# Snapping turtle STILL not eating.



## 94NDTA (Jul 14, 2003)

I have tried shrimp, smelt, beefheart, large pellets, Trutle bits, crickets, NOTHING is working for my turtle.

More suggestions? He hasn't eaten in about a month. He's still alive, but hides under a bunch of rocks and never moves unless I take him out.

Do you think he is hybernating?


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## TANK (Nov 18, 2003)

What is your set-up?? What is the temp?


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## pamonster (Jun 26, 2003)

any live fish or anything?


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## "qickshot" (Apr 19, 2005)

i would try live fish. it sucks not haveing something eat and you dont know why


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## 94NDTA (Jul 14, 2003)

"qickshot said:


> i would try live fish. it sucks not haveing something eat and you dont know why


Common snapping turtle, 10 gallon set up, about 3 inches of water with a big rock halfway submerged in the water, with a ledge of rocks for him to climb on.

No heater, none needed, it's a turtle I found out in the wild up here in North Dakota.

It has an air bubbler for some filtration.

I can't really put live fish in there because it isn't really deep enough.

Maybe I should change my set up. Suggestions?


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

I always use deep water with my turtles, even regular and alligator snappers, it seems to make them more comfortable to know they have an escape route, just give him something to hang onto so he isn't swimming all the time. I doubt if it's trying to hibernate, that's a temperature response and unless your house is really cold, I wouldn't think that would kick in. That said try heating him up some, say 74-78F and try fresh killed shiners wiggled in front of his face with tweezers or hemostats. Don't expect him to chase fish, just not the nature of the beast. I'd also lose the bubbler but put a small hang on filter for water movement. I hate to say it but if you got him while he still had a little yolk sac you might never get him to eat, I've found that sometimes that for no apparent reason hatchlings just don't live.


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## 94NDTA (Jul 14, 2003)

Bawb2u said:


> I always use deep water with my turtles, even regular and alligator snappers, it seems to make them more comfortable to know they have an escape route, just give him something to hang onto so he isn't swimming all the time. I doubt if it's trying to hibernate, that's a temperature response and unless your house is really cold, I wouldn't think that would kick in. That said try heating him up some, say 74-78F and try fresh killed shiners wiggled in front of his face with tweezers or hemostats. Don't expect him to chase fish, just not the nature of the beast. I'd also lose the bubbler but put a small hang on filter for water movement. I hate to say it but if you got him while he still had a little yolk sac you might never get him to eat, I've found that sometimes that for no apparent reason hatchlings just don't live.


He's eaten a couple of times.

I will try what you suggest. How deep should the water be?


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## red belly eric (Oct 1, 2005)

try starving it dats wut i did and it ate in no time


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## 94NDTA (Jul 14, 2003)

red belly eric said:


> try starving it dats wut i did and it ate in no time


No offense, but he hasn't eaten for a month. Thats pretty much starving.


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## rchan11 (May 6, 2004)

I used to feed mine rosies.


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## flyboy (May 11, 2004)

Definatley try live fish, try the frozen shiners first like Bawb2u said, if that doesn't work use live rosies. Snapping turtles have a "lure" on their tongue that attracts fish to their jaws. They are ambush preds, they do not go out and chase their food very often, if at all.


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

94NDTA said:


> Definatley try live fish, try the frozen shiners first like Bawb2u said, if that doesn't work use live rosies. Snapping turtles have a "lure" on their tongue that attracts fish to their jaws. They are ambush preds, they do not go out and chase their food very often, if at all.


He's got a common not an alligator, so no lure. Gross as it sounds juvie commons tend to eat anything dead in the water as they are piss-poor fish hunters. They go for lots of water-based insect nymphs and insects that fall in the water. I've also seen them eating duck and goose feces but I wouldn't recommend putting those in his tank.


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## The Wave (Oct 22, 2003)

> Water Depth/Temperature: WATER DEPTH IS MOST IMPORTANT! Snappers spend most of their time resting on the bottom and extending their long necks up to get breaths just above the water surface as needed. The depth should be at least a bit deeper than the turtle is wide to allow for swimming and righting the body if turned over, but shallow enough to allow for breathing from a resting position. If your snapper is forced to swim to breathe, it may die from the energy expenditure. A hatchling should be observed to see whether or not it can lift its head out to breathe and the setup changed to include a dry slope if it is having trouble.


http://www.turtlehomes.org/usa/snappingturtles.shtml


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

physco 1 said:


> > Water Depth/Temperature: WATER DEPTH IS MOST IMPORTANT! Snappers spend most of their time resting on the bottom and extending their long necks up to get breaths just above the water surface as needed. The depth should be at least a bit deeper than the turtle is wide to allow for swimming and righting the body if turned over, but shallow enough to allow for breathing from a resting position. If your snapper is forced to swim to breathe, it may die from the energy expenditure. A hatchling should be observed to see whether or not it can lift its head out to breathe and the setup changed to include a dry slope if it is having trouble.
> 
> 
> http://www.turtlehomes.org/usa/snappingturtles.shtml


If you observe snappers in the wild or in a tank,you'll see them climbing up plants or roots to reach the surface. They also tend to sleep with one foot holding onto something with the rest of their body basically floating in the water. They do need something extending from the bottom of the tank to above the water line so as not to have to constanly swim but I guarantee you that in the wild they can and do swim very well. I've seen snappers, adults and hatchlings in water that's well over 20 feet deep, free swimming and floating, so I totally disagree with the above statement.


