Albino Common Snapping Turtle For Sale

Description

The Albino Common Snapping Turtle For Sale (Chelydra serpentina) is a species of large freshwater turtle in the family Chelydridae. Its natural range extends from southeastern Canada, southwest to the edge of the Rocky Mountains, as far east as Nova Scotia and Florida. The present-day Chelydra serpentina population in the Middle Rio Grande suggests that the common snapping turtle has been present in this drainage since at least the seventeenth century and is likely native.

The three species of Chelydra and the larger alligator snapping turtles (genus Macrochelys) are the only extant chelydrids, a family now restricted to the Americas. The common snapping turtle, as its name implies, is the most widespread.

The common snapping turtle is noted for its combative disposition when out of the water with its powerful beak-like jaws, and highly mobile head and neck (hence the specific epithet serpentina, meaning “snake-like”). In water, it is likely to flee and hide underwater in sediment.

The common snapping turtle has a life-history strategy characterized by high and variable mortality of embryos and hatchlings, delayed sexual maturity, extended adult longevity, and iteroparity (repeated reproductive events) with low reproductive success per reproductive event.

Females, and presumably also males, in more northern populations mature later (at 15–20 years) and at a larger size than in more southern populations (about 12 years). Lifespan in the wild is poorly known, but long-term mark-recapture data from Algonquin Park in Ontario, Canada, suggest a maximum age over 100 years.

C. serpentina has a rugged, muscular build with a ridged carapace (upper shell) that varies in color from tan, brown, and black, although ridges tend to be more pronounced in younger individuals. The straight-line carapace length in adulthood may be nearly 50 cm (20 in), though 25–47 cm (9.8–18.5 in) is more common. C. serpentina usually weighs 4.5–16 kg (9.9–35.3 lb).

Per one study, breeding common snapping turtles were found to average 28.5 cm (11.2 in) in carapace length, 22.5 cm (8.9 in) in plastron length and weigh about 6 kg (13 lb).

Males are larger than females, with almost all weighing in excess of 10 kg (22 lb) being male and quite old, as the species continues to grow throughout life.  Any specimen above the aforementioned weights is exceptional, but the heaviest wild specimen caught reportedly weighed 34 kg (75 lb).

Common snapping turtles kept in captivity can be quite overweight due to overfeeding and have weighed as much as 39 kg (86 lb). In the northern part of its range, the common snapping turtle is often the heaviest native freshwater turtle.

According to a study by Nakamuta et al. (2016), common snapping turtles have well-developed olfactory organs, nerves, and bulbs that suggest that this species has a great sense of smell.

Common habitats are shallow ponds or streams. Some may inhabit brackish environments, such as estuaries. These sources of water tend to have an abundance of aquatic vegetation due to the shallow pools. Some describe them as habitat generalists as they can occupy most permanent bodies of water.

^{Albino Common Snapping Turtle For Sale} sometimes bask—though rarely observed—by floating on the surface with only their carapaces exposed, though in the northern parts of their range, they also readily bask on fallen logs in early spring.

In shallow waters, Albino Common Snapping Turtle For Sale may lie beneath a muddy bottom with only their heads exposed, stretching their long necks to the surface for an occasional breath. Their nostrils are positioned on the very tip of the snout, effectively functioning as snorkels.

Albino Common Snapping Turtle For Sale are omnivorous. Important aquatic scavengers, they are also active hunters that use ambush tactics to prey on anything they can swallow, including many invertebrates, fish, frogs, other amphibians, reptiles (including snakes and smaller turtles), unwary birds, and small mammals.

In a recent study, young common snapping turtles showed that their lower bite force matches their active foraging behavior, meaning they have to travel and seek out more prey to make up for their inability to eat some items.