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#248572 02/17/11 05:55 AM
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I've got a crazy idea to introduce a male and female alligator snapping turtle into one of my ponds. I have found a turtle farm out of Arkansas that sells hatchlings around 1.5-2" long. They're not cheap but I find them fascinating.

They are native to Georgia and I have yet to find anything prohibiting the release. Georgia law does prohibit keeping them as pets which I do not want to do. I will contact DNR and ask them the legality.

My question - any pros/cons of doing this assuming it is legal?


thanks

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Pros- cool looking
Cons- paying for something there's millions of in the wild..? And if you buy them they most likely will not live in your pond their whole life, they like to travel..


I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease..

BG. CSBG. LMB. HSB. RES.

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At 1-1/2 to 2 inches, I'd be concerned that they will be eaten pretty quickly, either by bass or other predators in and around the pond. I think you'd need quite a few to have any degree of survival success.


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HEY EB BGK is right if you have a good pond in your area you'll soon have "Snappa Heads" just showing up for work as volunteers!


" EVERY DAY I'M AMAZED BY HOW MANY THINGS I DON'T KNOW AND HOW MUCH STUFF I DON'T UNDERSTAND"
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I've got lots of snappers - just no alligator snapping turtles.

Catmandoo - agreed about size and survival - I was going to raise them to be 4" prior to releasing them. According to the turtle farm, they grow fairly fast.

Bluegillkiller - that is the question, will they stick around? My ponds are both old kaolin pits with very deep, steep sides around 95% of the water. I could easily fence off the rest to block egress routes but not sure I want to do that.

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Growing them out first is a good idea.

I don't know if having the steep sides is good for turtles. I think they dive down to the bottom from time to time.

I'm just guessing here, but if they have what they need to thrive in your pond, they might stay, or even if they leave, they might always come back.

I can't see any reason not to try it unless these things cost a few hundred bucks or so.


Excerpt from Robert Crais' "The Monkey's Raincoat:"
"She took another microscopic bite of her sandwich, then pushed it away. Maybe she absorbed nutrients from her surroundings."

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I fish pits and mines all the time and see snappers.. Are you sure you don't have them already. They are pretty smart and very skiddish, these won't be like pets and youll be petting them lol they actually have very good vision and can see from quite a ways away. Snapping turtles are not bank sitters like your painted turtles and stinkpots, they come up for air and head back to the bottom (except to breed and lay eggs). They have a little thing where there tounge is that mimics a small worm and they wiggle it with their mouth open just waiting for a fish to swim in so they can eat it, it mist work because they can get 50+ years old regularly. They like shallows because their kinda lazy and can just pop their head out of the water, but I see more of them popping their head out in deep water and another thing I've never caught one catfishing in shallow water so I don't think depth matters.. Allagatoe snappers are rare here but Americans snappers are like huge pond rats around here. I wouldn't pay for them build a cage throw some meat in it and drop in a pond come back in a week my buddy catches 100's of them a year this way.


I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease..

BG. CSBG. LMB. HSB. RES.

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If you want some cool turtles in your pond get softshells.. Their bank sitters so you can actually view them they can get up to 2ft dia. They lay eggs way up on bank so if you pay attention you'll catch them up to 100yrds from water then chase them, they lift way up off the ground and can run prolly close to 20mph (guess but it's amazingly fast and funny) I'm gonna ad one or 2 to my pond they love moving water but do great in ponds and lakes..


I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease..

BG. CSBG. LMB. HSB. RES.

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Agreed on soft shells - I have 1 soft shell that is probably all of 2 feet in diameter. First time I was on the pond, darn thing came up about 20' from my boat and scared the carp out of me. Really a beautiful turtle.

Looks like I should put in a turtle trap and take a turtle census.

Sunil, alligator snapping turtles run $50 per hatchling at one place I found but the rarer leucistic (pink) alligator snappers are $100 each. No small amount for sure but they live 150+ years which is amazing and helps me justify the price on a per year basis.

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Whatever you do don't waste your money on a pink one, have you ever seen a pink/whitish (their not really pink) in the wild, first off you don't because they have high mortality rate when young just like an albino catfish or anything else albino.. Second once it sits on the bottom of a black hole for many years it too will be black or very dark, those are good for aquariums and exotic dealers to make money off of and that's about it..

Softshells have such good eyesight I've seen them watch birds fly over at 40-60 yrds in the sky. It's actually amazing.


I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease..

BG. CSBG. LMB. HSB. RES.

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Scroll down to the 4th set of pics in this thread I attached my pond is full of them this size you can come up and take as many as you want.. Most are American snappers though..

http://www.pondboss.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=233060#Post233060

Also I made the stupid mistake of killing them when I first moved in I killed several I estimate were 30+ years old.. Now I feel horrible and welcome them and even feed them fish remains..


I believe in catch and release. I catch then release to the grease..

BG. CSBG. LMB. HSB. RES.

[Linked Image from i90.photobucket.com]

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