The Photo Contest
The Photo Contest is in a transitional phase right now as the torch is handed from Dana, the creator and operator of the Photo Contest, to Beth. Beth will begin the new Photo Contest on August 1st, so keep your eyes open for announcements from Beth pertaining to the new Photo Contest.

Daytona update
The Daytona Expo and ATP Banquet are getting closer and closer. We are aware that the cost of gas is preventing numerous members from being able to make it, and to those who are able to get there, money is going to be tight. At this point, it is undetermined if the ATP Banquet will continue on as planned. As it is right now, the number of members who have signed up for the banquet are not enough to justify the costs of using the banquet facility.
In the event that we do not get more members, we will simply try to come up with an alternative that will allow everyone to show up and let us have at least a few of the typical activities. So if you are planning on attending the banquet and simply haven't gotten around to posting in the Daytona Forum stating that you are coming - you need to do so, so that we can decide if we are going to be going forward with it or not.
Please contact Lucypoo if you have any questions or concerns pertaining to the banquet.

Premier Sale July 1st ~ 5th
We do this a couple of times a year and, well, now seems as good a time as any. Starting on July 1 and going until midnight EST on July 5th, new Premier Memberships are $25.

Spotted Enthusiasts Scoreboard: In the third month we have been following the excitement of the TF members breeding the beautiful Spotted Turtle (Clemmys gutatta) our total is now 43. Spotties are laying eggs like crazy. Be sure to visit the Boggy Creek Forum to keep up with the TF Spotted Fever!

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Some good news here from the server side. We implemented the new back up system for ATP's server. It's now an external backup system that runs every 15 minutes. So in the event that something hits the server or the hard drive on the server bottoms out, we'll only lose about 15 minutes worth of posts. That's pretty awesome stuff. Kinda ironic that it goes live the very month that, 5 years ago, we lost everything on the server. The upside is that this greatly assists us in loss prevention of posts and valuable content. The downside is that there is a slight cost involved, but fortunately it's not an unbearable one.

We're looking kinda slim on our donations for this year. Our objective is to reach 100% no later than September 30, 2008. For those who have been wanting to donate, now is the time. Remember, ATP/TF runs on donations. When the donations stop or fail to meet the goal, there's a good possibility that ATP/TF will disappear. We can't have that. There would be so much information lost and there would be so many people sitting at their computers, staring at the computer, their left eye twitching, their mouse finger convulsing and just zoning out into space without ATP/TF and their online family.

For Premier Members, don't forget, we've got the Debater's Arena opened up again. Rebecca and Ryan run that forum with an iron grip, so make sure that you walk a straight line while in there. And more importantly, before you spend some quality time posting your thoughts, views and offering facts and points of view - make sure you read the pinned topic and 'sign' it. If you don't, then Rebecca or Ryan will delete your post. The rules have changed a bit in that forum and we want to avoid any hassles, so we ask that you read through that thread to ensure that we're all on the same sheet of music.

We will be having a chat in the ATP Chatroom this week, so keep your eyes peeled for Super_Mal's announcement on that.

Tom C

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Monthly Stats

New Members: 311 new members
New Topics: 1,436 topics started
Postings for May: 13,222 posts
Total Hits for the May: 6,698,702 hits

Our top 5 most watched forums for the month of June:

Premier Lounge: 12,745 views
The Turtle Lounge: 10,714 views
General Turtle Discussions: 10,688 views
Habitats, Equipment & Plants: 7,817 views
The Turtle Pub: 7,593 views

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ATP'S TURTLE FORUM JULY BIRTHDAYS

Staff
Jamie C
onrae

Retired Staff
ML

Gold Member
Arielle
Bobmc

Premier Members
Ashley R
Dawn III
Eric B
Grumps1stBorn
ltlbigfoot
Lovely Lisa
ricko19




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PHOTO CONTEST:

The Photo Contest will return in August

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Description: A large predominantly herbivorous (but will take meaty foods) species with a 'basking turtle' body form (mildly domed, cannot close the shell). Carapace brownish to black. They are a side-necked species (but not a snake-neck). Turtles of this genus are known for their cute, endearing 'short-muzzled dog-like' faces. Some large females can reach 28" SCL (though this is not the average); males stay smaller.

Native Range: Tropical South American aquatic habitat; their range includes parts of Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil and more.