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## The Wave (Oct 22, 2003)

hmm,thats just one out of like 20 care sheet that i have read that say basically the same thing about water depth in the home aquarium







but i guess everyone has their own way of keeping diff species,to eatch their own.i did follow these basic guidlines with mine

last year when i got it ...

View attachment 87813


and last week..

View attachment 87814


so i guess something must be ok with keeping them like this eh ?


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## 94NDTA (Jul 14, 2003)

I was always told the commons need a place they can be that ISN'T out of the water as well. I never see them constantly in water in the wild.

This is my experience with turtles around here.


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

physco 1 said:


> hmm,thats just one out of like 20 care sheet that i have read that say basically the same thing about water depth in the home aquarium
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Well, I've only raised a couple of hundred, so I'm not a total expert but all of mine have grown well and look very healthy and not morbidly obese like the one in that picture. To each his own but seriously when I see them in the wild they are always near deep enough water to get under and swim quickly away from predators. Just because people read and parrot (or blatantly copy) other caresheets and websites doesn't mean that's how they live in the wild. Do you really think that snapping turtles are always in water that's under 10 inches deep?


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## The Wave (Oct 22, 2003)

i was asking if you think its ok to keep them like they say to in the care sheetst,thats all









and yeah it's a little fat,all the ones i see ,wild or not look the same..


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

physco 1 said:


> i was asking if you think its ok to keep them like they say to in the care sheetst,thats all
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To be honest, no, I think those caresheets do a dis-service to the turtles. I started keeping them more than 40 years ago, long before all the internet experts posted caresheets. I watched them in the mill ponds around my house and tried to mimic the conditions I saw them in, which was feeding in shallows and swimming into deep water when they were disturbed. I'd see them out in deep water hanging on lily pads and milfoil and free-swimming between patches of weeds.
I know you care about that turtle, it's clean and polished shell show a lot of care but it's more than just a "little" fat. When the legs hang like that it shouldn't show a roll of fat right down to it's toes, it should show a defined ankle and foot.
I'm not looking for an internet arguement, that's got to one of the stupidest thing to get involved in, I'm just stating the facts as I've learned them from actual observation and trying to help somebody get their turtle to eat by doing more to mimic the natural environment it lives in since it obviously isn't comforable enough to eat under the caresheet conditions it's being kept in.
Here's picture of an alligator snapper that I raised from quarter-sized to about 8 inches in around 10 months. See how it's hanging in the plants and notice the muscle tone of the legs. This is what a healthy turtle looks like.


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## 94NDTA (Jul 14, 2003)

Bawb2u said:


> i was asking if you think its ok to keep them like they say to in the care sheetst,thats all
> 
> 
> 
> ...


To be honest, no, I think those caresheets do a dis-service to the turtles. I started keeping them more than 40 years ago, long before all the internet experts posted caresheets. I watched them in the mill ponds around my house and tried to mimic the conditions I saw them in, which was feeding in shallows and swimming into deep water when they were disturbed. I'd see them out in deep water hanging on lily pads and milfoil and free-swimming between patches of weeds.
I know you care about that turtle, it's clean and polished shell show a lot of care but it's more than just a "little" fat. When the legs hang like that it shouldn't show a roll of fat right down to it's toes, it should show a defined ankle and foot.
I'm not looking for an internet arguement, that's got to one of the stupidest thing to get involved in, I'm just stating the facts as I've learned them from actual observation and trying to help somebody get their turtle to eat by doing more to mimic the natural environment it lives in since it obviously isn't comforable enough to eat under the caresheet conditions it's being kept in.
Here's picture of an alligator snapper that I raised from quarter-sized to about 8 inches in around 10 months. See how it's hanging in the plants and notice the muscle tone of the legs. This is what a healthy turtle looks like.
[/quote]

Question. Have you mainly kept Alligators? Alligators stay under water most of their life, but from what I have read and seen, commons spend about half and half in water/land.


