Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My hatchling common snapping turtle has been acting really strange lately. He is moving very slow and floating pretty limply at the top of the water or laying on his floating log with his head limp... When i take him out of the cage his body is fairly limp as well and he doesn't try to escape at all any more. I haven't seen him swim really for two days now, like I said, he's either limp on his log or floating pretty awkwardly on the surface. He was far more active and acted like a "normal" snapper for a couple months. He's still feeding some but his appetite is not like it was before, I'm just not sure what's up with him. The temps are fine in the cage and the water is clean, my hatchling RES is acting normal and doing wonderful. Any ideas on what could be wrong with him?

He has full spectrum lighting and he gets a VERY varied diet of reptomin baby pellets, wardley brand reptile sticks, zoo med brand aquatic turtle food, crickets dusted with rep-cal (calcium plus vit. d3), freeze dried bloodworms, ground turkey with some rep-cal mixed in, ground beef with some rep-cal mixed in, guppies, mealworms, snails, and chopped earthworms. There are also floating plants that it's possible he's eaten but I've never seen him and he's never eaten any romaine lettuce that i've put in. Is he possibly bloated or infested with parasites? I put some plants in from a local pond a few weeks back that did have some damselfly and dragon fly nymphs that he may have eaten as well. Unfortunately I cannot afford to take him to the vet right now... any input would be greatly appreciated.

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0.1.0 Colombian Red-tailed Boa (100% Het. for albino)
0.0.3 Western Hognose Snakes
0.1.1 Plains Garter Snakes
1.0.0 Red-sided Garter Snake
1.2.0 Barred Tiger Salamanders
0.0.1 Red-eared Slider
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle

I moved the snapping turtle to a plastic shoebox with just enough water to cover his shell. He doesn't seem to be having any problems breathing. His swimming got so bad in his main tank that I feared he would drown, I want to monitor his feeding more closely now since he is no longer accepting food from my hand or really at all to my knowledge, and if he has anything contagious I do not want my other turtle to get it. I'm keeping the water at about 85 degrees and just hoping he'll pull through. The red-eared slider in the main tank is still doing just fine. From what I've been reading my snapping turtle's behavior is a pretty serious sign of sickness. I wish I had the money to take him to a vet but I am in a rut with my finances right now and there really is no way I can afford it. Any advice from ANYONE would be greatly appreciated, I am quite attached to this turtle.
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0.1.0 Colombian Red-tailed Boa (100% Het. for albino)
0.0.3 Western Hognose Snakes
0.1.1 Plains Garter Snakes
1.0.0 Red-sided Garter Snake
1.2.0 Barred Tiger Salamanders
0.0.1 Red-eared Slider
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle

n/p
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0.1.0 Colombian Red-tailed Boa (100% Het. for albino)
0.0.3 Western Hognose Snakes
0.1.1 Plains Garter Snakes
1.0.0 Red-sided Garter Snake
1.2.0 Barred Tiger Salamanders
0.0.1 Red-eared Slider
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle

I'm so sorry your baby snapper died. I had one for two years and I was going to suggest that yours probably didn't need the water to be so warm, and maybe he picked up something from the slider so I would seperate them. But I saw your message too late. He sure was cute.

Yeah, I was pretty bummed. I have had many snappers over the years and never had problems. I did separate him from the RES and did everything that I could besides take him to a vet (I'm pretty sure it was a parasite infection of some sort). I wish I would have had the money to take him to the vet but I am having hard times financially right now. R.I.P. "Spike".
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0.1.0 Colombian Red-tailed Boa (100% Het. for albino)
0.0.3 Western Hognose Snakes
0.1.1 Plains Garter Snakes
1.0.0 Red-sided Garter Snake
1.2.0 Barred Tiger Salamanders
0.0.1 Red-eared Slider
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle