they will not eat; long-term urgency will lead to their adrenaline increased, immunity decline, coupled with long-term food refusal caused by nutritional deficiencies, turtles will become very weak, while very susceptible to bacterial infection, induced enteritis and pneumonia. Therefore, setting up an environment where the turtle feels safe and comfortable is an important prerequisite for the yellow front to adapt to the new home and eat.
In order to better control the environment, it is recommended to use the feeding box as a breeding environment for new turtles.
Temperature and humidity:
The temperature setting is more appropriate between 25-30 degrees; the humidity of the yellow-fronted habitat is higher, and the humidity can be set at 70-80%.
ray:
Yellow-fronted people inhabit alpine woodlands with high levels of depression and prefer to hide in woodland leaves, as can be seen in their protective colors. Therefore, the environment for the yellow forehead should be dark, please place the box in a darker and quieter environment, if you need to heat up, use a ceramic lamp that does not emit light, and the heating equipment with a light source will make the yellow forehead tense.
avoid:
It is very important that avoidance is a guarantee for the turtle to gain a sense of security, although they are deceiving themselves, but the turtle will instinctively feel much safer when they burrow into the cave. Half-cut flower pots can be used as a dodge, and turtles usually love to burrow into them to sleep.
Mats:
The new turtle's immune system is relatively fragile, and the bedding is easy to breed bacteria in a high temperature and humid environment, so it is not recommended to use the mat at first, and then consider the arrangement of the mat environment after the turtle is stable. It is not recommended to use hard substrates such as tiles, which will wear out the turtle's belly carapace and nails, and is also detrimental to the turtle's sense of security.
Water basin:
It is very important to keep a moderate and clean drinking water source, and the turtle can also go in on its own to soak in the water.
If all goes well, they will eat in a month or so, it is recommended to use bananas to induce food, the yellow forehead can hardly resist the taste of bananas, you can sprinkle some Jarro-Dophilus EPS, which is very helpful for their gastrointestinal conditioning.
Some yellow foreheads are also very fond of meat, such as chicken breast, but it is not recommended as a food for food, the stomach of the new turtle is relatively fragile, and if you feed meat at the beginning, it is likely to cause gastroenteritis.
Eating is only the first step, let them grow and reproduce healthily, there is still a long way to go, welcome to share with me more experience about yellow forehead, let us work together for the continuation of this beautiful species.
Recently, many turtle friends are leaving messages to say what they are interested in, thank you very much for your support, I will continue to sort out the topics that everyone is interested in into articles, but also welcome everyone to put forward more valuable suggestions and opinions, your support is my motivation to move forward!
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This article is transferred from Crustacean Dream