Chitra Chitra Care and Maintenance

Rumours

There have been unfounded claims and myths that say the Chitra Chitra is a difficult species to keep and the majority of them dies easily.Firstly I would like to reiterate that there has been so far no solid evidence that these turtles are suffering from their bad reputation as (death turtles) when purchased from our distributors or either directly from us.There could only be two reasons,ignorance and neglect on the owners part.Chitra Chitras kept and followed according to the methods below will ensure the turtle seeing it through adulthood with minimal problem.Till date as with all captive bred species of the world,CB's will always stand a better chance of survival than WC's.

Keeping of a Giant adult Chitra Chitra

There has been questions put before us if we should sell a giant Chitra Chitra not to mention a youngster as it would require a big space or the turtle will outgrow its enclosure as time passes.It has also brought to our attention that we are labled as profiteers and are only interested in selling our Chitra Chitras but have no regards to the turtles well being with all perspective in regards to it.If that is so, shouldn't the breeders of Reticulated pythons or any other giant snake breeders be labled under the same category ? We would also not have a website put up for our Chitra Chitras either if only profiteering was our only concern.

It is the sole responsilbility of the buyer to ask themselves the question if they should keep any animal which will one day outgrow their enclosure or pose a possible threat.It is NOT the responsibility of the sellers if the buyer makes the wrong decisions.Keeping of any exotic pet should be seriously considered and must be exercised with full responsibility and commitment otherwise DO NOT buy them ! We breed these endangered turtles to ensure their survival from being extinct from the wild and in return hopefully to have more info about them through serious hobbyist and institutions .

Giant Chitra Chitra of 6 foot in carapace length is by far the biggest that we have in our facilities,there are only records of 7 foot Chitra Chitras but we have never seen one before.Giant Chitra Chitras do not require a swimming pool unless there are a few living together in the same enclosure.A 10 X 10 enclosure is enough for a single 4 or 5 footer as these turtles do not move much but stay put in one particular place motionless for hours.If they move too much its because they are not comfortable with either environment or water.A male and female Chitra Chitra can only be put together if they have lived with each other for sometime,an outsider put inside the same enclosure be it a male or female will end up in a war or may lead to death if seriously injured.Therefore it is important to buy in numbers of 6 or more under the same batch if you are planning to breed these turtles in future otherwise just buy one or two just for interest as would with other personal hobby.The only time the Chitra Chitra will not attack an outsider is during the mating season but it must be a male and female.For a baby Chitra Chitra to reach breeding maturity,it would take them at least 8 to 10 years.So for anyone intending to breed these turtles ,think twice and ask if you have that commitment because keeping one for display and keeping some for breeding is a totally different arena altogether. Space, time,commitment and money is heavily involved in such a big scale project.

Care

Here are some basics that we have personally experienced and used in regards of keeping our Chitra chitras.

Baby Chitra chitras especially those week and month olds are very sensitive towards water changes and PH levels. To ensure correct water PH level ,it has to be at 7. Water that is above 7 PH level will result in the turtle swimming on its back, we call this "backstroke" syndrome. This will have a very detrimental effect on the turtle as it will stress it and eventually lead to its death.

New born baby Chitra chitras are prone to fungal and other skin infection therefore water cleanliness is a definite requirement and must be practiced religiously,it is however not so with bigger Chitra Chitras above 3 inches. It is best to keep age water for very young Chitra chitras as this will help declorinate and at the same time bring about the stability of the water. Water should be changed at least once in two or 3 days and a Chitra chitra should be kept individually and its tank at least 8 times the size of it.This will ensure that the turtle gets enough food and allows it to grow even faster.You can however put a group of turtles in the same container to house them together if you wish but feed generously if you want fast growth.

Sand Substrate

Substrate should consist of fine gravel but not coral substrates. Any fine or light gravel will do as the turtles would dig their way in the sand for hiding and security which is very important. Substrate should be at least filled to two inches or more as long as it can cover the whole turtle. The substrate should be sterilized by hot boiling water every two weeks as a precaution to keep bacteria and diseases away,when the turtle has reached at least 3inches and above,this practice can be relaxed a little(monitor the situations yourself and judge accordingly,there are no fix rules to this) . Water level should be two inches above gravel level as too much water would render it difficult for the turtle to catch the fishes. Do not use pebbles or stones as substrates as the turtles prefer soft light gravel.Fine river sand or gravel,those dark colored ones are preferable.Chitra Chitras will adapt color changes as well,the darker or shadier the gravel or place where the turtle is kept,the nicer the contrast it is for the turtle.

Diet

Diet consist of live guppies and must be sure that the tank is filled full of guppies as the fishes would swim and stay on one side of the tank which will make catching of the fishes difficult. Remember that Chitra chitras don't chase their prey but work on the hide and wait preying method to catch their meal. They will wait till the fish comes close to range and with a powerful and lightning strike suck the fishes into their mouth.

Guppies should be fed to the turtles everyday but one should not overlook the fishes meant for food as most fishes carry diseases and may lead to the death of the turtles. Remember to always quarantine all feeder fishes by using acriflavin or tetracyline whichever is necessary to "sterilize" the fishes before feeding it to the turtles. Always remove dead fishes in the tank as this will bring about all the undesirable diseases which always leads to the death of the turtles.

Temperature

Room temperature of 28 to 30 degrees Celsius is the best for maintaining a Chitra chitra. If the temperature drops below 20 degrees C then the turtle would refuse to eat. Use an aquarium heater if you're leaving in the US or European Country to maintain the right temperature at all times.

4 inches to adult Chitra Chitra

Any Chitra chitra which are above 4 inches are much more resistant to diseases and adult Chitra chitra should be kept in outdoor pools also with practical substrate. Adult Chitra chitra should be fed live catfishes. All maintenance apply.

Common problems

Fungal infections and biting are common problems in raising a Chitra chitra therefore one should always have some medications prepared for example tetracyline,acriflavin,methyelene blue,potassium citrate,baytril and also a bottle of anitclorine used for aquarium purposes.

Curing

Sometimes during transportation or climate/weather differences,a Chitra Chitra may be infected by fungal or skin disease.This could be because of the humidty or water PH changes.Chitra Chitras are soft water turtles,so if the water is hard or too cold,the turtle will show symptoms of fungal infection.This problem is easily solved.

Use tetracycline 250mg and mixed it with the turtle including gravel all intact.Water must be changed everyday using this method until all symptoms disappears.After this remember to sterilized the gravel which was in used together with the medication or just change a new set of gravel (make sure it was sterilized prior to any usage).

Sometimes,there are white spots or dots appearing on the neck or legs of the turtle.These spots /dots are something like a pimple.When this happens use methylene blue or similar but do not use gravel with this method,it will take at least one or two weeks for this symptoms to heal completely.This happens only when the water is not changed and has been fouled,other than that there should be no problems in keeping a Chitra Chitra healthy.

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