Hello, a few months ago I rescued a snapping turtle from a highway and have been reading forums like this one for advice. I have owned many pets before and have dealt with turtles but have never raised one myself. I'm active in other forums, so I decided what the hell, might as well join this one. If any of you have any advice, I'll gladly take it. Below is my situation regarding the turtle, feel free to comment.
My common snapping turtle has a shell length of about 5 inches, health looks fine. I check his eyes regularly to make sure they stay clear and watch for any other signs of illness or injury. He lives in a 20 gallon tank. The tank has a Tetra Whisper Internal Power Filter Medium designed for 2-10 gallons. I've placed plants to live in the water in his tank which I bought at pet stores twice. The first time it was ripped to shreds by his feet and eventually died and disintigrated. The second one he found tasty and bit into half within minutes, later consuming the better part of it.
Since I've got him I've fed him a random constantly changing mixture of red wigglers, nightcrawlers, feeder minnows, & feeder goldfish. He occasionally has had carrots, he seems to enjoy them if I cut them up small. I have made ZooMed Large Sun~Dried Red Shrimp a staple in his diet with him getting a good shake of them almost every day. More recently I have been reading that snapping turtles actually do like a good deal of plants so I have been cutting clover and dandelion leaves from the lawn and giving him as much of that as he'll eat. Currently there is a sprig of clover floating in his tank, which I'm sure he'll be eating tomorrow since he had fish/shrimp today.
In my second tank, a ten gallon, I used to have feeder fish. For whatever reason I havent been able to keep them alive long, with them lasting typically a week before dying, so I decided to drain that tank a couple of days ago. Instead I bought some good dirt and have attempted to replant some dandelions (failure, they died) and clover (seems to be working) in the tank. I have been watering them with the water from the turtles tank since I figure it may be rich in nutrients. Anyone have any advice on what plants I could put in there that would be a good staple for the turtle? I am trying to plan ahead. I know that when winter comes my supply of plants from outside will be limited so I figure it'd be best if I got working on a self sufficient supply now. Since I got this turtle here in Wisconsin I am trying to stick to a more natural diet as best as I can. If anyone knows of any other foods he would like that are native to my area I'd appreciate the input. I tried making a minnow trap out of pop bottles, but it wouldnt catch anything when I tried it out in the small stream near here.
Thanks!
-Anarchir
My common snapping turtle has a shell length of about 5 inches, health looks fine. I check his eyes regularly to make sure they stay clear and watch for any other signs of illness or injury. He lives in a 20 gallon tank. The tank has a Tetra Whisper Internal Power Filter Medium designed for 2-10 gallons. I've placed plants to live in the water in his tank which I bought at pet stores twice. The first time it was ripped to shreds by his feet and eventually died and disintigrated. The second one he found tasty and bit into half within minutes, later consuming the better part of it.
Since I've got him I've fed him a random constantly changing mixture of red wigglers, nightcrawlers, feeder minnows, & feeder goldfish. He occasionally has had carrots, he seems to enjoy them if I cut them up small. I have made ZooMed Large Sun~Dried Red Shrimp a staple in his diet with him getting a good shake of them almost every day. More recently I have been reading that snapping turtles actually do like a good deal of plants so I have been cutting clover and dandelion leaves from the lawn and giving him as much of that as he'll eat. Currently there is a sprig of clover floating in his tank, which I'm sure he'll be eating tomorrow since he had fish/shrimp today.
In my second tank, a ten gallon, I used to have feeder fish. For whatever reason I havent been able to keep them alive long, with them lasting typically a week before dying, so I decided to drain that tank a couple of days ago. Instead I bought some good dirt and have attempted to replant some dandelions (failure, they died) and clover (seems to be working) in the tank. I have been watering them with the water from the turtles tank since I figure it may be rich in nutrients. Anyone have any advice on what plants I could put in there that would be a good staple for the turtle? I am trying to plan ahead. I know that when winter comes my supply of plants from outside will be limited so I figure it'd be best if I got working on a self sufficient supply now. Since I got this turtle here in Wisconsin I am trying to stick to a more natural diet as best as I can. If anyone knows of any other foods he would like that are native to my area I'd appreciate the input. I tried making a minnow trap out of pop bottles, but it wouldnt catch anything when I tried it out in the small stream near here.
Thanks!
-Anarchir
