Snapping turtle

[RobD23]

I have one of these bad boys, just wanted to know if you guys have any information on them ...He eats like a monster and is only 4 inchs. Just wondering how big they get and what type of housing they will need.

 

[Oddball]

This is one of those times where you think; "Now, I know why they say 'research before you buy'."

Macroclemys temminckii grows, on average, to a 26" carapace length and a weight of 176lbs. You're going to want to put these 2 lines in your search browser:

Macroclemys temminckii care sheet

alligator snapping turtle care sheet

You'll find all the info you need on maintaining this species.

 

[RobD23]

i didn't buy it i caught it in the river up the street from me...if it gets to hard to handle i'll bring him back to his orginal home

 

[softturtle]

i didn't buy it i caught it in the river up the street from me...if it gets to hard to handle i'll bring him back to his orginal home

I highly doubt it is a AST if you caught it in Canada. Can it pull its head all the way in its shell? Common snappers can do this and AST can't (this might be different with juv.). Their head is just to big. Another thing, common snapping turtles have a neck that is nearly as long as their shell. Alligator snappers have a much shorter neck. One sure fire way of knowing you have a AST is if it sits in the bottom of the tank with its mouth open, moving around its worm like lure in the bottom of its mouth. Common snappers do not have this. Here is a page to help you identify your turtlehttp://www.chelydra.org/common_alligator_snapping_turtle.html

Which ever one it is, it will get large and aggresive (I think commons are more aggresive than the big boys). It will need a large tub or pond at some point in its life. Hope this helped a little.

 

[RobD23]

Dude if you don't believe me go to google.ca type in snapping turtles found in Canada....And you will find a site that talks about aligator snapping turtles being found in Ontario.....Then once you do that check out where I live in Canada and put two and two together

 

[fishnutham]

thats no common snapper used to catch them around me when i was young

 

[Recycling Works]

we have common snapping turtles hear in minnesota, keep them till they a little bigger than that one, they are much darker here, nose looks different, shell and tail the same

 

[USMCtanker]

i want one

 

[guppy]

Unless someone else released an alligator snapper there it is a chelydra serpentinae, the common snapping turtle, up to 70 pounds, It is listed by the Canadian government as being the largest turtle in Canada. here is a link, http://www.science.mcmaster.ca/Biology/Harbour/SPECIES/TURTLE/SNAP/PG2.HTM
and this one from the museum of Nova Scotia, http://www.museum.gov.ns.ca

If you can't trust the Canadian government, who can you trust? Heheh

 

[tnmurf]

I have run across them at various sizes ont he wild. The biggest I saw was a monster in a lake between Ohio and Pennsylvania. We were pulling fishing lures out fo the bushes to stock our tackle box. Heard a crash and saw a shell leaving the shore that could have been at least 3 feet in diameter. We paddled in the oposite direction with our canoe. We worked hard at keeping them out our quarter acre pond. Not fun to swim with.

Murf