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Spiny Hill Turtle

Zoo Med Laboratories is excited to announce our first successful hatching of the Spiny Hill turtle, Heosemys spinosa.  The egg was found on August 13th in the Spiny Hill turtle habitat in our state-of-the-art greenhouse facility.  It was incubated for 93 days in a Reptibator and took three days to completely emerge from the egg.  As a hatchling, this turtle resembles a ninja throwing star with "points" all around the edge of its shell.  In nature, these points probably provide young turtles with protection against predators.  While hatchling turtles are often very shy, this little turtle appears to be curious – lifting its head and looking around whenever caretakers are near.
 
This southeast Asian species is threatened in its natural range by habitat destruction as well as collection for Traditional Chinese Medicine and the bush meat trade.  Zoo Med is proud to join only a handful of other facilities who have successfully bred and hatched this species.  Captive breeding projects such as this are needed to preserve genetic diversity and to help secure a future for the species.