Facts about snapping turtles
- Before you want to have a snapping turtle, think carefully. Otherwise, you will periodically need to save your fingers and other pets from it. This tortoise has become famous for the whole world by its aggressiveness. With a powerful and strong jaw, she can easily eat small bones.
- The range of its habitat is very extensive – it is almost the whole of the United States of America, ranging from Southeast Canada to Colombia with Ecuador. She can live practically in all muddy water bodies, since her favorite occupation is burial in the mud.
- The appearance of a 40-50-cm tortoise is terrible and terrible. Especially it concerns a large head with a huge jaw, armed with a powerful beak with sharp edges. With its help, a tortoise can easily bite small bones, including human ones.
- Due to the fact that her large body does not fit completely under the shell, the head, neck and long tail are always open. Therefore, they are protected by powerful horny spines. The tail is also strewn with a series of large teeth.
- The lower shield (plastron) does not cover the extremities of the turtle. The upper part of the shell is painted in a dark brown color with a slight dark pattern. On the paws are powerful claws, which are no less terrible weapons than the jaw.
- Snapping turtles are omnivorous. They eat both dead and fresh fish, small waterfowl, carrion, and algae. Their prey are trapped in ambush. During the hunt this turtle uses one bait given to it by nature. It is a small growth in the tongue, reminiscent of a worm. She only needs to open her mouth and stick out her tongue a little, then the worm-build-up will start fluttering, thus attracting the attention of the fish. The turtle simply remains to wait for the prey to swim closer.
- Despite their predatory instincts, still the main food for these turtles is plant food. Therefore, it will not be difficult to feed her at home. You can place in the aquarium non-toxic algae. Fish, bloodworms and earthworms also have not been canceled. Feed the turtle often, since it is very voracious.