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Atlas / Library / Emydidae / Diamondback Terrapin
CITES II
Emydidae

Diamondback Terrapin

Malaclemys terrapin

Traceable. The figures above appear in the page we cite, which we opened on 10 Aug 2026. That means you can check them, not that we have confirmed they are right. theturtlesource.com

Photograph: Simon Tonge · CC0

Photographed by an observer on iNaturalist and published under a Creative Commons licence; the photographer and the licence are named under the image. It is not an animal of ours, and no animal was handled by us to produce it.

CITES II is a global listing and holds in every country. National law is not global, and we hold no national wildlife law for any country, Thailand included. Check your own authority before buying or selling.

Check your setup against this sheet I keep one 123 plants usable with this species
Back to the globe My keep

https://keepr.pet/husbandry/en/malaclemys-terrapin

‹ All husbandry guides
warm end32 °C
cool end24–26 °C

The numbers

Thermal gradient

152025303540 °C
24–26°Cool side
32°Warm side

A real gradient, 32°C warm against 24–26°C cool, so the animal chooses. The sheet states no separate night figure.

Why

Same scale on every sheet here, so two species compare by eye.

The sheet stateswarm 32 °C / cool 24-26 °C

UVB

Requiredrequired

The sheet statesAdd a shop light fixture with UVB-emitting bulbs, and at least one basking spot with a spotlight (100-watt T-Rex Active UVHeat® bulb) mounted above.

Enclosure
aquarium 20 gallons long (setup type Trachemys)
Diet
As carnivores most Diamondback Terrapins will readily accept any number of commercial turtle diets. Fish, frozen crayfish or shrimp, and earthworms should add to the variety. Freeze-dried krill or brine shrimp can also provide a great treat for these turtles.

Identity

Origin

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
warm 32 °C / cool 24–26 °C

What your climate adds

This sheet states a range to hold. Your local climate decides how much work holding it is. Pick the nearest city: nothing is sent anywhere, the choice stays in this browser.

Common questions

Does it need salt water?

It comes from brackish coastal water, so most keepers add some marine salt rather than using pure fresh water. Clean water matters most of all.

How big does it get?

Females are around 15 to 23 cm and males much smaller, roughly half that.

What does it eat?

Shellfish, snails, prawn, fish and pellets. That wide jaw is built for crushing shells.

Does it bite?

It can give a firm crushing nip but it is not aggressive. Hold it at the back of the shell.

What it needs

A heat sourcebecause temp — warm 32 °C / cool 24-26 °C
A thermostat to regulate itbecause temp — warm 32 °C / cool 24-26 °C
A thermometerbecause temp — warm 32 °C / cool 24-26 °C
UVB, stated as requiredbecause uvb — Add a shop light fixture with UVB-emitting bulbs, and at least one basking spot with a spotlight (100-watt T-Rex Active UVHeat® bulb) mounted above.
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « aquarium 20 gallons long (setup type Trachemys) »

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation. What the sheet does not state is listed too, rather than left out: a kit that looks complete is worse than one that names its gap.

Sources

theturtlesource.com — lu le 2026-08-04speciesplus.net — lu le 2026-08-08gbif.org — lu le 2026-08-08

Others in this group

Red-eared SliderTrachemys scripta elegansmarginatedTestudo marginataYellow-bellied SliderTrachemys scripta scriptaPainted TurtleChrysemys pictaCommon musk turtle (Stinkpot)Sternotherus odoratusEastern mud turtleKinosternon subrubrumMalayan Box TurtleCuora amboinensisChinese Box TurtleCuora flavomarginata

What this sheet states

62%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 4 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: humidity instrument and audit, day/night engine and awake count on the globe, the diet section. We show the gap rather than fill it with a plausible number.

UVB is measured but does not count: it is absent from 421 of 678 sheets, and on most of them that is not a gap, since a nocturnal snake's sheet has no reason to state a UV index. Counting it would call the library incomplete without cause.