Raising Terrapins on the Farm 



They require little more than sun, sand and water, 

 and bring from $50 to $60 a dozen in the market 



GOOD Chesapeake terrapins measur- 

 - ing six inches in length on the lower 

 shell bring from $50 to $60 a dozen 

 in the city markets. Clearly, it would pay 

 to raise these turtles extensively. The at- 

 tempt has been made over and over again, 

 but no private enterprise has met with any 

 commercial success because the turtles 

 would not hatch out. 



In 1902 the Bureau of Fisheries began 

 breeding terrapins in captivity. In the 

 experimental pounds at Beaufort, North 

 Carolina, there are now two thousand 

 terrapins of various ages which have been 

 hatched and raised in confinement. Be- 

 side these the Bureau has distributed sev- 

 eral thousand terrapins in other places for 

 experimental work. 



The oldest brood in the Beaufort pound 

 dates from 1909. The females of this brood 

 have attained marketable size and have 

 produced eggs. Some of the brood of 1910 

 also have grown large enough to be mark- 

 eted. 



The essentials of a good terrapin farm are 

 some dry land for 

 part of the day and 

 some water all day. 

 The females should 

 be able to resort to 

 sand beds when they 

 desire to make their 

 nests and they should 

 have space in which 

 to crawl about and 

 sun themselves. 

 Each adult terrapin 

 requires ten square 

 feet of space and 

 each young one one 

 square foot for health 

 and comfort. An en- 

 closure 100 feet 

 square will provide 

 satisfactory quarters 

 for 750- adult turtles 

 and twice as many 

 young ones. 



At Beaufort the 

 terrapins are fed on 

 fish with variety fur- 

 nished by an occa- 

 sional meal of blue 



Diamond-back turtles hatching out in a farm 

 hatchery at Beaufort, North Carolina. The 

 objects resembling small stones are the eggs 



906 



An enclosure 100 feet square will accom- 

 modate 750 adults and many young ones 



crabs or fiddlers. In the winter the young 

 terrapins are given oysters. The fish are 

 cut into small pieces, and the crabs are 

 crushed before being fed to the terrapins. 

 The daily cost of feeding one hundred 

 terrapins is only five or ten cents. 



The terrapin is a hibernating animal. 

 During the cold weather it burrows into 

 the mud and remains there until the return 

 of warm weather. The terrapin farmer 

 need not dread disease among his turtles. 

 Terrapins seem singularly free from epi- 

 demic diseases. 



Eggs are laid from 

 ' May to August. The 

 average number of 

 eggs in a nest is from 

 eight to nine, al- 

 though as many as 

 sixteen have been 

 found. The young 

 appear in August. 

 They can climb over 

 a concrete wall two 

 or three feet high and 

 crawl through any 

 hole they can find. 

 They must be kept 

 from the adult terra- 

 pins while young be- 

 cause the older ani- 

 mals are likely to de- 

 stroy them by tram- 

 pling on them or by- 

 eating their food. 

 This is not done 

 through viciousness 

 or even through 

 greediness, but oc- 

 curs accidentally. 



