Reptile & Amphibian Forums

does anyone know how to make a turtle trap???

Don't be a moron. Stop trapping turtles

Iturnrocks knows how.

Rich, there is reasons for catching turtles. Maybe one got into your stock fish pond and you want to relocate it. Don't call him a moron.
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>>does anyone know how to make a turtle trap???

What species of turtles are you trapping?

If you want to catch baby turtles, forget it. Chasing them down with a net is about the only way. They usually avoid turtle traps.
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iturnrocks.com

i am trying to trap a snapper turtle.. size would be around the size of a CD

>>i am trying to trap a snapper turtle.. size would be around the size of a CD

Heres basically what you need. Its helpful if you know what a minnow trap looks like. Build the equivalent of a large minnow trap with a turtle shaped hole in the funnel. You want to use a wire mesh that is strong since youll be trapping snapping turtles. I reccomend 1X2 welded wire. You can get it at any farm store, and possibly home depot. Its often used in building Rabbit cages. You will only need one funnel for this trap. So make you a cylinder with the wire, close off the back end, and then make your funnel to fit inside. Its ok if the top of the funnel is larger than your cylinder. If you plan to use this trap a lot, youll want to rig some kind of door. If youre only after 1 turtle, you can just untie the wire that holds it together. I personally use J clips to hold my traps together, but you can just tie wire if youre not catching a bunch.

Now you want something that will make your trap float, or else you may be pulling up dead turtles. I usually build a ring out of PVC or ABS pipe, and tie my traps to that. You can do something as simple as shoving a plastic bottle inside the trap, or maybe tying 2 2liter bottles to the outside. Since your funnel is kinda oval shaped to accomodate a turtle, its best if it stays level. Just make sure some part of the trap is above water at all times so the turtle inside can get air. You want the majority of the trap to be submersed.

As for bait, the most commonly used bait to catch a wide variety of turtles is canned creamed corn. This will attract snapping turtles as well. Some people just punch a couple hole in a can and toss in the whole can. I like to open a can, and pour into a smaller container like a yogurt cup. Then I usually add some dead fish or crushed crayfish. Snapping turtles like to eat dead stuff in the wild.

Thats about it. Below is a rough photoshop drawing of the general idea.

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iturnrocks.com