Anyone Else Keep a Snapping Turtle?

Jurtle

New Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2014
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5
Location (City and/or State)
Upstate NY
Hello! Ive had my common snapping turtle for about a year now and would love to talk with others who keep them. There is info about keeping them online, of course, but, it would be nice to speak with a real person about them :) If any of you keep them or have experience, say hi! I realize she is going to be a challenge to house in the future and would love to hear what others have set up. Im thinking as she grows, she will graduate to an outside enclosure for summers and come inside for winter. Thank goodness we live in the boonies!

I never intended to have a snapping turtle, but last year a friend found a baby (who was so tiny she could sit in the bottom of a coffee cup) and brought her over for us to have a look at. I figured we would keep her a day to have a good look at her and then set her free in the pond/swamp near our house. But, we were immediately so fond of her, she ended up staying. Shes now sharing a tank (temporarily) with my three stripe mud turtle and is nearly the size of my hand. Shes a horrible beggar and very friendly and gentle with us and my other turtle. Though... a poor house mouse fell in the tank one night and I discovered only fur left the next morning (ew!!), so I know she can hunt!

Just so everyone knows, I understand she may get aggressive as she gets older and Im prepared for that. Im also prepared for her eventual enormity, hehe :D
 

Turtlepete

Well-Known Member
Joined
May 12, 2014
Messages
972
Location (City and/or State)
South Florida
If I'm not mistaken, snappers naturally occur as far north as New york, and actually even further. As an adult, if you provided her with a nice big mud-bottomed pond, she could overwinter outside just fine.
Mine is in a 300 gallon stock tank at the moment. About 6" SCL, so not to big yet. If you have any questions, just shoot, I'll try to help you. Seems like you have a good handle on it!
One thing though, I really, really recommend separating your two turtles to avoid tragedy. Trust me, everybody falls for it. I did once. You have a baby snapper, everybody says they are aggressive to other turtles, but yours is doing just fine! Until the day it doesn't. And then your other turtle is missing a tail, a leg, or dead. Just not a gamble worth taking. I know they are fine for now, but turtle compatibility changes overnight.
 

Jurtle

New Member
Joined
Aug 1, 2014
Messages
5
Location (City and/or State)
Upstate NY
oh, I agree with you! They will be parting ways in the next couple weeks. Ive been a bit worried about both of them getting hurt, actually. Theyre the same size now and both could do a bit of damage! The softy part of me feels kind of bad about it since they hang out together so much. But, Helsa (the snapper) will get big and even a little annoyed nip could do in my old lady turtle even now. Have you ever tried any tank buddies at all? For now, they both will have to settle for various fish, I guess :)

What kind of temperament does yours have now? Helsa is very interested in us. Quite the opposite of Turtle. (When I got my three stripe, I was 14 and named it Mr Turtle. But, then she laid eggs a few years after that, so now its just Turtle, hehe). I hope she keeps at least some of her friendliness, but, Ill love her even if she doesnt. ;)

What did you feed yours as he was growing? Helsa has been eating Turtles floating turtle sticks, various veggies (shes in love with anything leafy) and various turtley treats. She eats a good 10 times more than Turtle. And... oh my goodness... the poop! haha
 

Turtlepete

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Joined
May 12, 2014
Messages
972
Location (City and/or State)
South Florida
The only time I kept snappers in "community" settings personally was when I had about 6 snapper hatchlings that I raised together for about 2 weeks. I've never personally tried it, but I know for a fact the potential is there.

I would recommend housing a snapper with fish, personally. Lots of plants and driftwood as well, and as big of a tank as you can manage. The reason here being that snappers are quite prone to obesity. They will overeat given the opportunity. This gives you one fat turtle. Mine got this way until he/she was moved to an outdoor 300 gallon stock tank. Provided with an interesting enough habitat, they give their fill of exercise. Mine noticeably "bulked up" in muscle, and lost a bit of fat. So fish are a good idea, as they provide them with something to chase around and at least try to catch. Of course some may be eaten, so I would stick to small feeders like goldfish, guppies, etc.. Fingerling tilapia would be fantastic if you can find a place to buy them.

Mine used to be more aggressive. I started handling him/her regularly and now he (I think?) is pretty docile. I can pick him and up and move him without being snapped out, clawed, etc.. Doesn't try to bite me. The only "interest" mine shows in me is trying to climb out of the stock tank he's in trying to get to me when he sees me, since he knows "I" means "food", haha. I wouldn't say he seeks attention. Their temperaments definitely will differ depending on how much they are handled. I would still never fully trust an adult, obviously, since you could lose a finger pretty easily. But the young ones can be "trained" to a point that I think is as tame as they will get.

Everything and anything. They are garbage disposals, haha. Raw chicken, turkey gizzards. Fed him a turkey heart once, I know yuck, healthy though :). Silversides (feeder fish), krill, shrimp would do as well. The only pellet he gets is Aquamax 500, which is a higher-protien version of Mazuri turtle chow. I give him boiled carrots and cut pieces of squash now and then. They LOVE grapes. I've fed pieces of Mazuri tortoise chow before, just for the fun of it.
Definitely good to train them to eat veggies and keep it as part of their diet. In certain parts of their range, vegetarian (i.e, not meat) food makes up up to 50% of their diet. Hard to say if you would see any bad results from a higher protein diet….Probably faster and perhaps uneven growth. So its smart to keep him/her on veggies if the turtle likes it and keeps accepting it.
You could also offer him all kinds of fish filets from the store. It's best if you can feed whole fish, with organs intact, but the meaty filets can make up a small part of the diet, if your looking for variety.
 
Joined
Aug 6, 2014
Messages
41
I would be willing to talk turtle with you. Visit my snapping turtle's website and leave me your number in the guess book. Your number will not show on the website. I'll get that info through an email. tanktheturtle.com My contact info. is on the website if you'd rather call me.
 

turtlemanfla88

Active Member
Joined
Jul 2, 2014
Messages
443
I keep Fla snapper they are really cool. I recommend you keep them separate. do not over feed them
 

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