A cat death in Oregon being linked back to the raw cat food made by Northwest Naturals, they are issuing a voluntary recall of their 2 lb raw turkey meals. I know many people often will use these premade diets in a rotation for some of their lizard species, so I did want to make sure reptile owners are aware. From Newsweek:

Oregon Department of Agriculture State Veterinarian Dr. Ryan Scholz said in a press release on Tuesday that his organization is "confident" the pet cat contracted the bird flu by eating Northwest Naturals raw and frozen pet food.
"This cat was strictly an indoor cat; it was not exposed to the virus in its environment, and results from the genome sequencing confirmed that the virus recovered from the raw pet food and infected cat were exact matches to each other," Scholz said.

The full press release can be seen after the jump or you can visit Northwest Naturals website here. Continue reading "Raw Pet food recalled due to Bird Flu contamination"

Note the yellow temporal line on this adult Chinese Box Turtle
At this point in time it has become difficult and quite expensive for hobbyists to acquire Asian herps, turtles included. Even prior to importation difficulties, hatchlings of several turtle species in the genera Cuora and Cistoclemmys were being priced by breeders in the many hundreds and even thousands of dollars each. Today (2024) the prices of many taxa are even higher.

Fortunately though, a few of the species that can still be imported and/or that are easily bred remain almost affordable. One of these, long a favorite of hobbyists (me included) is Cuora flavomarginata and is known to most as the Chinese Box Turtle. The 3 subspecies are divided between China mainland, Taiwan, and Japan. The subspecies, all remarkably similar in external appearances, are C.f. flavomarginata from Taiwan, C.f. sinensis from southern mainland China and C. f. evelynae from Japan.

Like the American Box Turtles its carapace is highly domed and the turtle has a very functional plastral hinge. The carapace may vary in color from dirty olive to black, with the latter being the more common. There is a yellowish vertebral stripe and the marginal scutes are a combination of dark and light pigment. The skin atop the head and on the limbs and tail is a dark charcoal, occasionally with pale olive overtones, The crown is separated from the pinkish cheeks by a prominent yellow bar on each side. All colors are at their brightest when the turtle is in breeding condition. Both males and females attain a straight measure of 5” (rarely to 6”).The external differences between male and female C. flavomarginata are slight. Males have a broader (but not much longer) tail than females. When extended the male’s tail is almost triangular in shape.
Like many terrestrial turtle species, the Chinese Box Turtle is omnivorous. Moistened tortoise diet, canned pet food, fresh succulent fruit, insects and worms are all accepted eagerly by most captives.

Summarizing, the common name given this turtle is quite descriptive, although not brightly colored they are pretty, personable, longlived, and proving that they are easily kept, some of mine have been captive for 40+ years.
Continue reading "Thoughts on the Chinese Box Turtle"