Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I talked to my husband about the Mud Turtle, particularly the different natures and requirements of a Mud Turtle and a snapping turtle. He really wants a snapping turtle, so I convinced him that it would be best to just let the mud turtle go.

We let him go in a nearby creek (away from the neighbor's pond). We'll get a snapping turtle, since it's not fair to keep one animal as a pet hoping that it will act like another animal (mud turtles are very docile, rather inactive, and really don't like deep water).

During the past week, I've seen 3 or so Red-eared sliders (about 1-1 1/2 inches) crawling through the yard. It's amazing how many turtles there are, despite my neighbor's attempts to eradicate them all. I've been tempted to keep one as a pet since they're so tiny right now.

I'll tell ya if your husband really wants a snapping turtle, he ought to go buy one that's been captive bred. A baby wouldn't be very expensive and the reason I say buy one that's CB is because with an aggressive species like that if you took one out of the wild there's a very good chance it wouldn't acclimate to captivity. It would likely have a lot of parasites so may need treatment for that so that in captivity the parasites don't overwhelm it.
Plus if you take any out of the wild you have to be very careful that you do not take an alligator snapping turtle, it has to be a common snapper. Alligator snappers are threatened in TX, it's illegal to keep them unless you have a permit.

I had a friend who had a common snapper that she bought in a pet store.. even CB you can't breed that aggressive nature out of them. He got to be pretty large but not nearly full grown when he was down right dangerous, so of course when she had a baby.. she got rid of him.
Good luck with finding one.
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PHRatz