Alligator snapping turtle?

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weston said:
Cool got mine in today thought he was dead at first just cold and now that he warmed up he's just nervous and hides a lot how can I go about changing this?? Feeding him handling him etc. also how long has it taken your to get that size??
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Yeah haha I thought mine was dead too when he first came in. They tend to be really timid when they're young but they start to improve over time. Mine is still mostly nocturnal so if you buy a red nightlight you can watch them cruise around the tank at night. They slowly become more active during the day but they always tend to hide when they're small. There's really not a way to stop that, you just have to wait for them to grow out of it. If you try taking away their hiding places they get stressed out and will start trying to wedge themselves behind heaters or intake tubes on filters and they can end up hurting themselves.
 
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The top picture is when I first got him, around 8 months ago. He was around a year old then, give or take a few months, and around 2.5 inches shell length. Now he's around 3.5 inches, maybe a little more.
One tip: get them off live food ASAP. All you have to do is not feed them for a few days, and they'll take to frozen thawed shrimp pretty quick. I hesitated for a long time to try and get mine off live fish and he was pretty unhealthy for the first few months I had him. He wasn't very active and wasn't really showing much growth. Since I started him on shrimp he has improved a lot.
Also; be careful how much you handle them. Taming an AST is different than taming a CST. With AST's, more handling isn't always good. You should get them used to being picked up and moved, but don't spend a lot of time holding them or anything. It just irritates them and will make them more aggressive. Plus, being out of the water makes them terribly uncomfortable. And on top of that, an untamed AST (depending on the individual turtle), isn't even that bad. They tend to just sit there with their jaws spread, so as long as you don't get close to those you'll be good. They don't have the long neck like a CST and they don't tend to strike often or claw at you.
 
TroyMIfishkeeper said:
Any update on how he's doing? If you've got pictures of the tank we'd love to see 'em.
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Pls pls read this!!! In my last post I was just excited my turtle had survived and was more optomistic then I should have been when posting sorry for the length I meant to post this earlier but I just set him up in a bare bottom 10 gallon for now with a lamp a heater a filter and some cool driftwood in their as well. I'll be picking up some feeders today in hope that he will eat but I'm sceptical weather or not he will. I added about 4 inches of water and stuck with the 10 gallon tank only after seeing what size he was in person which is no where close to 2 inch mark I was made to believe, he's 1.25 or alittle over that but it's funny that I asked when ordering if I could receive a +sized snapper of the batch or a really active healthy turtle stating either way I'd be happy about my purchase. However those requests were either both ignored or this is the size and health loggerhead acres turtles are actually being sold at currently. I'm almost wondering if I somehow upset him with the few questions or requests I had as I sent 4 or 5 emails before ordering talking to him with little response but I stated I'd never kept an alligator snapper so I assumed he'd try to help me out with care and info anything from him being a breeder I would have happily listened too but either way something happened and I received the hatchling I did in poor health, which seems ridiculous but who knows I was just trying to get some info from this guy who breeds these and is a proclaimed "alligator snapping turtle expert" I'm not saying this was purposefully done but it is what happened and it almost seems hard to make this mistake then he had the nerve to argue me stating this turtle is healthy and I don't know what I'm talking about, somethings up and all I know is this thing is for one no yearling and if he is I'm not sure who was feeding/caring for him because he seems very unhealthy and weak as well as has multiple wounds on its body, anyways after taking his size into note as well as his health I decided the other tank was a waste of space for now and didn't want to set it up and put a lot of work into the tank if this guy might not even make it just let me fill you in so if you couldn't tell already I'm not at all happy about my order don't get me wrong I really like this turtle I hope he heals up and does great no matter what the odds he's already a favorite among my tanks! However this turtle came in very poor condition the package was freezing cold you'd think he was brought to me in a cooler with some ice and on top of that you'd believe the turtle had died hours before allowing his body to stiffen as severely as it seemed when opening the box but i had hope, so when he arrived I rushed him to a heated quarenteen tank that I had prepared to quarenteen his feeders in the other room he took a supper long time to adjust and is still sluggish which is a huge concern to me if he is as healthy and I'm as stupid as John Richards will have you believe, anyways I swore up and down this turtle either wasn't alive at first or would soon perish as he appeared and still appears very weak so I immediately messaged the owner of loggerhead acres, his only response was "put him in water" this is after I told him I had my turtle in shallow water under a heat lamp for a good while "30 mins to an hour" before taking him out and placing him back in the container of peat moss that had warmed up by this time I wasn't placing the hatchling back in the cold conditions and he had already been exposed to water for some time I honestly just didn't want this turtle to die at this point from drowning if it was to weak to lift its head which it appeared to be it was also upsetting when trying to deal with all this, the short or no response I received from the owner I just told him I thought it had died as I didn't want to go into detail and offend the owner on the condition in which my turtle arrived or was sold to me at and was hoping he could send me a healthy turtle I even offered to pay alittle on top so it so it would look like I just ordered two I was literally willing to pay another 30-40 dollars I've really been wanting ones not these guys I was just gonna go for it but this is before I noticed a couple other things about this turtle I mean this guy came in looking rough he didn't move or even open his eyes for hours and when I placed him in deeper water he just floated with his head pointed down into the water which freaked me out as their was no type of noticeable change in this guy I've since noticed on closer inspection this turtle had/has a nasty white slime over all skin that I'm trying to get rid of now I beleive its some type of fungus I've identified in photos online caused by lack of clean water and Areas in which to dry out which I have learned is needed for hatchling however not adults John as since argued me when I mentioned this but as I've read it should always be optional when young. this turtle also came to me with multiple wounds including a clipped tail "the end is missing" one swollen infected eye with some white puss I have pics but have cleaned the eye trice as well as a gouge on its head which I noticed after already emailing the owner I have now sent another email and hope he is willing to send out a healthy hatchling or refund me partially due to the concerns regarding this sale but he is stating due to my lack of knowledge he isn't willing to work with me? I'm sorry I have never dealt with receiving an animal in such poor health and this turtle seemed to have already been dead when he arrived he also said this clear to white fungus is just regular algae before seeing a picture to clarify I have since sent pictures and I'm awaiting a response but through all of this I have tried to compose myself I can't say the same for everyone as I have been told I "lack knowledge", "can not be taken seriously", and have been refused to be worked with so far unless the infection kills the turtle in the next few days. What do you guys think this just seems supper ****ed up to me I mean I payed good money for this turtle and I'm trying to heal/save him to the best of my capabilitys but should I really have to worry about weather or not he survives or heals properly or if nothing else and he regains health that I received a b grade turtle and not only that but for regular or actually a higher price due to the time of year? Honestly theirs a vet a little out of the way but not to bad who handles reptiles I'll probably have to go to him and receive some medication possibly antibiotics. But seriously leave your comments!!!
 
