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 Florida
Snapping Turtle
(Chelydra serpentina)
General Info
Florida Snapping Turtles are found
throughout Florida and many adjacent states.
Males are smaller than females in overall
body size, but have longer tails. Healthy
Snapping Turtles can live anywhere from 10
to 15 years. They can become somewhat
aggressive if allowed to grow large, but
still make excellent pets.
Snapping Turtles are quite intelligent, and
can learn to respond to their names. Feed
your turtle the proper amount of food each
day (overfeeding can be fatal). Snapping
Turtles prefer dried shrimp bits or live
fish. To train it, hand-feed it
occasional treats such as bits of raw lean
hamburger, raw chicken livers, tiny live
fish, or dried shrimp tidbits.
Never drop your Snapping Turtle, or let it
fall off the table! The impact will
kill it. Your
child(ren) will enjoy playing with this
curious, energetic pet, but should always be
closely supervised.
Important Note #1: SNAPPING TURTLES WILL
GROW TO THE SIZE OF THEIR ENVIRONMENT. If
you want your
Snapping
Turtle to stay small and non-aggressive, you must keep it in a
small tank. Do not put your
Snapping
Turtle in a large tank unless you want it to
grow HUGE!
Snapping
Turtles placed in large tanks or ponds can
grow to 4 FEET in diameter.
Important Note #2: HANDLING A TURTLE WILL
NOT MAKE YOU SICK. The salmonella bacteria
is a form of e-coli, which lives in the G.I.
tract of nearly every living creature,
including humans. Most people have a natural
immunity to this bacteria, which is why the
disease is extremely rare. In order to get
sick, you would have to let your turtle’s
water get so filthy that it’s black and
stinking--and then drink the water. Simply
handling a turtle will not cause or spread
disease. (See cleaning tips below.)
Creating The Proper Habitat
Keep your
Snapping
Turtle in a warm room, but do not place its
tank in front of a window. Too much direct
sunlight and/or heat can kill it.
Specialized heat lamps and water heaters are
not necessary, and in fact can be dangerous
to your
Snapping
Turtle if used improperly.
Never fill your tank with more than a few
inches of water, unless you also provide
your turtle with some kind of raft or
floating sponge to climb on. It will
drown if it cannot rest on something solid,
and still poke its head out of the water.
Also remember that
Snapping
Turtles eat fish along with bits of
vegetation. If you put a
Snapping
Turtle in your fish tank, it may eat your
fish (even the big ones).
Snapping
Turtles need to climb out of the water every
day for at least a few hours. That helps dry
out their shells, which keeps them healthy.
If you cannot take your
Snapping
Turtle out of its tank every day, or provide
it with a place to climb out of the water
(an elevated rock or bridge in one corner of
its tank is usually sufficient), make sure
to keep a calcium block in its water.
Cleaning The Tank
Your
Snapping
Turtle’s water must be cleaned at least
twice a week. Turtles are messy eaters, and
will defecate in their water. In rare cases,
exceptionally dirty water can lead to
disease (see above) for both turtles and
humans. Fortunately it’s very easy to clean
a turtle tank. Simply empty the dirty water
and gravel into a kitchen strainer, rinse
the gravel under running water, and pour it
back into the empty tank.
You can buy expensive de-chlorination
chemicals to treat your
Snapping
Turtle’s water, but why waste the money?
Simply fill a clean, empty milk jug with
water, and let it sit out uncovered
overnight. Then fill your
Snapping
Turtle’s tank with that naturally-aged
water. A single milk jug can last for two or
more weeks.
With proper care, your Florida Snapping
Turtle will be the easiest pet you’ll ever
own. Enjoy! |