Native Habitat: Per Turtles of the World (4) they inhabit ponds, lakes, flood-plain pools, swamps, lagoons and oxbows along major rivers. Senneke & Tabaka (3) note that despite the name 'river turtle,' they tend to be found in slow-moving water.

Pro.s: Juveniles have very beautiful yellow spotted head markings. Definitely an attention-grabbing conversation piece in a collection.

Con.s: Podocnemis turtles are reputedly prone to sicken if chilled - Gurley notes they die quickly if chilled (2-Page 189), and this species is specifically noted for this (i.e.: to develop pneumonia and die if exposed to cold temp.s). This is a major problem with the larger adult females, whose size makes year round housing quite challenging. Adult females may lack the yellow spots. If you wish to provide soft, mildly acidic water, you may find it challenging to do so for large enclosures. Fairly expensive (a few hundred dollars) if you can get them.
Legalities: Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles are classified as CITES I (which essentially prevents importation from abroad) and covered under the United States Endangered Species Amendment (one of the few exotic turtle species so covered), which for practical purposes outlaws sale across state lines ('gifts' are possible, but if discovered apt to be met with great skepticism). The practical impact is this – if you attend the annual Captive Reptile Breeders' Expo. in Daytona, Fl, you'll need a valid Fl driver's license to buy one.

Special Notes: Podocnemis species are thought to benefit from low pH (some South American waters are considered soft and mildly acidic; some keepers try to reproduce these conditions for some South American turtle and fish species). Highfield(2-page 223) notes in the wild they inhabit both blackwater & whitewater habitat, but many captives seem to prefer blackwater (tannin-rich & acidic), recommended humid, draft-free aquariums for hatchlings, & cited research by Medem (1964) showing water hyacinth to be a popular food of wild P. unifilis.

Additional Resources:
1.) ATP Care Sheet.
2.) World Chelonian Trust's Care Sheet - http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/podocnemiscare.htm.
3.) World Diversity Database entry on Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles – Turtles of the World (Authors: C.H. Ernst, R.G.M. Altenburg & R.W. Barbour) –
1.) World of Turtles Photo Gallery on Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles.
2.) World of Turtles Photo Gallery on Red-headed Amazon River Turtles.
3.) World Chelonian Trust's Podocnemis Photo Gallery.

Similar Species: The Red-headed Amazon River Turtle (Podocnemis erythrocephala) is a smaller (females to 13" SCL) species with attractive red coloration on the head and a somewhat 'brown' overall base color, not covered by the Endangered Species Act (so sales across state lines are fine) but supplies are very limited and prices very high. They are listed as CITIES II, and captive-bred supplies are quite limited.

References:
1.) Keeping and Breeding Freshwater Turtles – Russ Gurley.
2.) Practical Encyclopedia of Keeping and Breeding Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles – Andy Highfield.
3.) World Chelonian Trust's Care Sheet for Podocnemis unifilis (the Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtle) – Darrell Senneke and Chris Tabaka, DVM
4.) World Chelonian Trust's Photo Gallery on Podocnemis species.
5.) World Diversity Database entry on Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles – Turtles of the World (Authors: C.H. Ernst, R.G.M. Altenburg & R.W. Barbour) –
6.) World of Turtles Photo Gallery on Yellow-spotted Amazon River Turtles.
7.) Medem, M. F. 1964. Morphologie, Oekologie und Verbreitung der Schildkrote Podocnemis unifilis in Kolumbien. Senkenb. Biol. (45): 353-368.

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Alrighty folks, they are up. I would like to give a special thank you to Maria, who worked closely with me on this design. Her awesome artistic abilities are seen in this year's Daytona shirts. Conceptual design was myself, but the real work was done by Maria who takes full credit for the artwork and colors. The model was Dino.

Premier Members - Don't forget to use your link which is located in the Premier Lounge so that you can get your discount.

 shirts.jpg ( 26.67K ) Number of downloads: 13

Spring ends and summer begins in the Northern Hemisphere. June 21 is the summer solstice (the longest day) in the Northern Hemisphere and marks the beginning of summer for the earth north of the equator. In the Southern hemisphere, winter begins during June, and it brings cold, rainy weather to this part of the world. Where ever you are in the world be safe and enjoy your turtles.



