All Turtles Message Board

lovelygreenwitch · Guest Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 4

If I have two different species of turtles (both aquatic) and they happen to be a male and a female, will they breed? I'm getting baby turtles and I really don't want them to breed, but have no control over their genders.

STRAYKINGFISHER · Posted: Wed Feb 27, 2008 1:39 pm Post subject:

I have read posts in which a turtle is trying to mate with a rock, so I would suspect that there is a very strong possibility that they will at least attempt it. Very Happy

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lovelygreenwitch · Guest Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 4

Hmm.... well I was just wondering if it was physically possible... like crossbreeding? Or could red eared sliders only mate with red eared sliders (and produce baby turtles Razz

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STRAYKINGFISHER · Posted: Thu Feb 28, 2008 10:20 am Post subject:

I haven't finished searching but check this link out:

http://en.allexperts.com/q/Turtles-3543/Crossbreeding-aqautic-turtles.htm
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lovelygreenwitch · Guest Joined: 26 Feb 2008 Posts: 4

hmm, so it seems like they shouldn't breed if they are of different kinds. Well,, it probably won't be an issue anyways, because I don't know the genders of the turtles so they might be same sex anyways. Thank you so much for the help!

Bubonic · Level 2 Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 81

I'm sure it is physically possible if the two species are close enough along evolutionary lines and relatively similar in size.

And if they are as indiscriminate as STRAYKINGFISHER says, they that shouldn't be a problem either.

More people should experiment with this if they have the time, space, equipment, and proper motivation.

Mixed breed dogs are some of the most beautiful I've seen, I can see that being true for turtles as well.

And a good thing that could come from breeding is smaller terrapin sizes, this could be lifesaving for a lot of domestic turtles bought by people unprepared or unwilling to deal with unsuspected growths.

If they made a wolf turn out the size of a chihuahua, then I'm sure some turtles could be breed to be 4 inches max at maturity.

STRAYKINGFISHER · Posted: Thu Mar 13, 2008 1:52 pm Post subject:

Breeding different animals is not without risk to the animal, I have seen a lot of documentaries about the problems that are encountered when trying to breed different animal breeds, the dog is a good example, yes we have a lot of beautiful dogs running around, but there are a lot of steps and generations inbetween before you get the qualities that you are looking for.
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Bubonic · Level 2 Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Posts: 81

True, even established species suffer as result of breeding.
Bulldogs are a good example of this.
I wanted to buy one because they look really cool, but the lady said you need at least 5000$ emergency money saved up because of the plethora of complications that dog has.

I just realize a lot of people want turtles, but once they are over 5-6 inches, they lose interest, or the animal lives in a 20 gallon tank hardly able to be mobile.