Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm coming back to Kingsnake forums after having been active some time ago in the treefrog forums.

My turtle: Wild caught Common snapper.
I keep it in a 390gal. 6' stock tank made for my submerged plant & water lily collections. -I had trouble in posting a picture for you to see. I'm new to Turtles and need some advice.

I have fed him by attaching turkey to a wire hook on a rock, sinkning the meat to the bottom of the pond where he frollics in(and likely eats) my plant collection. However, this is very difficult, as the goldfish compete with him more and he spends more time on a small sandstone island, I imagine keeping warmer, as the water is incredibly cold. There is ample water-lilies for him to eat, but I would rather this not be. I have found some of the pots half-excavated, and I wondered if he was after the bulbs, or bringing up my other question:

I live in Western Colorado where it is hot and dry all summer, when he appeared to be thriving, getting himself wet when it became too dry. Now temperatures are cooling drastically, and I'm bringing in my tropical plants. I willl let the hardy lilies overwinter under the ice in the pond, but what shall I do with the turtle?

In summary, how may I feed, and what may I feed, a turtle in his environment/lifesyle? And how do I overwinter him? Take hiim in to a new indoor tank or let him hybernate however he does. I must say that I would be more comfortable with taking him indoors.

I need experienced advice in my unique situation.

thank you, Phal
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Well I would Bring the turtle in and if you have plants in its territory it will arrange things to its likings.If you do bring it in I would also heat its indoor tank/tub.I think it was looking for food more than going after the bulbs.You can feed it meats like chicken and stuff like that or you can go to the pet store and buy fish but I dont think goldfish are that good of a food item from what I have read and heard.

Thank you for replying;

The fish are far too fast for him to catch, who are more for mosquito prevention, and he has only eaten two or three that died of stress. (He found their carcasses, the scavenger.)

Should I give him a strict diet of meats on his wee island?

I've tried to imagine him in his origional lake in the Midwest, scavenging leapord frog carcasses, fish maybe, and perhaps some locusts? I breed meal-worm beetles. I had pondered arranging a slippery cup to contain the larvae on the island to eat at his pleasure. Would this be acceptable?

He is approx. 15 centimetres across carapace, what size overwintering "tub" need I provide? I own a rubber-maid tub that I guess to be 20 gallons or more full, and plan to use it (one-fourth filled) to overwinter a few tropical water-lilies.

In nature, do snapping turtles dig a dry burrow under leaves, or settle underwater to hibernate, utilizing dermal respiration, such as pond-frogs?

Thank you for your patience in answering my novice's inquiries
Phal

I have successfully overwintered my turtles (of several kinds) outside here in upstate New York for several years.

There are a lot of questions this time of year about how to do this. I should write this all up, nice and neat, and sell it as a how-to manual, but the basics are:

Water turtles use cloacal---not dermal---respiration during hibernation. They need a dark, cold, wet (not dry) place to sleep. And they need a source of oxygen in the water---such as an air stone.

Thats a good point Odyssey.
I was reading back posts last week and there's a lot of information there...just spread out. We should compile some of it just to make up some of the more common asked questions.

I have a bunch of questions about wintering some turtles outside here in a harsh Chicago winter. I've talked with John Richards a few times times and he says its fine as long as things don't freeze solid. There are stock tank heaters and bubblers .
I just don't want to keep 2000 watts of heat going through a long winter.

At least I have a year to plan this one out.For now, I feel more comfortable keeping them in slightly smaller temporary quarters in the basement.

Let me ask you guys this...is it un-natural to a tutrles system to heat its water through the whole winter? Should I let the water get cool even though I bring them in. Do they need to go through that slowing down period for health?
My basement only gets in the low 60's at the coldest. But maybe I should let them kind of naturally slow down?

Yes.

And don't feed them. Their last meal should be at least 2 weeks or more before their cooldown.

The alternative is to keep them going completely over the winter. Full light, full heat, food.

It won't hurt them at all. It just takes work.

Excellent. Thank you for your expertise. I think I shall construct a pen with a large pool to accomodate him.
-and keep him to a carnivour's regimen.

Thank You,
Phal