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Common Snapping Turtle
Chelydra serpentina
36.2169, -81.7375
Field Notes
Description:
The Common Snapping Turtle is a large turtle. It's carapace (top shell) will grow to 18 inches long, and they can weigh up to 45 pounds. Snapping turtles have a large head with a hooked jaw. Their colors are usually dull brown to black. They have webbed feet with long claws and a very long tail.
Snapping turtles are mostly nocturnal, active at night. They will feed underwater during the day, ambushing prey. These turtles are very shy in the water, but on land they are very aggressive and will give a painful bite.
Habitat:
Snapping turtles prefer muddy lakes and ponds, as well as slow-moving rivers. They usually live 30-40 years.
Notes:
The Common Snapping Turtle will eat just about anything, including: aquatic plants, fish, frogs and tadpoles, salamanders, insects, snails, leeches, worms, snakes, small mammals, and baby ducks and goslings. They will also eat carrion (dead animals).
Snapping turtles lay 20-40 eggs at a time, each the size of a ping-pong ball. The eggs hatch in early autumn. The babies are eaten by many predators, including: herons, hawks, crows, large fish, raccoons, snakes, and larger turtles.
The Common Snapping Turtle will sometimes release a foul odor from a gland on the underside of its body.
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