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Atlas / Library / Kinosternidae / Common musk turtle (Stinkpot)
BeginnerNocturnal · sleeping nowCITES II
Kinosternidae

Common musk turtle (Stinkpot)

Sternotherus odoratusเต่ากลิ่น

The page we cite does not state this figure. We opened it on 10 Aug 2026 and it gives no temperature for this species at all. The values above may still be right, but we cannot show you where they came from, and nobody here has checked them against a second source. Anything about a sick animal goes to a qualified exotic vet, not to a page. austinsturtlepage.com

Photograph: Jake McCumber · CC BY

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. Common musk turtle (Stinkpot) is nocturnal, so what it is doing changes with the light.

Aquatic · warmFrom the sheet: warm end 32–35°C

The way of life is written in this sheet, word for word. The climate words summarise the two figures above them, they do not add to them.

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/sternotherus-odoratus

‹ All husbandry guides
warm end32–35 °C
cool end26–27 °C
Enclosure140×61×30
Diet1 days
Photograph of Common musk turtle (Stinkpot) (Sternotherus odoratus)
Photograph · Nick Loveland · 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.

The numbers

Thermal gradient

152025303540 °C
26–27°Cool side
32–35°Warm side

A real gradient, 32–35°C warm against 26–27°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 32-35 °C / cool 26-27 °C

UVB

T5 6%required

The sheet statesZoo Med T5 HO ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia Forest 6% | hung from the ceiling to land 13-14" above the basking spot to achieve a UVI of approximately 3.0-4.0 in the basking area

Identity

Family / Order
Kinosternidae / Testudines
Origin
Temperament
Bottom-walker, mostly aquatic

Enclosure and conditions

Enclosure

32–35 °CUVB tube55 in12 in
warm sideUVB tube
50100150200 cm
55 × 24 × 12 in · 140 × 61 × 30 cmWidth × depth × height
85dm² of floor
Substrate: not in our dataWater: not in our dataHides: not in our data

Drawn from the stated numbers. Only what the sheet states is drawn inside.

Why

The rectangle carries the exact width-to-height ratio of the figures above it, and the ruler under it places that width on the 0–250 cm scale every sheet here shares, so two species still compare at a glance. Nothing is added that the sheet does not name: a lamp drawn on a sheet that never mentions one would be invented equipment. What the sheet leaves out is listed rather than left blank, because an empty tank reads as « none needed ».

The sheet statesat least 20 gallons of water per inch of shell length in total capacity | a small (55"L x 24"W x 12"H) Waterland tub with 75% water area, 25% land area, and 6" water depth

Temperature
warm 32–35 °C / cool 26–27 °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.

Diet

Feeding rhythm

every 1 dAs the sheet states
28Meals in 28 days

Twenty-eight days, one row. Each band is a meal window.

Why

The windows widen as they go because the interval is a range: four meals after a 10–14 day cycle land anywhere between day 40 and day 56.

The sheet statesMusk turtles younger than 6 months: protein food or pellets daily | Musk turtles older than 6 months: protein food or pellets every other day [and] vegetable food daily

Behaviour and handling

HandlingWill musk/bite; minimal
HousingBest solo; size-match if grouped
NoteGreat small-tank turtle

Reproduction

Sexing
Male: longer thicker tail, larger
Breeding
Egg-layer; nests on land

When to see a vet

S

Good to know

  • Nicknamed 'stinkpot' for the musk it releases when alarmed. Stays tiny.

Common questions

Does it really smell?

It can release a musk when frightened, but a settled captive almost never does. Any tank smell comes from a weak filter.

Does it bite?

Yes, and the neck is long enough to reach right back over its own shell, so hold it at the very back of the shell.

How big does it get?

Small, about 8 to 13 cm, one of the best water turtles for a modest tank.

Does it need a basking lamp?

It baskets less than a slider but still needs a dry spot it can reach plus UV light. Keep the water shallow enough for it to walk up for air.

What it needs

Enclosure at least 140 × 61 × 30 cmbecause enclosure — at least 20 gallons of water per inch of shell length in total capacity | a small (55"L x 24"W x 12"H) Waterland tub with 75% water area, 25% land area, and 6" water depth
A heat sourcebecause temp — warm 32-35 °C / cool 26-27 °C
A thermostat to regulate itbecause temp — warm 32-35 °C / cool 26-27 °C
A thermometerbecause temp — warm 32-35 °C / cool 26-27 °C
UVB 6-6% (T5), stated as requiredbecause uvb — Zoo Med T5 HO ReptiSun 5.0 or Arcadia Forest 6% | hung from the ceiling to land 13-14" above the basking spot to achieve a UVI of approximately 3.0-4.0 in the basking area

Every line above is deduced from a value this sheet states, and names which one. Nothing here is a general recommendation.

Sources

Austin's Turtle Page — muskthebiodude.com — lu le 2026-08-04speciesplus.net — lu le 2026-08-08

Others in this group

Red-eared SliderTrachemys scripta elegansmarginatedTestudo marginataYellow-bellied SliderTrachemys scripta scriptaPainted TurtleChrysemys pictaEastern mud turtleKinosternon subrubrumMalayan Box TurtleCuora amboinensisChinese Box TurtleCuora flavomarginataEastern Box TurtleTerrapene carolina

What this sheet states

77%
TemperatureHumidityEnclosure sizeActivityOriginDietSourcesUVB

This sheet states 5 of 7 of the fields this product runs on. What is missing turns something off: humidity instrument and audit, 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.