at what age can an alli snapper catch the food for its self??

is 6 month 2 young?

will the death of the fish pollute my tank also. and what are best fish to feed them??

i have put rocks in my tank and it does seem a bit small its 2 foot by 1 foot by 1 and a half foot will tihs do for a babay and how long for
The man at pet shop says hes got 1 mim self in the same tank as i have and says is fine as they dont like walking much they are waiters for food is this true? thanks

Also my water seems a but mercy does it have to be crystal clear or does it make no diffrence and can bad water kill the alli snapper pet shop says no they are hardy is this true.and also i put fish tank in it will it be ok bear in mind its a brand new tank filter heater?? thanks ur advice please . thanks lloyd kwiki if u read this please tell me all u no i am eager to learn as in uk were i am not much info on them only 1 petshop ever had em in 2 and they only got 3

Alligator snapping turtles are born with the ability to catch their own food. they can do it from the second they hatch, all you need to do is provide the right size, small fish like white cloud mountain minnows, guppies, and danios will be great for a snapper the size that you describe, they will also eat goldfish but these can be very fatty so dont use them too often although one every once in a while should be ok, you can try supplementing their diets with turtle pellets like reptomin but mine wont touch these, you can also use meats to supplement their diets, little strips of raw bacon rinsed under the tap to remove any greese, beef heart and liver aswell as mice, crickets and snails, try experimenting, mine will eat all of the above but only really after dark once all the lights have been turned off.

as for the murky water, dirty water isnt gonna do the turtle any good, it eats in the same water that it poops in so your gonna have to make sure its as clean as you possibly can, dont mistake clean water with clear water though, they live in very murky water in the wild but this water is clean, it has no toxins of pollutants in it, you have to make sure yours is the same, my water has had a browny tinge to it for ages because of tannins released by the wood i put in the tank but this was harmless and my water was still very clean, it just looked brown, the best way to make sure it is clean is to change the water every week or two and make sure your filter doesnt get clogged by large bits of waste, if you see any uneaten food or poo use a net to scoop it out,

it is very unlikely that you will see uneaten food as the turtles usually eat everything in their path, the death of fish wont pollute the tank, the turtle will devour every part of the fish he catches, that is if he doesnt just eat them whole anyway, even if a fish dies naturally it wont take long for your turtle to find it and eat it

how much of the tanks do the rocks take up?? 2ftx1ftx1ft is ok for a baby snapper the size you describe but be careful the rocks dont take up too nuch floor space and make certain ther is no way the turtle can get wedged under then and drown.

it would be good if you could post a picture of your set up and i'll be able to advise you better


regards......kwiky

p.s. im also in the UK, where abouts are you from??

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0.0.1 alligator snapping turtle

Excellent advice for all turt keepers, I'm constantly having to tell people that just because their water looks clear doesn't mean it's clean, most of the toxins, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, are all completely clear so the appearance of the water is pretty meaningless. Regular testing and an adequate bio filtration system is the only way to ensure clean water.

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thanks for reply i will feed live then i no water is fine but it takes time for the filter to gather good bacteria i no as i keep tropical fish wich will soon be food lol.the rock space takes upo about 5 inches of the floor space by 6 inches lenght to help him get to the surface really if the turtle dock doesnt work.can bad water kill the snapper i will do weekly changes of 40% do u have to put water treatment to stop chlorine getting in the tank?the only prob with tank i think is filter is on the side with the heater in a line and hope he doesnt try to climb them? thanks will try and get a pic im from mansfield

also will a internal filter be ok

how much floor space do the really need to thanks and so u think a turtle dock will work its a thing with suckers on it that they can climb on and can snappers dswim?

bad water could lead to infections that could easily kill your turtle yes, the water would have to be very bad though and really this could only happen through serious neglect! as long as a decent filter is used and your spot on with water changes then theres no need to worry, snappers are pretty hardy.

alli snappers can swim but dont, if threatened then they do have the ability to swim away but i have only seen this once with mine. so basically treat them as if they cant swim, the water level should be shallow enough so he can get a breath without having to move much, mine has to stand up on his hind legs to reach the surface at its deepest point but i do have things he could climb on if he wanted to get closer to the surface.

when i was using an internal filter my turtle would hide underneath it or climb on it alot so i dumped that in favour of an external filter pretty early on, it was the best thing i ever did, i hardly ever have to clean it out and it keeps my water not only looking crystal clear but gets rid of all toxins and pollutants aswell, my internal fluval 4 plus would get clogged pretty quickly, as your only using a 2ft tank at first it wont be a problem at first because you can do extra regular water changes without much hassle due to the small amount of water but once you up the size of your tank i would certainly invest in a good quality external filter

i dont know how much success you'll have with your turtle dock as my alli snapper never attepted to get out of the water but you can certainly put it in there to try, i know of one young alli snapper that regularly climbs out to bask so you never know.

i do treat the water to dechlorinate it but many keepers dont, i keep a large quantity of tropical fish with my snapper and as you know they are more suseptable to bad water quality than the turtles so i do it mainly for their benefit

regards.......kwiky

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0.0.1 alligator snapping turtle

yeah i hear you graham, i often wonder if those same people would drink out of the toilet, afterall it looks clean

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0.0.1 alligator snapping turtle

what size thank should i go for next and how much are external filters sorry bout all threads lol get carried away go mad when get new animal exept bout chameleon he was n evil bast**d and i had to get rid when he got ro a year lol

erm. you do realise that compared to your "evil chameleon" your alligator snapper is gonna be 10 times worse and 100 hundred times as strong, he will not stop growing until he dies and at that point he might weight 20+ stone, he will be easily capable of biting off limbs and only knows 3 things, how to kill stuff, how to make babies and how to defend himself with one of the most powerful bites in the animal kingdom. this isnt some animal that you can get and keep for a year or 2 and then get rid of cos it bites, it is born biting, it will bite all of its life and it will die biting.

here is an adult, think about what you are buying and how difficult it will be to keep and house when its that big




and here's the attitude these guys are born with in action



i would advise you have a serious think about what your taking on here, if your not 100% committed to keeping the turtle for all of its life no matter how big or how aggressive it gets then i urge you to re consider buying one

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0.0.1 alligator snapping turtle

I feed alot of earth worms and night crawlers also.

Just drop a live worm in front of it.