Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey guys,

I just found a hatchling snapper by my turkey houses today. I think it was dropped by a bird. Anyways, he is the size of a quarter and still has his egg tooth.

I have a 10 and 20gal long tank. Which would be best to use? How warm/cold should the water be? Depth? Do I need substrate? What do I feed him?

Sorry for all the questions but it has been awhile for me and I have forgotten most everything.

Thanks.

Kelly

Best bet is to start off with the 20 gallon tank because he/she will grow out of the 10 gallon to quick. You do not need any subtrate but they do sometimes like to bury themselves in the rocks. Make sure to keep the water shallow to start him off( i'd say 2 to 4 inches) just until he/she gets a good feel for the water and is able to swim and is comfortable to explore the tank. Keep the water between 72 to 78 degrees as a hatchling. Give him a Natural Sun Light bulb with a rock or two to climb out of the water and get some sun but also have somewhere he can hid to get away from the light as well. The Natural Sun bulb is inportant so his/her shell can develope and harden up. For food put a few guppies in there (buy a dozen or two) but give him reptomin(thats the brand I prefer) 1 to 2 times a day and try to make sure he does eat some of the food. Snapping turtle are pretty dirty so i'd get a filter(just something small like a fuval 1 or 2) That about all I can think of right now, it seems like alot but it really isn't that bad, just keep the water warm and shallow, get a filter and make sure to have a Sunlight bulb. If you have any other questions just ask and ill help best I can.

This is how I have cares for all my snappers since they were hatching and I now how 4 common snappers from 5 to 10 inches, 1 Hypo Snapper that is about 4 inches and a hatching flordia snapper and all are healthy and happy.

Mitch

A 10 to 20 gal tank sounds good but what I do is feed them in another container. Chopped fish, reptomin, etc and then I clean it out when I get home from work. It keeps the main tank much cleaner for a longer period. A heat lamp and a fairly warm room would be best. I think a good diet is more important than lighting. I've had musk turtles reach 3 inches in 2 years using regular aquarium fluorescent bulbs.
Good luck.

20 gallon will do fine, keep the water only about 4 inches high. A basking light and something to crawl out of the water onto. I also throw in these really thin plastic see weed plants just to give the little guys something to get up to and hang on as they don't tread water to well and are pretty clumsy swimmers when they are young. This isn't necissary if you got a stone in there for him to climb up on, but it seems to aid them in getting around the tank.

Guppies, crickets are good sources of food. Gonna need a filter for the guppies, but if he is still in the process of mastering his mobility in the water he might have trouble catching them all the time. Thats why I'd keep a few dozen crickets handy in a tub with potatoes to eat. That way you can toss a few in there and make sure hes eating every day.

He'll grow fast and turn into eating machine within a month or two. They'll eat just about everything. At that point if you find some small frogs, like the little dry land frogs I find hopping around or under logs he'll love those(they LOVE frogs). No toads, the poison glands will bother him and release toxins into his water. Don't bother with earthworms, I learned the hard way how easy it is for a turtle to choke on them. If the frog thing makes your stomache queezy thats fine he'll live without them. I always feed em frogs because #1: I eventually let them go once they're about the size of my hand and eating frogs early on teaches them how to really hunt. I guess thats the fun of
wild snappers, you could go outside for a cigarette and come back in with his dinner.

great turtles to keep, I usually fatten em up and set em free in this mud creek near my house that has a pretty nice little snapper community for such a small creek. Or sometimes I'll raise em up big enough and let them go in this forest preserve lake that sometimes season to season gets cleaned out of baby snappers because of too many big birds eating them.(I got turtle hunting there a few times a week).

But if you plan on keeping him long, plan on him getting BIG... which also means lots of poo.