Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello there! I need your help! I live in China for my job and a couple of days ago I bouth (the rigth word is saved) an ally from a food market!He was in a small tank in a 1" deep black water...he's about 15cm long and... he looks healty!Now is in a 20 gallons tank, the water temp is about 25. In the past i owned common snapping, but never alligator snapping turtles. What should i do now?When can I try to feed him?Is the water temp correct?I fed him fish, but he just ignored it!soon I'll post a pic.

Here is a good website...

http://www.turtleman.com/turtlecare.html

Otherwise I would suggest you just search online for care sheets and keep researching.

Good luck,
-Joe-
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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

hey there. im assuming you your water temp at 25 is in celsius so thats like 77F so your water temp is good. ive had an alligator snapper for 7 yrs now and all 7 yrs he has water in the upper 70s to to low 80s (24-28 celsius) so water temps sound good. 15 cm huh? thats like 6 inches. a 20 gallon tank probably is a little to small at this point. you might want to move up to a 40 breeder. these guy can grow quick!!! mine grew to 11 inches in just 3 yrs! now at 7.5 he is around 18 or 19. been a while since i measured him. his growth slowed down after the first 4 yrs. so ya better have something bigger ready water depth should be twice his shell length (if i remember how it goes) that that if it flips over it can right itself. my guy never basked so i took out the basking light after a yr. it did have a uv light on over the water for the first 3-4 yrs. for food mine worms, insects, repto-min food pellets, crayfish, and of course fish! (stay away from goldfish though, they carry a lot of parasites. use minnows, rosie reds)
here are a couple pics. the first oen is when he was 3 yrs old, and the other was taken in january 2007
i hope this helps!
mark

p.s. and yes i had to use a conversion table haha lol

get a good filter in there, they can be messy!

by the way, sorry for the spelling.

Thanks a lot!Of course every advice is helpfull!I just bouth the first cage i found!I hd no time to waste. I love those animals like pet and not like food! Just as last question, I should be feed him live food?I know i will avoid goldfish, but here you can found a lot of small fishes at a scandalous chip price!I mean a u.s.dollar for a pound..also i can found a bigger tank!few weeks ago i bouth a 60' tank for the equivalent of 40 dollars.
Soon I'll write news!tnx again!

PS: i loved your turtle!

yeah, you can feed him live foods like worms, insects, and fish. also will probably eat commercial pellet foods no prob. with mine, i liked to mix it up. he got a little of everything when little. now he eats mainly large crayfish, frozen/thawed out fish, frozen/thawed out rodents, or if i am lazy i go down to the sea food place and just buy some catfish fillets!

good luck