Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My husband and I recently aquired a small alligator snapping turtle this past weekend from a pet shop. They just gave him to us and we put him in a 20L aquarium we had sitting around the house. We put aquarium gravel on the bottom and filled it 1/3 with water (deep enough to totally submerge him but shallow enough for him to poke his head up to breathe). We took a plastic kitchen sink tub, cut an entrance into it and turned it over in order to create a hiding area on one side of the tank.

This is a temporary housing set-up until we can either find a better way to house him or set him free in the wild in about two weeks.

Does the set-up sound okay? My husband is going to the bait shop today and buying some minnows. Will this be enough for him?

Thanks for taking the time to read this post!
*Bezz

Yes minnows are good but they are high in fat and calcium I beleave. If you were to feed your snapper minnows for a stable diet he would be very un-healthy, try getting him to eat more than one food item (prey). Earth worms are also good, Bugs that suit his size, just make sure if your catching him bugs that capturing the bugs near a area with chemicals/pestisides ect. Just make sure you mix up his diet. The tank sounds fairly good for now, but they do need space when they get older, if you cannot maintain/house this snapper try giving it back to the shop you got it at or anyother reptile shop, releasing him in the wild wouldnt be a good idea snce you bought him from a dealer, hes probally CB(captive bread) and he wont survive in the wild and even if your snapper was a WC(wild caught) specimen it still wouldnt be a good idea because he has adapted to not having to survive in the wild. Anyway there are plenty of snapper pages out there, I beleave there is one on kingsnake.com in the caresheets section, you can find a list of food items, requirments, cage sizes ect!