Yeah, that's exactly it. I kept a lot of herps over the years, but haven't had ANY for the last 10 or so. College, moving back to Chicago, getting married, etc. All that moving around and what not kept me from getting any reptiles. But now, we are settling down and I have space, time and money to take care of a turtle, and a Mata has been my life long "dream turtle". So, I will dedicate all my time to this little guy. Its gonna take some time to get it under control, but I am getting the hang of it (pH, live fish, etc).

I don't know why, but for me, turtles have always been my favorite herps. They are so prehistoric and wicked looking, and so cute at the same time.

Bart


Quote Originally Posted by JHarris1385 View Post
I have had an outdoor habitat for box turtles for years. It was made out of bricks that were left over after building my house. At one time we had about 11 in there most eastern but a number were western males. We also had an occasional painted turtle in the mix to accompy the pond that was inside. And yes we had a eastern male mate with another female and had about 13 babies. We would put a some mulch in where the pond would during the winter for them to hibernate. Pretty nice set up, considering after a couple years all the cherry tomatoe plants that started to grow inside due to the seeds left behind began to feed the turtles quite well over time.

I have always wanted a mata, but i am going to wait to make sure I do it right from the start. My res, map and bearded dragon are enough right now for inside reptiles.