KeeprHusbandry You're a Pro? Click here to meet Rex
Atlas / Library / Pelomedusidae / African Sideneck Turtle
Pelomedusidae

African Sideneck Turtle

Pelusios castaneus

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. lafeber.com

Photograph: Lucy Keith-Diagne · CC BY

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.

14:00
Day

Drag the sun. The sheet states a night temperature, so the rail follows it.

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/pelusios-castaneus

‹ All husbandry guides
warm end32–35 °C
cool end26–28 °C
Humidity50 %

The numbers

Thermal gradient

152025303540 °C
26–28°Cool side
32–35°Warm side
24°Night

Day: a real gradient, 32–35°C warm against 26–28°C cool, so the animal chooses. Night: 24°C.

Why

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

The sheet stateswarm 32-35 °C / cool 26-28 °C / night 24 °C

Humidity

50%Target RH

The sheet statesau-dessus de 50 % en permanence

UVB

Requiredrequired

The sheet statesFull-spectrum (UVB) light

Enclosure
Hatchlings can be placed in a 10-gallon (38 L) tank. House one adult in a 20-40 gallon (75-150 L) tank or larger; use a 75-gallon (280 L) or larger if more than one turtle is housed together.
Diet
plant and animal based; as an adult, they eat more vegetation (80%) than meat (20%); romaine lettuce, dandelion greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, collard greens, red-leaf lettuce, dill, parsley, endive, escarole, carrot tops; earthworms, mealworms, crickets, water fleas, krill, trout chow and even small feeder fish (minnows)

Identity

Origin

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
warm 32–35 °C / cool 26–28 °C / night 24 °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

Why does it tuck its head sideways?

Side-necked turtles fold the neck along the shell instead of pulling it straight in. It is normal, not a deformity.

Is it hardy?

Yes, one of the tougher water turtles, and it takes our warm climate well. Just keep the water clean.

What does it eat?

Almost anything: pellets, fish, snails, insects and some plants. It is an enthusiastic feeder.

Can it live with fish?

Any fish small enough to catch will eventually be eaten, so keep it alone or with turtles of a similar size.

What it needs

A heat sourcebecause temp — warm 32-35 °C / cool 26-28 °C / night 24 °C
A thermostat to regulate itbecause temp — warm 32-35 °C / cool 26-28 °C / night 24 °C
A thermometerbecause temp — warm 32-35 °C / cool 26-28 °C / night 24 °C
A way to check the night figurebecause temp — warm 32-35 °C / cool 26-28 °C / night 24 °C
A hygrometerbecause humidity — au-dessus de 50 % en permanence
UVB, stated as requiredbecause uvb — Full-spectrum (UVB) light
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Hatchlings can be placed in a 10-gallon (38 L) tank. House one adult in a 20-40 »

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

lafeber.com — lu le 2026-08-04speciesplus.net — lu le 2026-08-08iucn-tftsg.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: enclosure size 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.