It's Turtle Time

Let me introduce my new pet in this almost life-size photo. Pictured is Snapper, the snapping turtle. What a clever name. I voted for Ted, short for turtle head. My other half argued to name him Snapper and I choose my battles wisely. Snapper it is.

Snapper landed on our neighbor's patio, about 100 feet from a brook. He was baking in the sun, drying out his shell that is the size of a half dollar. He is darn cute. We decided to keep him, give him an awful name, and plan his safe return to the wild. That's the hard part. Granted his small frame would have most likely washed away violently down a shallow NJ brook and not survived the winter, but now that I'm attached to this cute little thing, it's going to be tough letting him (or her) go one day. I took him in knowing nothing about turtles so I turned to my favorite resource, Google.

Thankfully there are many sites out there with tips on raising snapping turtles. Of course they all remind you that they'll eventually grow to the size of your coffee table and can eat your first born, so it's not the wisest of pet choices.

I then wondered if it was even legal to own a snapping turtle. I researched the NJ Freshwater Fishing Laws and here's some interesting facts they list:
"Any person with a valid fishing license or those entitled to fish without a license may take snapping turtles, bull frogs, and green frogs by means of spears, hooks, dip nets not more than 24 inches in diameter, traps or by hand. Snapping turtles may not be taken with a gun or bow and arrow. Snapping turtles, bull frogs, and green frogs may be taken from in numbers greater than the daily limit under a special permit issued by Fish & Wildlife at its discretion."

So what DO people do when they're fishing for these creatures? They're looking to have them as pets? They're eating them??! ewwww. I have to stop my imagination there.

It's actually quite fascinating having this little guy around. My dog gets jealous, but it's conversation piece to have your guests witness this agressive little thing gorging itself on a wax worm.

Comments

[JD]

this boy/girl is a cutie. I'm guessing he would not have survived a NJ winter so you did a good thing. good luck and keep us posted.

[BethNMike]

I must say that he is very cute. I have also recently aquired a baby snapper turtle. My father found him while he was moving the lawn and gave him to my boyfriend and me. I must say that I am looking forward to raising him (or her). We name him 'colonel' after my dad becuas ehe like like Colonel Sanders (my dad, not the turtle). My boyfriend and I have been googling since we brought him home but so far we only got him to eat bologna (Oscar Myer) becuase that was all we had at the time. He tore into it but now he won't eat anything else. I swear everytime we put something in his tank he start singing the Oscar Myer song. Does anyone have any ideas for us? Thanks all.

[Petville]

How big is Colonel? They are cute but will turn vicious within a year - be careful of your fingers, even when the shell size is only 4 or 5 inches - they have a quick lunge. You can feed him/her wax worms - if it's really small then you may have to cut it in half. Otheriwse there's a green turtle pellet that they love (I forget the brand offhand) - NOT the Kaytee land turtle food. My guy ignored that after sniffing it out for a minute. Also, the best food is fish and more fish. If it's under a few inches in shell diameter, feed it little guppy feeder fish and if it's larger than that, you can feed small goldfish. My guy also likes cooked shrimp! But PLAIN shrimp, no sauce! have fun and keep us posted.

[Rocco]

I rescued a small snapper from a birds mouth last summer. A since then he has lived up to his legend and quadrupled in size. I am constantly cleaning his tank, and reparing his habitat, since he throughly enjoys knocking everthing around. I am concerned that he doesnt ever come out of the water. he hides under rocks, but never climbs out to bask. I maintain his water at 75 degrees and feed him a combination of fish and pellets. he seems healthy, and doesnt show any signs of disease, however i want to make sure i arrange the best habitat i can.

[Petville]

Rocco - congrats on the save. It sounds like you take a lot of care into your rescued turtle. After having "Snapper" over a year, he now eats - similar to yours - pellets, shrimp (raw, shell-on), and feeder fish. I have to be careful lately with the feeder fish, as a LOT were sick at Petco. Be sure to look closely at them - if there's a lot of feeder fish just hovering and not swimming around in the tanks, or covered in white fuzzies, don't buy them! Snapper has had tapeworm which requires a few shots of Droncit over 3 weeks, so be careful. The link above really does have great info so look there as well: http://www.turtlehomes.org/usa/snappingturtles.shtml
Good luck with your new friend.

[halie]

we just rescued a baby snapping turtle in the creek behind our house. he was in a tiny pond thet kept drying up every day it was alomt gone. the funny thing is the day before that we saw a fully grown snapping turtle in another part of the creek. we took him/her in because there are many water snakes and other preditors living in the creek. but now were not sure how to take care of it? were doing our best that we can but if you have any advice please feel free to send some.

[Mike]

My kids found a snapper wandering through our backyard, so we kept it. They have fed it all sorts of meat. Worms from the garden are a great meal. One day I decided to go to the local bait shop and picked up some minnows. The turtle is about 5" (shell) and it consumed 12 of the 20 minnows in the next hour. This keeps it happy for 2-3 days. Now we feed it then clean the tank a couple hours later, then the tank is relatively clean until the next feeding.

[niki]

Hey all, this is like a support group for new snapper owners i love it! I aquired my lil "guy" "Wilber" over a week ago. I have finnally ID'ed him as a common snapping turtle. I did kind of catch him a little early for catching them, as here in PA, its sometime in July you can start catching them but oh well I doubt anyone will notice, I do have my fishing license though and that is how i found him, he walked right past my shoe as I was fishing for trout. :) He has eaten only 2 wax worms for me, he seems to find them boring or something. Luckily I've been for fun for the past year breeding wild-type (feeder) guppies so he has been enjoying one a day since i got him. He wont eat them until I kill them though which I find odd, however, he is very small- his shell is a little less than the size of a silver dollar, more so a oddly shaped quarter I'd say ha ha! I plan to keep him as long as I physically can keep a possible adult 86lber LOL! I know that there will more tahn likely come a day I have to let him go but I really dont want to if I can accomidate him. I have to clean his tank daily. I read on some sites to feed him in a separate tank but he's so shy, he wont eat outside of his tank, so I just feel it's more comfortable for him if i let him shread his guppy in his water...fowls it up pretty fast wtih those claws lol!