Home › Volumes › Reptiles › Turtles and Tortoises
Common Musk Turtle
- Colouration
- With young specimens the carapace is dull olive or brown, the shields showing narrow, black margins. Old specimens are of a dull, lusterless brown and usually coated with moss. The plastron is dark yellow or brown.
- Dimensions
- Length of Carapace . . . . . 3 3/4 inches.
- Distribution
- Southern Canada to the Gulf of Mexico; westward to Illinois in the North, and to Texas in the southern portion of the range. The species is generally abundant.
- Habits
- Frequenting slow-running streams and muddy rivers, this pugnacious little reptile is in habits, as well as in looks, an understudy of the snapping turtle. When handled it emits a strong, though not highly disagreeable odour, which, contrary to many assertions, is not of so powerful a nature as to resist repeated washings in an effort to remove it. This odour is characteristic of all of the Cinosternidae, though particularly pronounced with the species of Aromochelys.
The upper shell is rather narrowly oval and arched to a considerable degree. With young specimens it is strongly keeled, but the keel disappears with the adult, or becomes very blunt and obscure. The plastron is very narrow and much shorter than the upper shell. Neither of the lobes are capable of being drawn upward to any extent. With young specimens they are rigid, and the rear portion remains immovable until the reptile is well grown.
The head is proportionately large, with tapering, conical snout. The feet are broadly webbed.
The head markings are important. On each side of the head are two bright yellow stripes, both extending from the tip of the snout to the neck. One of these stripes passes over the eye; the other extends backward beneath the eye, running parallel with the line of the jaw, thence bending slightly downward behind the angle of the mouth and running to the neck.
Width of Carapace . . . . . 2 1/2 inches.
Length of Plastron . . . . . 2 3/4 inches.
Width of Front Lobe at Hinge . . . . . 1 5/16 inches.
Width of Rear Lobe at Hinge . . . . . 1 3/16 inches.
Width of Bridge of Plastron . . . . . 2 inches.
Length of Bridge of Plastron . . . . . 3/4 inches.
Width of Head . . . . . 7/8 inches.
Except for the purpose of coming to the shore to deposit its eggs, the Musk Turtle seldom leaves the water. It crawls about on the bottom of rivers and ponds, searching for food to satisfy its voracious and carnivorous appetite. Frequently it runs afoul of the fisherman's hook, baited with small fish or worm. Pulled to the surface it snaps viciously and emits the characteristic odour which gives the species its name.
As a captive the Musk Turtle is rather timid and, like the snapping turtle, will take advantage of hiding places or dark corners of its tank. Its movements when crawling about the bottom of an aquarium or in swimming show deliberation and perfect ease and prove the creature's fitness for exploring the muddy beds of rivers. As an experiment the writer kept several specimens in a deep aquarium, without means of leaving the water, or obtaining a foothold at the top, to breathe. The test continued for several weeks. These turtles either crawled about the bottom of the tank or swam leisurely to the surface for a breath of air. They fed readily and from all indications would have lived indefinitely under such conditions. Pond turtles or river turtles--terrapin--if thus treated, would have soon become exhausted and ultimately succumbed by drowning.
During the first warm days of Spring, the Musk Turtles seek very shallow water, and lie basking in the sun. At such times they may be taken in large numbers.