Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Earlier this evening, I took my snapper, my stinkpot, and my eastern mud out of their 125 gallon tank to rearrange their tank some. They were outta the water at most about 45 minutes. When I went to put them back in, the snapper and stinkpot swam around but the eastern sank to the bottom. He sat there a minute and then he started moving. A little while later, I was watching tv and I looked over to see him on his back. I quickly removed the tank lid and got him turned over right. Not even an hour later, he had done the same thing while I was in my room. My mom rushed to my room and told me what had happened and I ran to the tank and got him out. I thought he was dying, b/c his neck was stretched out and he wasn't tryin to bite at me like he normally does. After a minute or two of almost seeming lifeless, he started being his old self again. I set him up in a 20 gallon with some large rocks and about 4" of water. Does anyone have any idea as to why this happened?

You have 3 different species in one tank? I'd separate them, especially the mud & musk from a snapping turtle.
How deep is the water? Mud & musk aren't strong swimmers maybe the water was too deep for him.
IMO any abnormal behavior especially behavior that may lead to death warrents a vet visit. They can be sick for a long long time before you ever even see a symptom so once a red flag is raised it's time to see the vet.

Symptoms of illness are hard to read in turtles, often they manifest as nothing more than odd behavior that you might easily overlook. Don't chalk it up to this is just something strange, have a check up with a qualified herp vet.

Good luck with him!
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PHRatz

Yes, I do keep all 3 species in one tank. I have two hollowed-out logs for the two muds to get under. My snapper never bothers them(suprisingly) and he is about 5" carapace. I plan on moving the two muds into a tank by themselves pretty soon and keep my snapper in the 125 gallon. As of right now, the eastern is acting ok. He is swimming around fine and eating like he normally does. I am keeping a close eye out just in case.

Ooooh I see the snapper is a little one right now.
Well good luck with that little mud, I hope this was a fluke & that nothing is wrong.
Keep that eye on him & let us know if anything else happens.
btw, got any photos of them to share?
I love to see people's pictures.
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PHRatz

Heres a link to some pics of my turts and my dog. http://photobucket.com/albums/y224/turtleman85

Great pics thanks for posting them.
Hey the snapping turtle looked really interested in that crustacean.. lol was that a crayfish?
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PHRatz

Yea, that was a crayfish. He was about 5" long. We(my fiance and I) were standing in the creek barefoot and I happened to look down and it was about an inch from my foot. I 'bout jumped outta my skin. I picked him up, stuck him in the bucket and brought him home. My snapper enjoyed munching on him.

OY!! I'm sure the snapper did enjoy a feast like that!

He was a cute crustacean I think the only way I could've fed him to someone around here would've been to drop him in & leave the room. I'm a WIMP! LOL
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PHRatz

I don't get grossed out when my snapper eats a live meal. He inhales nightcrawlers when I give 'em to him. My mom and my sister can't really stand to see him eat a live meal though. If its pellets, they're ok. lol.

I don't mind feeing mine live food, I feed all my turtles a lot of live but generally it's worms, crickets, roaches, etc.
It really doesn't even bother me to see them eat fish but when it comes to something like that big cray fish that I would've been tempted to keep as another pet.. well then I can't watch lol.

This is why I don't have pet snakes. I do have pet rats & there is no way I could stand to see anything eat one of my little furbabies.
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PHRatz