TroyMIfishkeeper said:
Any update on how he's doing? If you've got pictures of the tank we'd love to see 'em.
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These last three are after I tried to clean him up some still swollen open wounds I waited to post anything as I tried to work with the individual in charge of loggerhead acres but I'm posting anyways because they are being a pain to work with and refusing to fix this unless the turtle is dead. So they can sell unhealthy near death animals listed as healthy and get away with it as long as they deny any responsibility and the turtle comes in breathing I think others should know what they could possibly be getting into if they order from this website.
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Yikes, you're right, he isn't looking too good.
Looks like a fungal infection to me. I would pick up some Turtlefiz ASAP, it's made by API, the same company that makes pimafix that you would use on fish. Do frequent water changes as well.

Frank can probably help you more than I can, my success varies with both turtles and fish once they show signs of infection like this.

Does he still just float in the tank like that, or was that just when you first put him in?
 
TroyMIfishkeeper said:
Yikes, you're right, he isn't looking too good.
Looks like a fungal infection to me. I would pick up some Turtlefiz ASAP, it's made by API, the same company that makes pimafix that you would use on fish. Do frequent water changes as well.

Frank can probably help you more than I can, my success varies with both turtles and fish once they show signs of infection like this.

Does he still just float in the tank like that, or was that just when you first put him in?
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Yes this turtle is still floating around his tank I'm going to pick something up but it's atleast an hours drive to get to the closest petstore and I've been swamped so I'm just trying to keep him in fresh flowing water for now I read something about letting them dry out to kill the fungal infection but I'm not sure if that's good for the AST. I've been trying to keep him comfortable I'm seriously pissed about ordering from this site plus the owner is unwilling to work with me or give any advise stating the turtle is healthy and if he dies to let him know that still doesn't change the fact I'll probably always have a B grade turtle I'm going to have to drop money into to make healthy again and even then he might not get to keep his eye, he will be scarred up, and a portion of his tail is already missing.
 
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weston said:
Yes this turtle is still floating around his tank I'm going to pick something up but it's atleast an hours drive to get to the closest petstore and I've been swamped so I'm just trying to keep him in fresh flowing water for now I read something about letting them dry out to kill the fungal infection but I'm not sure if that's good for the AST. I've been trying to keep him comfortable I'm seriously pissed about ordering from this site plus the owner is unwilling to work with me or give any advise stating the turtle is healthy and if he dies to let him know that still doesn't change the fact I'll probably always have a B grade turtle I'm going to have to drop money into to make healthy again and even then he might not get to keep his eye, he will be scarred up, and a portion of his tail is already missing.
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You could try letting him dry out for a while, I've heard that works quite well but just know that AST's get REALLY pissy when they've been out of the water to long lol. So just be careful when handling him
It's strange that you got such a bad turtle, from what I had heard Loggerhead Acres was the best place to get AST's. Guess there are exceptions, clearly.
Epsom salts may help with the eye, not sure though. I used it to treat an infection called pop-eye in some of my fish, their eyes had filled with fluid and it helped draw it out.
*NOT marine salt or aquarium salt!!!*
As for the wounds, there are probably chemicals you can use to treat them at a local pet store. In fact, they actually make eye drops for turtles with swollen eyes, this is often caused by vitamin A deficiency so once he's eating you should look into vitamin supplements.
Good luck!
 
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