The true snapping turtle is mainly distributed in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas. Large snapping turtles can be found in much of Mississippi, southern Alabama, Georgia and the swamps of Florida. However, the artificial reproduction of snapping turtles is more difficult, and there is no successful record yet.

Latin name: Macroclemystemminckii

Alias: predator fish Turtles, humpback turtles, snapping turtles.

Classification status: snapping turtles, snapping turtles.

Distribution: South Central United States, North America Mississippi River, Georgia.

Life habit: Likes to live in rivers, ditches, lakes, swamps and deep ponds with aquatic plants and silt on the bottom.

Growth temperature: strong adaptability, can live in water temperature of 3~45℃.

Habitat: Amphibious turtles.

Food: Omnivorous turtles that feed mainly on animal feeds, in nature, forage frogs, Snake, insects, shrimp, crab, shellfish, fish, aquatic plants, etc. In the state of artificial feeding, fish, lean meat, poultry viscera and a small amount of vegetable leaves can also be fed some mixed feed.

Individual size: Large in size, the longest carapace can reach 75~80 cm.

Gender identification: female turtles have a rounder body, a short and slightly thinner tail, and the cloaca is located within the edge of the carapace; the male turtle is larger and has a longer tail, and the cloaca is located on the edge of the carapace outside.

Breeding characteristics: The breeding season is from February to July every year, with 8 to 50 eggs laid each time. Oval white spherical, 30-51 mm in diameter. Incubation period is 100~140 days.

Mixed or not: Do not mix.

Feeding Difficulty: Easy.

Special requirements: I like to stay in a place where the water depth is 1~1.5 meters.

BigSnapping turtle is a very peculiar looking tortoise. It looks like a general who has crossed from ancient times to modern times. It is domineering and fierce. The turtle that bit off a human finger has powerful upper and lower jaws.

True snapping turtles are only found in the Mississippi Valley of North America. One of the most famous snapping turtles in the world. It maintains the characteristics of the original turtle, and the mouth, carapace scutellum, and red tongue are very peculiar. The upper and lower jaws at the front of the mouth are hook-shaped, like an eagle's beak, so sharp that they can bite off a person's fingers. The scutellum of the carapace is brown in color. The 13 scutellum is like 13 hills rolling up and down, arranged in three vertical and horizontal rows. There are many jagged protrusions on the edge of the carapace, and the eyes are on both sides of the mouth, small and powerful. , there are many fleshy protrusions on the head and neck. It has a bright red worm-like fleshy protrusion on its tongue, which is connected to the tongue by a circular muscle in the middle. Both ends can freely retract and move. Its tail is thin and long and hard like a steel whip. Unlike other turtles, its head and feet cannot be retracted into the shell.

Real snapping turtles look like crocodiles fish, Set turtle and crocodile in one, so called true snapping turtle. Its head is relatively thick and cannot be completely retracted into the shell, the neck is short and stout, the collar and back are long with brown thorns, the eyes are small, the upper and lower jaws are small, the snout is pointed, the tail is pointed and long, with edges on both sides, and there are long edges on the edges. Flesh spurs, there is a scaly raised ridge on the front two-thirds of the tail and a serrated mouth, the dorsal shell is very thin, the epithelium is mainly brown, occasionally brown, and the back has three fuzzy ribs, and there are Radial markings. The plastron is smaller than the carapace and is in the shape of a "cross". The neck is gray-brown, and the limbs and tail have very prominent thorns. The rear edge is tooth-like, the abdomen is white, and there are occasional small black spots. It is black when young. The limbs are thick, muscular, and the claws are sharp and powerful, and they are good at crawling.

The giant snapping turtle is huge. The adult tortoise is 0.4-0.7 meters long, weighs 45-75 kilograms, and the largest can reach 200 kilograms. The body length is 0.75-0.9 meters. Males are larger than females.

bigSnapping turtles still need to pay attention to a lot of problems in the breeding farms, such as the density of breeding, the filtration of pool water, etc. Although the snapping turtles are strong, they can attack The sex is very large, and the excessive death density may cause fights and death.

1. Grazing and stocking in separate ponds

Each square meter can be stocked with 1 group of seed turtles (1 male and 2 females) or 3 groups of medium tortoises or 5 to 10 groups of young turtles or juveniles There are 10 to 20 groups of turtles, and they are kept in different pools according to their size.

Second, fixed-point, regular, and quantitative feeding

Early spring and early winter are fed once a day at noon, and late spring to late autumn is the peak feeding season, twice a day at 9:00 am Feed 40% of the food in the evening and then feed 60% in the evening. The food should be fixed in one place. The food that is thrown should be eaten within 1.5 hours. If you can't finish eating, you can feed less next time. It can be raised, raw or cooked, and young turtles are fed nutrient-rich finely divided feed, and spoiled feed cannot be used. The feed is mainly animal feed, which can be appropriately matched with some plant-based fruit and vegetable feed, or beetlefish Feeding.

3. Regular water change and disinfection

The water is changed once every 20d~50d for a large pool, and once every 2d~3d or 6d~7d for a small pool. The transparency should be kept at 10cm~2ccm. In winter, the water should be changed as little as possible according to the situation. However, the water in the tank should be changed in time. Generally, the pool water should be disinfected with 10ppm bleaching powder for 20d~30d, which can prevent turtles from getting sick.

Fourth, the pool water in summer

must be kept at 80cm, the pond should be shaded for more than 1/5, raise some duckweed in the pond, plant trees around it, and inject new water to cool down when necessary, so that the The water temperature should not exceed 45°C.

bigSnapping turtle has no special requirements for food, but this is a very dangerous turtle, do not try to hold the food in your hand and let him bite, because This is a very dangerous move. For the selection of snapping turtle food, try to meet his appetite as much as possible.

Raised under natural conditions, fed once a day in early spring and early winter, and fed at noon when the temperature is higher. The period between spring and late autumn is the peak season for turtles to eat, and they are fed twice a day. On the slope or the corner of the pond, a wooden board can also be set under the water for feeding. Once the food is placed in a fixed place, it should not be changed frequently. The feed should be eaten within 90-150 minutes. Feed less, larger turtles and smaller turtles. Generally, the amount of feed is between 3 and 5% of the turtle's body weight. The amount of food in spring and autumn is small, and the amount of food in summer is large.

Feedvariety are many, and compound feed can also be used . But be careful, the big ones should be cut into small ones, the hard ones should be soaked in water to soften, and both raw and cooked. Young turtles should be fed more nutrient-rich feed and chopped as finely as possible to facilitate digestion. Do not feed spoiled feed. It can also be appropriately matched with some plant-based feeds, such as melons and fruits.

It is recommended to use green compound feed for snapping turtles (with a protein content of more than 48%). When preparing, weigh the ingredients on the spot, add 5% to 10% of the total weight of photosynthetic bacteria and about 45% of clean water to make long particles with a particle size of 2 mm to 3 mm. If conditions permit, it is better to make floating extruded pellet feed.

The feeding amount of compound feed is 1.5%~2.5% of the total body weight of snapping turtles, and 5%~10% of fresh feed. Feeding 3 times a day, respectively at 6:00 to 7:00, 12:00 to 13:00, 17:00 to 18:00. Feed more and more evenly, and try to make a sound when the feed enters the water. Do not concentrate on one place, resulting in piles of feed. The number of feeders in each pool should be determined according to the size of the pool, generally 3 to 4 per square meter.