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Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina*)

[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”967″ img_size=”large” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded”][vc_column_text]Snapping Turtle. Photo by Paul Condon[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/2″][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2186″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Female digging nest, wetland near Columbus, Ohio. Photo by Krista Schmidt[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1/2″][vc_single_image image=”2185″ img_size=”medium” alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_rounded” onclick=”img_link_large”][vc_column_text]Adult near Columbus, Ohio. Photo by Krista Schmidt[/vc_column_text][gap size=”12px” id=”” class=”” style=””][/vc_column_inner][/vc_row_inner][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_column_text]

Description

One of four introduced turtles in the 100-Mile Circle, the Snapping Turtle is a large (< 494 mm carapace length), highly aquatic turtle characterized by a carapace with posterior serrations and three longitudinal keels that become less conspicuous with age, a relatively small plastron, massive head with a somewhat hooked upper jaw, and a tail that is as long or longer than the carapace. The legs are large and muscular, and the digits are webbed and end in heavy claws.  The carapace ranges in color from tan to brown, olive, or black, and each scute may exhibit a pattern of radiating light lines.  In the 100-Mile Circle, the Snapping Turtle is only known from canals and urban lakes in the Phoenix area; however it may have gone undetected in similar habitats in the Tucson area.  It is native east of the Rocky Mountains, north to Canada and south to Ecuador.

Snapping Turtles prefer slow-moving or ponded water over a soft substrate of sand or mud and with abundant aquatic vegetation, submerged brush, or emergent vegetation.  It often remains buried in the mud or sand with only its eyes and nostrils showing, waiting for unsuspecting prey.  Most activity occurs morning and evening.  The Snapping Turtle hibernates in cold areas, but probably remains active year-round in our area.  Breeding behavior has not been studied in Arizona, but in Florida, nesting occurs from February to early June.  Clutches of 6-104 eggs are laid in upland nests, which hatch after 55-125 days.  Incubation temperature highly influences sex of the progeny, with temperatures of 20⁰ and 29-31⁰ C producing only females. Hatchlings are 24-31 mm carapace length.  Whether reproduction occurs in Arizona is unknown.  Presence may be maintained by continued releases of unwanted pets.

Snapping Turtles are opportunistic omnivorous.  Invertebrates, fish, frogs and toads, small turtles, snakes, birds, and small mammals are all taken.  Older turtles are usually ambush predators, whereas younger turtles actively search for prey.  Various plant materials are also consumed, as well as carrion.  The Snapping Turtle has powerful jaws that can deliver a lacerating bite, especially in the case of large adults.  The flesh of the Snapping Turtle is considered tasty by many; a hunting license is needed to take Snapping Turtles in Arizona.  It is listed as a species of least concern on the IUCN’s Red List.  If this species spread to rivers and wetlands outside the Phoenix area, it could pose a predation threat to native aquatic herpetofauna.

Suggested Reading:

Brennan, T.C., and A.T. Holycross. 2006. Amphibians and Reptiles in Arizona. Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ.

Ernst, C.H., and J.E. Lovich. 2009. Turtles of the United States and Canada (second edition). Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

Gibbons, J.W., S.S. Novak, and C.H. Ernst. 1988. Chelydra serpentina. Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles 420.1-420.4.

Hulse, A.C. 1980. Notes on the occurrence of introduced turtles in Arizona. Herpetological Review 11(1):16-17.

Author: Jim Rorabaugh

For additional information on this species, please see the following volume and page in the Sonoran Herpetologist: 2001 Nov:124.

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