Eastern Mud Turtle — Fact Sheet

Kinosternon subrubrum · Eastern Mud Turtle · Östliche Schlammschildkröte

📋 At a glance

🏠 Enclosure

• One adult: at least 90 x 45 cm footprint; 100-120 cm length preferred
• Shallow-to-moderate water, usually 20-30 cm for a capable adult
• Hatchlings/new arrivals: water shallow enough to breathe while standing
• Substantial land section with 10-15 cm moist soil; female nesting zone 15-20 cm deep
• Strong lid or high walls; house singly
• Avoid tall empty tanks, small gravel, deep open water, and floating docks as the only land

🪨 Enclosure furniture

• Multiple easy routes to the surface: driftwood, cork, ledges, and dense plants
• Fully dry basking surface + shaded moist land retreat
• Stable hides that cannot trap the turtle underwater
• Screen filter intakes and guard heaters

💡 Lighting

• UVB required over the dry basking zone
• Ferguson Zone 2; aim for about UVI 1-2 at shell height and shade near zero
• Moderate T5 HO UVB + separate halogen heat lamp
• Replace by measured output/manufacturer schedule; glass blocks UVB
• Photoperiod: 10-13 h; no night light

🌡️ Temperature

• Basking spot: 30-32 °C

• Warm zone: 23-26 °C water

• Cool zone: 21-23 °C land/air retreat

• Night: 20-23 °C

• Measure water with a submerged probe and basking surface with an infrared thermometer

• Maintain a real gradient; avoid heat rocks and unguarded heaters

💧 Humidity & water

• Oversized mechanical/biological filtration, ideally rated for 2-3x actual water volume
• Cycled system: ammonia 0; nitrite 0; regular partial water changes
• Siphon debris and rinse mechanical media before flow drops
• Land substrate slightly moist below the surface; basking surface fully dry
• Avoid strong current, stagnant water, and replacing all biological media at once

🪱 Diet

Feed regularly:

• Earthworms, cultured snails, aquatic insects, crustacean items
• Suitable whole fish and complete aquatic-turtle pellets

In moderation:

• Safe aquatic plants and occasional plant matter
• Rich prey adjusted to body condition

Avoid:

• Mammal meat, dog/cat food, bread, dairy
• Feeder goldfish, dried shrimp as a staple, wild prey from polluted water

Supplements:

• Whole prey + complete pellets + cuttlebone for calcium
• Do not dust every balanced pellet meal; avoid vitamin overdosing

💤 Seasonal rest

• Not required for a pet; native winter dormancy is not an automatic captive recipe
• Consider only for a healthy established adult in a measured breeding plan with veterinary input
• Never cool juveniles, thin, sick, parasitized, treated, or newly acquired turtles
• Continue weight, hydration, and temperature monitoring

🩺 Health — warning signs

• Pitted, soft, discolored, or smelly shell → water quality, drying, injury, UVB/calcium, or infection problem
• Swollen eyes or irritated skin → ammonia, dirty water, nutritional issue, or infection
• Listing, floating, wheezing, or nasal discharge → possible respiratory disease
• Puffy limbs → chronic overfeeding
• Bites or missing claws → unsafe cohabitation
• Prolonged anorexia → temperature, stress, obstruction, parasites, or systemic disease

Consult a reptile-experienced veterinarian for breathing signs, shell lesions, serious swelling, injury, or prolonged refusal to feed.