In an earlier blog post, I had indicated that our first river terrapin nest was deposited on 28th January 2009. After one and a half months, we have managed to procure only 12 nests through Lina at Kampong Mangkok and an additional three at Kampong Banggol, with Ropi helping us out there. We had announced an incentive of an additional RM10 if the whole clutch was sold to the project. Well, so far we have obtained only three whole clutches. Most of the nests are incubated in the ground near Lina’s house. The hatchery has to be fenced off to keep out monitor lizard, goats and cows.

This year, we have asked the villagers to send the post-nesting terrpains to Rani’s place so that we can microchip, weigh and measure them. We pay RM10 for each terrapin processed. The 10 terrapins processed weigh between 24 – 29.5 kg, and ranging from 52 – 57 cm in straight carapace length.

hookhook1hook2The last post-nesting terrapin we processed had a fish hook sticking out by the side of its neck. We were perturbed when we recieved the news. I had thought that half the hook was protruding from the neck while the other half was lodged in the throat. Fortunately, it came off quite easily when I pulled it out gently with a pair of pliers.

Fishermen from Setiu have delivered 18 river terrapins and 25 painted terrapins to us since the end of January 2009. These terrapins were caught either by hooks, or driftnets. Some were hand-caught near the fish cages at Beris. All the river terrapins, except one large individual were those released by us during our Terrapin Independence Days, as indicated by the presence of a microchip in each one of them . We recovered individuals released in 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008. Weight gains were registered in all of of them, with those released in 2005 gaining 2.6 to 3.7 kg.

The painted terrapins caught ranged from 600 g to 17.4 kg and straight carapace lengths were from 16 – 55 cm. All the painted terrapins looked healthy and robust. We have decided to microchip the painted terrapins as well before we released them back to the river.

• A bit of this and that
• Head-starting work on river terrapins bears fruit
• Micro-chipping party, anyone?
• Our first clutch of painted terrapin eggs has hatched!
• More on our activities