Common Snapping Turtles
- Thread starter Snappy83
- Start date
RobD23 said:Just bough a Japanese soft shell snapping turtle...he's a little cutie i only paid 14 bucks for him. it is about 2.5 inches and is very active, i have him with some tame fish and little minnows to keep him extertained
Sounds nice! Got any pics? This is the first I've heard of this species of turtles.
Snappers don't usually need a UV light, they ingest enough "bony" prey to make up the calcium. It's more essential as a juv. Regular snappers do bask though, that's how I caught my old one. Also have an Alligator Snapper, he never comes out of the water.
As a kid me and my brother would catch a couple during the spring and keep them in a dog fence in the back yard for the summer then release them back to the creek behind the house. They were fun. the largest one had a shell of 14 inch dia. It would snap on to a broom handle and almost bite it in half.
Just wondering if ne one had any useful information on soft shell snappers... i Have one with a Red tail wolf fish.... They are actually doing really well together but in a few years i'll have to separate them cuz the snapper will kill the red tail.
do you have a scientific name for the japanese softshell snapper?
and about eating enough bony prey to get enough calcium to not need UV, not true. the UVB is for making vitamin D3 which allows them to use the calcium. they could have tons of calcium in their diet but without any vit D3 the calcium is useless because they cant use it.
and about eating enough bony prey to get enough calcium to not need UV, not true. the UVB is for making vitamin D3 which allows them to use the calcium. they could have tons of calcium in their diet but without any vit D3 the calcium is useless because they cant use it.
Snappers don't need a supplementary UV light. Although, it's probably a good idea to put them outside in the summer if you can. They also don't need heated water unless their water is going to freeze all the way through. In that case, you should probably bring them inside, where they won't need a heater (just don't feed them during late fall through the winter). If you want to keep yours outside all year, a kiddie pool of the appropriate size/depth works well. They can survive if the top few inches of water freeze over, but I'd put a bunch of dried leaves (make sure the trees don't contain toxic sap) in the water because their decomposition will produce heat.
Owen.
Owen.
