alligator snapping turtle

A

anthonylam

AC Members
Feb 15, 2005
49
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0
malaysia
i know this is more of a fish site... but i'm wondering if any of u could give me good feedback on this turtle. i've been doing lots of research on this turtle fer the past month or so...
i live here in a country with tropical climate. we do get alligator snappers here n i know they grow big.. up to 3ft. i've 2 questions... i'd especially enjoy hearing from others who live in tropical countries... or anybody at all...

1. i've checked many sites on this snapping turtle and found that they grow about 1.5-2 inches a year. a friend of mine here has one that grew from 4 inches up to 18 inches in 3.5 years. that's about 4 inches a year. which i found to be much faster than most info i found on american sites like chelydra.org and many others... do u think that tropical climate all year round causes the turtles to grow faster?
2. do u think these turtles could be bred in captivity, given the right amount of space to do so? pls share of personal experiences of breeding this turtle in captivity/ at home...

any other info on alligator snappers are very much welcomed.

thanks
 
Yes and no. Typically kept turtles are overfed, and grow too fast. The shape of the shell reveals doming, and often cracked plates because of this. The growth rings on kept turtles are no longer indicative of age, either. So, it's partially because they are kept inside, but mostly because they are fed too much. JME, but turtles do not make good pets, and seldom are cared for properly, resulting in seriously stunted lives. This goes doubly for tortoises and turtles that get larger than 12 inches.

Doubt it. As with most semi-aquatic animals, we just can't replicate their natural environment at home well enough to allow them to reproduce.
 
i forgot to mention... i have successfully bred red-ear sliders here... RES are natives of america right? at least that's wat i've found out on the internet.

many ppl manage to breed red ear sliders here.. and they grow to about 10inches(adult size) in a year over here, even those fed once or twice a week... what about RES growth rate as compared to in america?
 
RES aren't a good comparison for a snapping turtle. Snapping turtles habitat consists of miles and miles of rivers and estuaries, RES tend to stay within a relatively small area. RES can survive dams and reservoirs interrupting territories, alligator snapping turtles do not.

RES typically reach 9-12 inches within a year in the wild, 2 years as you go further north with a colder winter that limits growth periods to 6-9 months out of the year.
 
I've always wanted to keep a turtle..a non snapping one:D..they are one of my favorite animales. my husband won't let me get one though. I don't know if they would be ok in Norway or not:D..that's where I live now...I think Malaysia is awesome! I've seen pictures of it! You are so luckY!:D good luck on your snapping turtle research!
 
I know I'm posting a little late....

My family are huge turtle fans! We have a "turtle pen" in our backyard, which is basically an area, about 20-40 square feet, with a 2 ft. fence that keeps the turtles in. There are 2 ponds in the "turtle pen", one is home made, about 100 gallons, just dug in the ground with a pool liner, and lots of rocks and sand, and the other is a store bought platic pond, 140 gallons, with rocks and sand. We have about 6-7 box turtles, a RES bought from a pet store (about 6-7'') and a RES cought wild (BIG one, 12-14'') and we have seen several baby RES and box turtles. After the first full year of keeping them we started seeing babies. Unfortunately, they often sneak out of the pen because they're so small.

Okay, One of out neighbors several years back found an Aligator snapping turtle. They found it when we had first built the turtle pen, and only had the homemade pond. The AST wasn't that big (5-6'') but was kinda fat. We put him in the pond, and put some guppies in there, and he ate most of them. He got very fat. he was a very cool turtle, but very dangerous, and you had to be careful. After having him for about 6 months, we think he got out. He was very strong, and had very long, sharp claws, that made him adept at climing wooden fences.

Thats my aligator snapping turtle story.
 
In my neighborhood there is a swamp of all around us. I have been walking through the swamp before and have seen many alligator snapping turtle's. They get huge. They make a hissing sound when they feel threatened and they eat small fish, other turtles, and snakes. I once saw a guy put a stick that was more than 1 inch in diameter in one's mouth and he snapped it in half like it was nothing. My advice would not be to keep one. Of course these turtles are several years old that I saw.
 
carttman said:
I once saw a guy put a stick that was more than 1 inch in diameter in one's mouth and he snapped it in half like it was nothing
Click to expand...

That is NOTHING...I dragged a HUGE snapper, probably almost 30 inches in lenth from nose to tip of tail...Silly thing was in the middle of the road and I didnt want it to get hurt, or cause an accident...I grabbed my baseball bat and stuck the fat end out...She almost completely got her beak around it. With some dragging and hissing on her/his part i finally got it off the road...It had no fear of me and tried to chase me a few times...Miserable things and best left alone.
 
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