Anyone here raise turtles?

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

i just caught me a 2in baby gator snapper set him up in 48gal tote with under gravel filters and a lip hanging filter and a UV light ...i was fishing at the local stream when my wife took the kids for a walk and came back with this lil guy he eats anything hotdogs crickets flies worms cheese ham bologna shrimp pellets feeder fish ... to be one of the most aggressive turtles in the world he is awful human friendly ill keep him a few yrs and give him a better chance on life when hes bigger when i release him back at a nature preserve away from humans

 

[cacamal]

cool! turtles are great pets

 

[turtle farmer]

I caught a baby in a lake when I was a kid,30 years later I have 80 turtles
growing ganja and raising turtles,two great hobbies
peace
tf

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

I caught a baby in a lake when I was a kid,30 years later I have 80 turtles
growing ganja and raising turtles,two great hobbies
peace
tf

TF
post some pics u dont have any babies u would like to come off of do u? im looking for baby 1-3in painted or slider or another baby snapper my lil guy is in a 3ft wide 18in Deep 24in High clear tote and could use some company

 

[Mr. Greengenes]

Aw, how cute. I used to try to keep large snappers I caught in Mass., when I was growing up. Always gave my grandmother fits because they manage to escape any enclosure you could make, even a steel fence buried a couple feet under. She'd find a huge snapper in her garden, next thing you know, we'd have turtle soup. That things an alligator snapper, makes our northeast version look harmless. I bet it will be able to eat through a steel fence in a couple months.

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

green:

hes really friendly but very well fed also he eats a couple night crawlers a day and whatever fish he lurres in with his tounge as i got tons of minnows in there 2 tadpoles tons of quarter in soft crawls a baby frog the size of a quarter he really dont mess with the fish or the soft crawls or the frog or the tadpoles hes hooked on shrimp pellets and night crawlers maybe once every 3-4 days he will have a fish everything in my terrium is well fed so they dont put each other on the foodchain

 

[s13sr20det]

a big ass turtle wandered up from the bayou and ended up in the driveway the other night. i had to stick it in the recycling bin (lol) and take it back down there.

it looked like a ninja turtle with that band across its eyes hehe

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

S13
thats a nice sized common snapper u got there


kids walked in with another one this is a baby eastern painted turtle to the terrium he went anyone see the tadpole?

 

[s13sr20det]

cool, thanks
thats a cute little guy

 

[Marywanna]

I love turtles too. But not snappers,they will eat everything in our pond. We have some nice ones here in our state.Blevins,Painted and Box turtles. I saw on the news yesterday that they were digging up most of the sea turtle eggs down in the Gulf and move them to try and save them from the oil. If they hatch first they are going to try and catch as many as they can and relocate them. Poor turtles.

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

I love turtles too. But not snappers,they will eat everything in our pond. We have some nice ones here in our state.Blevins,Painted and Box turtles. I saw on the news yesterday that they were digging up most of the sea turtle eggs down in the Gulf and move them to try and save them from the oil. If they hatch first they are going to try and catch as many as they can and relocate them. Poor turtles.

myself i love baby painted and sliders in the 1-3inch range snappy is cool though wont bite nothing unless in the water ...either the painted is hungry or hes got a meaner tude then snappy. we named our painted painty .well the kids did .snappy has maybe a 8th of an inch on him for now both turtles are under 2in in my tank he will have to hunt his own food due to i wanna release them back to the wild later and want him to know how to find his food thus shrimp/turtle pellets and night crawlers feeder fish for these lil guys i do help i feed the fish so the turtles can stealth them if they decide they dont want flake fish food off the top

PS: kermit the lil green frog is on the loose in my house.. i cant find him

 

[Marywanna]

Every single night this big ole garden toad hops under the door and comes into the screened porch. He eats bugs and leaves in the morning to do his job eating bugs in my garden. The dogs already learned not to mess with him or else they get all spitty like they have rabies. The only snappers we have seen are big ones that can really hurt you. We have a fence to try and keep them out of our back pond,but let them stay in the wild pond on the other side of the propery.

