Good job, I agree with your observations of Snapping turtles......I have
only seen young of the year in a "basking-mode", and have never observed an
adult above the water surface.......I have rescued them, while attempting to
cross a heavily-traveled road, by placing them into their desired direction
of travel, and hopefully helping them in their spawning activities. One only
sees such behavior in the spring and early Summer of the year, particularily
during or immediately after a hard rain.....and warming temperatures.
As to the favorite foods, I also agree that all turtles of the carnivourous
ilk are live-food eater's and don't prey on dead foods, at all! This
includes the Snapping-turtles of North America, for sure!
Best Regards,
BG
----- Original Message -----
From: <Moontanman_at_aol.com>
To: <nanfa_at_aquaria.net>
Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2000 3:09 PM
Subject: Re: NANFA-- Re: snapping turtles
> Snapping turtles are a Little different in their requirements than most
other
> turtles. They almost never bask, seldom swim, and leave the water only to
lay
> eggs and to move from one pond to another. When they move over land they
> almost always do so in the rain or at night. The best time to find
snappers
> traveling overland is after a hard rain, they can be found struggling to
> cross highways and other barriers after or in the rain. Snappers don't
deal
> well with drying out and it should be avoided, direct sun is also avoided.
> Adult snappers will eat fleshy plants and are the cause of many Lilly pads
> being cut off at the base. The best food is whole minnows, crayfish, and
> chicken liver. In the wild adults snapper eat a large amount of carrion
and
> were used at one time to find drowning victims by tying a rope to a large
> snapper and releasing it close to where the person had disappeared the
> snapper would later be found feeding on the corpse.
>
>
Moon
>
>
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