Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a snapper hatchling that has been spending a LOT of time on his "basking" spot. Its one of those floating foam basking things. I dont have a basking light with the snappers and i keep the water at 73. Anyhow, i have two common snappers both are around 8 months now, and one alligator snapper. The one common snapper is constantly growing and VERY active. I was concerned about keeping the two of them together because the one (i assume its female) is so much larger than the other. Anyhow, i put the large snapper on one side of a 40 gal breeder tank with two similar sized mississippi muds. she's doing very well, as are the muds. i put a plexiglass divider in the center of the tank and the smaller common snapper is with the alligator snapper. Since i separated him from the larger snapper, he's spending the majority of his time out of the water but is still eating and is very active when i take him out of his tank. Should i be concerned or am i just a paranoid mother? Possibly the water is too deep? or too cold? should i put in a basking light? thank you in advance for your help!

The most important thing I can tell you is to separate all your snappers, especially if there is a size difference!!! It will eventually attack any other turtle in its enclosure. Trust me on this, it is not worth learning the hard way.

I have a common snapper and it does like to bask. I do not provide it any uv light but I do have a 60W light bulb on the tank to give it some heat. It is also possible that your snapper has an infection. Check its skin for any pink or white areas that seem raw. If this is the case, it will hurt the turtle to be in the water and it would rather stay dry. This skin problem can can easily be treated with some betadyne.

As long as your snapper continues to eat and remains active, I would not worry about it.

It sounds like you have 2 snappers and 2 maps. So you will need three tanks. Dont try and combine them, not worth the risk.
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Mike
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2 Painted
1 Musk
1 Common Snapper
1 Cooter
1 Map
1 RES
1 Corn Snake
1.1 Water Dragons
2 African Frogs
1 Toad
1.0 Degu
1.2 Chihuahuas
0.1 Cat

sorry
-----
Mike
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2 Painted
1 Musk
1 Common Snapper
1 Cooter
1 Map
1 RES
1 Corn Snake
1.1 Water Dragons
2 African Frogs
1 Toad
1.0 Degu
1.2 Chihuahuas
0.1 Cat

So i should separate the alligator snapper from the smaller common snapper? They're both pretty similar in size at this point and neither are very large. The bigger one is with the two musks and they all seem ok. None of them have done anything agressive. I know the big snapper will eventually get significanly larger than the muds and in time i will need to separate them, but do you think its needed at the time? And i'll check him for marks when i get home. Should i just apply the betadine with a q-tip? I appreciate all your help!

The muds should be separated NOW. It only takes a second for a snapper to decide it wants to take off a leg.

I have a rehab turtle (cooter) that lived with a snapper for some time without incident and one day the woman who owned it went over to the tank to find that it was missing its left front foot and 80% of its left rear foot. These animals where the same size. There is no way you can keep an eye on things and decide that maybe it is time to move the turtles. It is best to do it BEFORE there is a situation.

Good luck with all your turtles.

wow, i had no idea that snappers were that bad. i knew there were agressive, but all along i was more worried about the muds being agressive toward the snapper since they're still a little bigger. I'll put her in a different tank right away. Thanks!

That is a good idea and yes in the beginning the muds might have the upperhand but eventually ........ (well they don't call them snappers cuz they blow kisses )

Good luck with all your turtles you have a few of my favorite species there.