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

Every single night this big ole garden toad hops under the door and comes into the screened porch. He eats bugs and leaves in the morning to do his job eating bugs in my garden. The dogs already learned not to mess with him or else they get all spitty like they have rabies. The only snappers we have seen are big ones that can really hurt you. We have a fence to try and keep them out of our back pond,but let them stay in the wild pond on the other side of the propery.

snappers will eat everything and drown anything they cant kill in one bite if u have ducks geese and birds missing thus is probably why u wanna do a snapper a good deed go put him in a river or wide but calm current stream where the fish are and away from ppl where he can grow and be happy at peace i always release any snappers common, alligator or softshells in the rivers away from ppl where they can thrive and eat my snapper tried drowning the lil frog above before i got him more feeder fish myself i love painted and sliders or baby soft shell snappers or alligator snappers in the 1-4inch range

snapper is laying in the top corner waiting for his next meal and painty basking as thats what painted and sliders love to do

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

another one i caught myself today.... this one is 2in on the nose and my baby snapper whos always submerged if ur wondering i fish just bout every day i can in the summer these guys seem to be everywhere at the waters edge

ralph is the 2in and painty the 1.5inch painted

 

[turtle farmer]

dreamz----having a hard time getting pics on here for some reason
my collection includes;albino,pastel,and normal sliders,maps,red and yellow bellied,
i'll try to get pics on
tf

 

[fred b]

my girlfriend always calls me her turtle and i've been thinking about getting one for some day but i guess its alot of work and ai am kinda busy already maybe someday ...

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

group shot

Snappy-Ralph-Painty

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

my girlfriend always calls me her turtle and i've been thinking about getting one for some day but i guess its alot of work and i am kinda busy already maybe someday ...

turtles are easy to take care of ..... painted and red ear sliders and lil snappers (slider pictured) snapper left hand side above and eastern painted are what i own

Filter filter filter is all i can tell u basking lights and stuff isnt a must off rip but filters and gravel and a rock to get out of the water on is

10$ 15gal walmart filter: go as big as u can 40-60gal is what im adding no such thing as over kill for a turtle if u want clean water in a snap after they eat a 15 gal filter will get u by with multiple baby turtles or 2 juvenile painted or red ears or one adult...snappers are messy turtles and poo is ungodly if u have a small filter one more thing only need a filter for as many gallons of water u will use not tank size if u can afford bigger then do it

10$ gravel
10$ 125Qt tote ur all set after u find large rocks to get out of the water on

juveniles and adult painted/sliders/maps can live fine like this TIP: if u got a heat pad put it under the tank to substitute for water heater

extras to help growth

10$ 10 gallon water heater
10$ basking lamp with UV bulb or basking bulb
feeder fish free if u know where to look in the streams if not 2$ per dozen or 2.50$ for dozen night crawlers or wax worms my lil guys dig night crawlers and shrimp pellets for fish and turtles and have a fish or two once a wk

just make sure u have a food supply in the tank and feed about 5 6 pellets per turtle i feed a night crawler trout sized (small skinnys) and pellets everyday when i get up if u had a few dozen feeder fish and a nice size turtle 4inches or bigger u be set for couple wks.... basking lamps just help speed shell growth up and helps with digestion of foods but isnt a must as ive raised numerous turtles without them also another idea is to set up a tank outdoors in your yard or yard pond then all u need is a filter the bigger the better

right now a 15 gallon filter is all im using (in 7gallons of water) and i got a ton of stuff in my 125QT tote/bin 3 turtles 2 tadpoles 30 baby crayfish (no bigger then a 10th of a in) 40 minnows id try to find a red ear slider/painted in a pond or lake they bask on logs near the shore paddle boats make it easywith fishing poles and blue gill chunks will bite at lil chunks of fresh blue gill put on a lil hook early morning or late evening or at night (morning is best bet) if u see one cast over him and slowly reel ur pole into his range he will pick the smell up just be patient and be prepared to fight they fight like a catfish at 4-8inches at maximum u must fish on top 12inches deep or less and be ready to do battle with the blue gills if they are hungry if u use night crawler or something u will slim ur chances down alot of catching a turtle (chicken livers,small blue gill chunks ,shrimp) BG chunks work best painted/sliders diggem

ours we have here were all caught by hand by wading out in some of the nastiest water u seen or smelled mossy leafy stagnated 3 inch ankle deep water 4-6ft from shore be quick when u go for the snatch and be still and paitent cuz if he runs torward u or u move alot ur water will be nothing but a dirt cloud is all i can say when they surface they will watch u like a hawk and leave in a blink if u move or rush adults juveniles are next to impossible to catch this way