Congratulations: Please join us in bestowing best wishes on our Susan C and husband Joseph on the arrival of their new daughter, Rowan Niamh born at 5:20pm Pacific Time Saturday May 31st, weighing in at 7lbs 5 oz and measuring 19.5 inches. Proud Dad reports their new little miss is a very tranquil baby so far and they started bonding with her straight away. Aibhlin is very excited to be a big sister and Mom is doing well and moderating from her hospital bed

Spotted Enthusiasts : Beginning last month we decided to follow the excitement of the Turtle Forum members who breed the beautiful Spotted Turtle (Clemmys gutatta). The beginning of May we were able to report a total of one dozen baby spotties ranging from a low of one for a relatively inexperienced breeder and her inexperienced turtles to a high of 5 hatchlings for a very experienced breeder.

We are excited to report that our group of spottie enthusiasts grew by one person and we produced another 17 babies. Our total is now 29 beautiful little darlings with many more to come. Be sure to visit the Boggy Creek Forum and the Boggy Creek Gallery because this summer should be an exciting time with reports of quite a few eggs incubating and some still waiting for eggs to be laid!

Turtle Dome 5 Recap: What a game! The Side-Necked Warriors came out fighting from the start in both Phase I and Phase II, but their motivation and initial launch were no match for the seasoned Dome players of Team ATP. While the Warriors out numbered Team ATP almost 2:1, Team ATP's experience and communication process amongst its team members played a huge role in the ability for Team ATP to annihilate the competition.

But it would appear that the Warriors - excellent players, fantastic sports and awesome team spirit - aren't done! They are rallying for a rematch against Team ATP. Will Turtle Dome 6 consist of Team ATP, Warriors and a team of new players? Could there be a Turtle Dome 5: Rematch consisting of Just the top 2 heavy weights of the Dome? Or could Turtle Dome 6 be the rematch between the two teams? Time will tell.

Tentative date for Turtle Dome 6 will be early-mid September (open to fluctuate).


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TF Chat Room: Welcome Super Mal

ATP finally went forward with getting a chatroom. The chatroom is going to be changing over the next few weeks as far as accessibility and also looks. I'm working to get some coding done but I'll admit that it's not the friendliest thing to recode. But, I'll get it there. Remember when in the chatroom, the same rules apply as they do on the forum. Super-Mal has come on board as the chatroom moderator for the chatroom and she and I will begin developing policies pertaining to the chatroom as they arise and are different from the main board.

Don't forget, folks, that the chatroom maintains a chat log, so any member of Staff can see what you've been chatting about for quality assurance purposes - basically, if someone accuses you of being a jerk, we can check the logs and either defend you or discipline you. Pretty simple. It is an extension of the forum and not something for private use, so please understand that when viewing the chatroom logs as an invasion of privacy. The chatroom's function is not meant for you to have private discussions. Consider posting in the chatroom no different than posting on the forum - everyone can see what you've typed, either now or later, just like when you make a post.

And again, be wary of the private messenger within the chatroom - it's kinda buggy and sometimes it sends your private message to others in the chatroom or possibly displaying in the main chat window. As always, if you've got something that needs to be discussed privately, please use the PM system on the forum or use your choice of Instant Messaging software or email.

Have fun in the chatroom and enjoy having it. It's there for your use and if there are times when we need to shut the chatroom down for parties or designated events, just contact Lynbob, Super_Mal or myself and we'll get things rolling for you.

Also, I just gotta say this. You people just don't know when to stop talking, do you? We did it again this month. We topped our previous record for monthly hits. The old record, set in Feb 2008 was 7.27 million hits and this month we hit 7.37 million. I tell ya, you ATP forum people are just awesome!

Tom C

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Monthly Stats

New Members: 319 new members
New Topics: 1,777 topics started
Postings for May: 15,898 posts
Total Hits for the May: 7,377,975 hits

Our top 5 most watched forums for the month of May:

Premier Lounge: 13,642 views
The Turtle Lounge: 10,749 views
General Turtle Discussions: 8,629 views
Tortoises & Boxies: 6,983 views
Big Pond: 6,936 views

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ATP'S TURTLE FORUM JUNE BIRTHDAYS

Retired Staff
Bry
Wu-Gwei

Gold Member
Lynn

Premier Members
gettincdw
ltlbigfoot
Maloreej222
Mike R
Mr Maybug
TomsNieceYAY




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PHOTO CONTEST:

We will be collecting photos for the month of June. Please visit the Photo Contest to see May's contestants, check out all the past winners and don't forget to cast your vote.


