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Atlas / Library / Trionychidae / Chinese softshell turtle
IntermediateNocturnal · sleeping now
Trionychidae

Chinese softshell turtle

Pelodiscus sinensisตะพาบไต้หวัน / ตะพาบจีน

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. turtlecreek.ie

Photograph: Yung-Lun Lin · 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. Chinese softshell turtle is nocturnal, so what it is doing changes with the light.

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/pelodiscus-sinensis

‹ All husbandry guides
warm end30–35 °C
cool end24–29 °C

The numbers

Thermal gradient

152025303540 °C
24–29°Cool side
30–35°Warm side

A real gradient, 30–35°C warm against 24–29°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 30-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C

UVB

Requiredrequired

The sheet statesrequire UVB lighting to survive

Enclosure
Hatchling: 2/3 foot long aquarium; adults require a much larger aquarium or ideally a pond
Diet
fish, worms, insects, frogs and snails; hatchlings fed every 2nd day, adults approximately two times every week

Identity

Family / Order
Trionychidae / Testudines
Origin
Temperament
Fast, nervous, can bite hard

Enclosure and conditions

Temperature
warm 30–35 °C / cool 24–29 °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.

Behaviour and handling

HandlingAvoid: bites, delicate shell
HousingSolo (aggressive)
NoteCoarse substrate abrades soft shell

Reproduction

Sexing
Male: longer thicker tail
Breeding
Egg-layer on land

When to see a vet

S

Good to know

  • The leathery shell and snorkel-like nose let it 'breathe' while buried in sand.

Common questions

Does it bite?

Yes, hard, and the neck is long and fast. This is not a turtle for handling.

Why is the shell soft?

It is leathery rather than hard, which is great for burying in sand but damages easily, so no sharp decor in the tank.

What does the tank need?

Water deep enough to swim, a soft sand bottom to bury in, strong filtration and an easy spot to reach the surface.

How big does it get?

Around 25 to 30 cm, sometimes more, which is bigger than most people expect.

What it needs

A heat sourcebecause temp — warm 30-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C
A thermostat to regulate itbecause temp — warm 30-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C
A thermometerbecause temp — warm 30-35 °C / cool 24-29 °C
UVB, stated as requiredbecause uvb — require UVB lighting to survive
Not stated: The size of the enclosurethis sheet describes the enclosure without a figure: « Hatchling: 2/3 foot long aquarium; adults require a much larger aquarium or idea »

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

IUCN — Pelodiscus sinensisturtlecreek.ie — 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 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, enclosure size 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.