2nd method is target ur turtles basking areas they always go to same spots everyday proven fact with these lil guys took me 3 days to get the 2in one i got yesterday but he was there everyday and came back threw out the day after id stay fishing instead of turtle hunting lol but what u do is this u find out how deep your turtles areas are then u sneak up on them as far as possible and then just run into the water from the shore
(if not over your head i look for spots that are in a foot or 2 of water or less) and pray the sun is in your favor (behind u) and grabbem out of the water as they are diving in and swimming away this takes skills but works 80% of the time for me when i attempt it at the local paylakes and parks this is how i catch juvenile and adult painted turtles and softshell snappers key is to be still when being watched and be patient til they look another direction they got great hearing sight and smell painted turtles and red ear sliders are great pets active and have personality and love to bask and max out at 6-8 inches your snappers will grow as big as u allow them (depends on tank size) and stay submerged UV is key to long term keeping of a turtle u will need a source of heat and UV sooner or later or u will have a turtle with white spots on his shell and maybe shell deformities if no UV is present (can go 4-8wks w/o one) turtle pellets and the above feeder fish , worms , shrimp pellets ,wax worms and plant vegetation amongst other stuff is key to keeping a good healthy turtle mix it up so they get a balanced diet if u cant afford a basking lamp let him go 15$ is not alot of money thats for a clamp on style swiveled lamp with UV bulb

3rd:snorkle ur way out to them (basking areas) and be stealthy as possible.....this works great in rivers and streams ....i catch them for my kids this way at a few of the big lakes that allow swimming and skiing/boating kayaking my 3 girls (5,6,9 are weird like that they like reptiles) so of course i catch and provide the closest setting i can to where i find them i also kept turtles this size when i was young young) my kids love it frogs snakes turtles lizards water lizards they will pick them up i got these little turtles of mine hooked up 75.F water basking lamps UVA/UVB and a ton of food to eat something different everyday im talking to the wife into maybe buying these guys a 75gallon tank or maybe a farming drinking troft or a little kids swimming pool and put them in the back yard

NOTE:set turtles rocks for getting out of the water in the middle so feeder fish cant hide between tote and rocks from turtle/s

this is a hobby ive had since i was 7

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

caught another painted this makes 3 painted and also caught another gator snapper 5 total all 2 inches or smaller...found around the mossy nasty stagnate water is where u find them also caught a 8in softshell snapper on my fishing pole out in the lake who was meaner then #e!! we let him go down in the river at a nature preserve he should find him a good home between point a and b away from humans in one of the fullest of trout white bass, blue gill and cats in one of the cleanest non dammed rivers in the united states

the new gator snapper (2in) was found by the wife he just had his nose above the water then moved to catch food he was buried in the mud and looks awful... ill feed him good food a turtle diet and fat him up get rid of his unhealthy looks ...he was also hand caught

my new painted is 2.2inches hand caught fairly healthy these guys are probably all from the same nest seems to be alot of these guys in one spot both painted and gator snappers

ill keep them til they are 6-8 inches big then release them at the reserve with the rest of the sliders/painters and snappers but they would be a snack right now if i did that carp in the river are 15lbs and up same with the cats and ive seen 24in soft shells in there along with a few common snappers the size of the one in page one or bigger in 4-5yrs they will be big enough to fin for themselfs as always they hunt their food for me feeder fish, wax worms ,night crawlers and turtle pellets for vit D and C we always walk the lip of the lake when we get there and check the turtle spots

all turtles were found in the same spot i visit 4x or more a week to fish due to its playground for kids is next to the lake and a river maybe 10ft from the water hole lake 30 ft from the river its a slick spot for bass and some small channel cat we fire up the grill eat stake fish and play around the lake, river and reservoir there

heres a few shots inside the preserve right at that log is where i release my turtles i catch when fishing or hunting for them if look those guys are a good size in pic 1 and all are soft shell snappers who could kill my lil guys their is several logs like this with calm water in the 2 rivers flowing through out the preserve with all kinds of tutrles these were the only pix i could find off hand of some of the aquatic life round the preserve

 

[Dreamz_Of_Green]

a few more

Winter 2009 (Love this place in the winter) me and the wife do 8 miles here once a week rain snow or shine outside of the preserve u can fish and do whatever only so much of its protected ...mainly the good stuff ,they protect alot of wild flowers that are found only there and no where else in the world ,same goes for some of the animals found there this is where we get all our feeder fish but outside of the preserve/protected area so i know once the two gator snappers reach a good size they will make it here for sure fish and vegetation is endless here the perfect home for anything that needs a good home away from humans ive saw everything here from snakes deer(bucks ppl would kill to shoot at) turtles giant carp / catfish trout bass water and rat snakes racoons rodents, insects of all kinds rabbits birds their is trails there but ppl respect the park and keep it clean and stay on trails well most of us do ...locals tend to camp the summits of the gorges and along the river outside of the protected area