Mata Mata Turtle behavior

The Mata Mata turtle is a striking aquatic turtle. Its distinctive head and neck region make it easily recognizable. The head and neck of the Mata Mata have tufts, which might be where this turtle gets its scientific name, "Chelus fimbriatus", which is Latin for fringed turtle.

The Mata Mata typically does well in captivity.Many have been known to live up to 15 years in zoos and in private collections. This turtle is very appealing to both hobbyists and zoos because of its unique appearance and modest enclosure requirements. The Mata Mata is highly aquatic and rarely leaves the water. In captivity it is most comfortable in an aquarium with a large surface area, but not very deep, because although the turtle loves the water, it is not a good swimmer. Instead, the Mata Mata sticks his head above water to breathe and moves by walking rather than swimming. Water levels should be high enough to allow the turtle to submerse his body, but not so high that he cannot stick his head above the water while standing on the floor. This turtle's natural habitat consists of still or slow moving waters. They seem to prefer this to fast moving water. Some hobbyists report that this turtle also does not do badly with extended exposure to salt or brackish water. The Mata Mata does not need a lot of decorations and land area in his enclosure. Adults of this species do not bask often, but juvenile Mata Matas do. A land area is required during breeding, as the female will use this area for egg laying. It should be noted that breeding in captivity is encouraged, since they are becoming endangered due to habitat loss in the wild.

Complete List
African helmeted terrapin	Australian snake necked turtle	Big Headed Turtle	Black Marsh Terrapin	Blanding's Turtle
Bog Turtle	Box Turtle - Chinese	Box Turtle - Eastern	Box Turtle - Gulf Coast	Box Turtle - Indonesian
Box Turtle - Keeled	Box Turtle - Ornate	Box Turtle - Three Toe	Cogwheel Turtle	Diamondback Terrapin
East African Side Necked Turtle	European Pond Turtle	Florida Cooter	Fly River Turtle	Honduran Wood Turtle
Leaf Turtle	Map Turtle	Mata Mata Turtle	Musk Turtle	Painted River Terrapin
Painted Turtle - Eastern	Painted Turtle - Western	Red Eared Slider	Reeve's Terrapin	Snapping Turtle
Softshell Turtle - Black Rayed	Softshell Turtle - Eastern Spiny	Softshell Turtle - Florida	Spotted Turtle	Wood Turtle - Central American
Wood Turtle - North American	Yellow Spotted Amazon River Turtle	African Spurred Tortoise	Aldabra Giant Tortoise	Bow-Sprit Tortoise
Burmese Brown Tortoise	Chaco Tortoise	Desert Tortoise	Egyptian Tortoise	Elongated Tortoise
Forsten's Tortoise	Galapagos Tortoise	Gopher Tortoise	Greek Spur Thighed Tortoise	Hermann's Tortoise
Hingeback Tortoise - Bell's	Hingeback Tortoise - Home's	Impressed Tortoise	Leopard Tortoise	Leopard Tortoise - South African
Marginated Tortoise	Pancake Tortoise	Radiated Tortoise	Red Foot Tortoise	Russian Tortoise
Star Tortoise	Yellow Foot Tortoise

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Mata_Mata_Turtle".