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## The Wave (Oct 22, 2003)

not looking for a arguement either,just looking how to care for this guy the best i can.

i only feed it every 3 days,you think thats to much ? and if i make his tub deeper ( can go to 2' ),with just like a log to climb out on,with that give him more exercise to help it loose weight ? it is very active and spends the summers outside most of the time,like i said,that pic was last week,has not been in the outside are to run around in for 3 months.this threads like this are not arguements to me but rather gattering more info,no one can know everthing about every animal ,just try and read and gather all availible.i just find it hard to believe that all these care sheets that say about the water depth,some even writen by biologists on some of these turtle forums are all wrong about this,very very confused..



Bawb2u said:


> notice the muscle tone of the legs. This is what a healthy turtle looks like.


can you please post a pic of a common,about 8"- 9" ,holding it like i was in that pic so i know what is to fat and what is normal....like i said above,holding like i did,pics on the net,wild or captive,look the same


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

94NDTA said:


> Question. Have you mainly kept Alligators? Alligators stay under water most of their life, but from what I have read and seen, commons spend about half and half in water/land.


No, actually mostly commons. I live in Mass and they are prolific around here. Commons (at least around here) only come out of the water for specific purposes, mainly to get to another body of water or to lay eggs, I never see them just wandering around in non-aquatic areas, they are always within a reasonable distance to a body of water. I see them basking on semi-submerged roots and logs and occasionally banks of ponds but never on dry surfaces with no water near them.


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

physco 1 said:


> notice the muscle tone of the legs. This is what a healthy turtle looks like.


can you please post a pic of a common,about 8"- 9" ,holding it like i was in that pic so i know what is to fat and what is normal....like i said above,holding like i did,pics on the net,wild or captive,look the same









[/quote]

Every 3 days is fine depending on how much and exactly what you feed him. I feed shiners, small frogs, crickets and a type of roach that I breed called Discoid roaches (Blaberus discoidalis). I don't feed them very heavily after they get to be 6 inches as I can't give them the huge environment they have in the wild and can't burn as many calories swimming like they would if not in captivity.
To be honest the caresheets confuse me too. I look at the turtles natural element and I see ponds. They start with shore and slope into deeper and deeper water. I see turtles using all of that area and I wonder why the caresheets say to only give them a couple of inches of water. In all my time keeping them I have never seen a turtle drown, so it leads me to believe that they swim pretty damn well, know what I mean? When I keep them in tubs or aquariums with deep water I watch them walk across the bottom, far below where they can reach the surface by just standing and raising their necks to the surface until they get to a spot where they can climb a log or root or plant until they can just get the tip of their nose out of the water, grab a couple of breaths and go deep again. To me that means they like it and have no problem with it, so I give it to them. I do that for all the turtles I've ever kept, from natives like commons and painteds to African, South American and New Guinea exotics. 
Sorry I don't have any pictures of a common at that size, I didn't collect any this year and it's winter here so I can't grab any wild ones right now.


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## The Wave (Oct 22, 2003)

Yes i see what you are saying,they can swim very well...but in a captive environment,do you realy think they like working to breath ? .... i mean like you said,they " walk " on the bottom...

talking about common snappers here,not painted, not alligators ,exotics ect

on the other note,that every 3 day feeding is either white fish ( dead fillets ) shimp ,aquatic turtle pellets,trout chow,crickets or earth worms...not over fed,you kinda get to know how much is over feeding ,like if it eats it as soon as it hits the water and then after a bit it kinda just nips at it...

you raised ' a couple of hundred ' but no pics as they are over 8 " ? 
not trying to be a ass here but you posted a pic of alligator to show me what the legs should look like,they are 2 diff species..







,nothing personal here,no offence meant of any kind,just trying to learn and clairify things so i can make sure mine has the best care possible ...

sorry 94NDTA for this derail but this is a great topic


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## Bawb2u (May 27, 2004)

physco 1 said:


> Yes i see what you are saying,they can swim very well...but in a captive environment,do you realy think they like working to breath ? .... i mean like you said,they " walk " on the bottom...
> 
> talking about common snappers here,not painted, not alligators ,exotics ect
> 
> ...


You see it as working to breathe, I see it as exercising and burning calories. Like I said they walk on the bottom to reach something, climb up, breathe and re-submerge. If you can give them options, why wouldn't you? 
I'd stop feeding it before it just nips at it. Like they say in show business, "Always leave them wanting more". Seriously though, think of the caloric output just hanging around in shallow water takes, it's minimal, so if you feed them high protein food and don't make them do any work adipose tissue builds faster than muscle. 
I've raised commons off and on for over 40 years. I usually raise up between 10 and 20 until they hit 4-6 inches then sell them off. I also occasionally raise up larger batches for a friend that has a New England based reptile distribution business that ships them around the country. I just got a digicam recently, so no, I don't have any pics and yes I did post a pic of an AST but they have the same skeletal makeup. You can make an AST overfat just as easily as any other turtle. Growing turtles shouldn't be able to get fat, they should be putting the caloric value of the food toward bone, shell and muscle growth.


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