Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone.. I am new on here and not very experienced at these kinds of things.. anyway... I have an alligator snapper and have had him (at least I think its a he) for about 3 years.. I wanted to know how to determine his age and sex... he weighs about 20 pounds and is about a foot and a half long.. any other info on them would also be appriciated... thanks!

The turtle's cloaca is the key to figuring out it's gender. The male's cloaca is further down the tail then the female's. Look at the underside of it's tail, and estimate the length between the cloaca and the back of the shell. Alligator snappers don't become sexually mature until around 10-15 years of age, so it may be difficult to tell until then.

Age is the harder of the two to determine. Turtle shells in general add ring annuli - little concentric rings in the shape of their scutes - as they grow. However, one ring doesn't necesarrily equal one year's growth. They just represent growth spurts. If the turtle was wild-caught and then became captive, this will add to the confusion, because it's growth and eating habits probably changed then.
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That's not just a woman; it's a way of life!
-Roland T. Flakfizer

Thanks... I will try cloaca thing.. I must wait a while though... its rather difficult to see his underside without picking him up and risk being bitten... Do you (or anyone else) know how much I should feed him.... I've read different things on it... I feed him about a dozen fish a week and he has turtle sticks that I give him about twice a day... I don't know if this is too much or too little or just right... I ususally cut back his food a little this time of year because hes slower and seems to almost be hibernating at times... once agian any help would be appreciated

I'm wondering about this as well... I have a common snapper that doubled it's weight in the last two months. It's pretty fat now, but it's also very young - it doesn't even weigh a pound yet. I'm feeding him around 3 times a week, once a day. I would aim for something similar with the alligator snapper, because they are so inactive as compared to other species. My common snapper swims around a lot more then my alligator snapper, and they are both the same size. You have to consider the level of activity when comparing diets - twice a week is probably realistic for alligator snappers. Also check out www.turtleman.com for more info on them.
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That's not just a woman; it's a way of life!
-Roland T. Flakfizer