My son and I found a tiny snapper on a path near the Charles river. No exageration, his carapace is no larger than a nickel. I had no idea they started out that small. We have two painted turtles that we rescued from a neglectful owner but they were already grown. Anyway, we took the little one home thinking that it would not survive the winter and it would be nice to keep him until early summer and then release him in the area we found him. After some quick research I set up a habitat for him and he has perked up considerably, considering how weak he was when we found him. Little bugger has attitude...tried to crane his head around to bite when I was holding him. My concern is: what should I feed him? I mean, he is so tiny. I floated a turtle stick at him but he seemed uninterested. I put in a piece of lettuce just in case. I waggled a tiny shred of turkey to no avail. We have only had him 2 days. Maybe he needs more adjustment time but I would still love some advice since I have no idea what is best for him at such a tiny size.
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found a nickel sized baby snapper
Replies (4)
from the way you describe it, it seems you have found a baby stinkpot (musk turtle), rather than a common snapper. they are more aggressive as hatchling than snappers and much smaller. if you have a picture i can easyly identfy it for you , but from the decription i think you have a baby stinkpot rather than a snapper.
Bob McLoughlin
Well I feel like a dope. You are absolutely right. Now that I have seen a picture of a baby stinkpot...that is exactly what we have. Why would his mom lay him so late in the season? Is that common? Well, we will definitely keep him for the winter. Thanks for your help!
You want to keep the water around 80* to 82* with some places to hide, plasitc plants work well for this. get some small feeder guppies and keep them with the baby turtle. You can try feeding small worms, small pieces of fish/turtle food, cut pieces of fish or lean beef. Baby turtles are fairly lousy hunter's to start with so they tend to eat things that can't get away easily such as worms or carrion. Wish you luck. Jack
they usually feed good on floating reptomin pellets too, every baby stinkpot i have found has eaten them within a few days. they are neat little turtles that are much easyer to keep than basking turtles such as slider and painteds. also good turtles to keep as pets because they dont get nearly as big as painted or sliders. you just have to watch out because they dont have the greatest attitudes.
Bob McLoughin
