Red Nosed Red Cheeked Mud Turtle

We put a side some very pretty Red Cheeks - all have very pretty colors, even red noses like the reindeer (no mystery how these will turn out) -& just in time for the holidays !

This year's hatchlings are now feeding and are ready to go out into the world. Notice the bright belly color they sport - as they grow this will give way to even brighter head and neck coloring (check out the pics of our yearling and two year old Red Cheeked Mud Turtles to see this ). Their description and care follows:

Easily one of the prettiest colored turtles in all the world, the Red Cheeked Mud Turtle is actually a brightly colored sub species of the Scorpion Mud Turtle. The Latin (scientific) name Kinosternon scorpioides cruentatum means“blood spotted”in honor of this species' bright red or orange head color. Red Cheeked Mud turtles are found in lakes, streams and slow moving rivers from Nicaragua, into Honduras and southern Mexico.

Red Cheeked Mud turtles do very well in glass tanks and warm weather ponds. They stay small and get along with quite well with other similar sized Mud and Musk turtles. Males tend to have the brightest head coloring and our breeding colony has exceptionally brilliant color - even for this species. We raise our hatchlings on pellets, giving earth worms and cut fish once or twice a week - but any protein food is readily accepted. Not many breeders work with this handsome species - so their availability is limited.