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World Environment Day, celebrated each June 5, is one of the ways in which the United Nations works to make the world's population aware of the environment and to encourage people and governments around the world to take actions that promote the common good by promoting a healthy environment.



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Description: A large-to-massive very flattened turtle with a leathery shell (not hard) with small rounded knobs (called tubercles) at the top front of the shell, fairly large heads with long, narrowly pointed snouts, fleshy lips (a feature associated with softshells turtles generally - but the jaw edges behind them are hard, sharp and mildly serrated - they can hurt you!), very webbed feet with some large, sharp claws, and a reduced plastron.

Juveniles start out very attractive with an olive brownish base color, dark (rather blackish) mottled spots with strong patterning and some head striping. Adults patterning and coloration fade greatly, varying a great deal from a very darkened version of the juvenile look to black to a light pinkish tank reminiscent of a pig. Males get large and females get huge. They are alert, fast on land and very fast in water. Size: Males range from 6 - 12.75" SCL, & females 11 - 24.75" SCL.






Native Range: All of Florida with some presence in southern Alabama, Georgia & South Carolina (so southeastern U.S., warm temperate to neo-tropical).

Native Habitat: Heavily aquatic. Have been known to bask in the wild. Found in permanent water bodies or temporary water bodies near them.

Pro's: Cheap, easily acquired as hatchlings, juveniles are quite attractive, and they do make quite a conversation piece.

Con's: The large size of males makes permanent indoor housing daunting, and their restricted southeastern range precludes year round outdoor housing in much of the (temperate) U.S. (since they're not a good hibernation candidate in colder climes). With females, the problem is much worse. The juvenile coloration & patterning will be lost; some adults' coloration resembles a domestic hog! Softshell turtles have a reputation for being prone to aggression to their own kind, and their soft shelled bodies are quite vulnerable to lacerations and subsequent infections. Softshells have a reputation for being more skittish and 'high-strung' than some more common pet species (i.e.: sliders, cooters & painted turtles). A large softshell can inflict formidable wounds with its jaws and claws.

Apt to be hard to find a good home for once you've had enough of dealing with it, and release to the wild from captivity is not recommended (due in part to risk of introducing new diseases to wild animal populations). A substrate they can burrow into is strongly recommended for softshells (Play Sand is often used), as they like to burrow and hide. If you use sand, be sure your filters intake is at least 6 inches off the sand bed to prevent sand intake from damaging the filters impeller. If you don't use a sand substrate, offer dense real or artificial plant masses to hide in - softshells should have the option to hide.

Special Notes: Softshells are said to not exhibit temperature-dependent sex determination, and at least our North American species and the Chinese Softshell aren't sexually dimorphic as hatchlings, so obtaining reliably sexed hatchlings is seldom if ever an option (which is unfortunate, since male softshells are often drastically more feasible as pets). Florida Softshells are a very poor choice of pet for the large majority of turtle keepers!

Availability & Cost: Hatchlings are sadly very common & cheap (~ $10 - $15) in the hobby online and at large expo.s in the U.S.

Additional Resources: The care of Florida Softshell Turtles is covered in Captive Care of North American Water Turtles, a book available as a free downloadable PDF eBook or at-cost self-publishing paperback hardcopy. Their care is similar to that of the Eastern Spiny Softshell Turtle, for which we have this care sheet. Our online photo gallery, World of Turtles, includes a Florida Softshell photo gallery. When you're ready to talk about softshells, Florida or otherwise, join us at TurtleForum.com in the Murky Lair section!

Similar Species: There are 2 other North American Softshells; the Smooth and the Spiny (each with a # of subspecies). Both are more riverine turtles, although I frequently photograph wild Eastern Spiny Softshells in a rather stream-like portion of a small river in southwestern KY. Like Florida Softshells, both feature large females (albeit not quite so huge), but males are substantially smaller and practical for indoor aquaria. Smooth softshells are much harder to come by than Floridas or Spinies, and have a reputation for being less hardy.

Smooth and Spiny Softshell juveniles have anecdotally been reported to gorge on food and die; perceived competition leading to excessive intake is speculated to be a factor (? could this impair respiration?). The Chinese Softshell turtle is modestly available and fairly inexpensive in the U.S. hobby, fairly attractive (but that bright orange plastral coloration is lost with maturity), and they average smaller than our North American species. However, Chinese Softshells have a reputation for being prone to violently lashing out in self-defense when handled, so be cautious.


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