Hi, i am conny i usually hang on the ball python or feeber/breeder site. Saturday i more or less became a turtle owner against my will. I picked up some rats from my us, which are usual source . And while i was there they came to check if she had any RES, which are illegal to sell i Florida now. But she had a Alligator snapping turtle baby to many. So s he packed it up before they saw it and told me to keep it, safe. Now i was interested in turtles/torties but that was kind of a surprise. S/he is a baby maybe 1.5in shell length for now. I took it home put water in a spare 30G breeder tank(2/3 up with water) , left it barebottom ,a UTH heater which makes the water about 77F,a Reptisun 2.0 on top and some rocks to climb and peek out above waterline. snap lid on top of it. oh i also put a filter in,which filters i think 100G/H For food i gave guppies(which i have plenty of) and lean ground beef. any veggies they like????? Does that sound right so far? I also can put a heat lamp on if needed or adjust the water temp. I do realize how big they get and they are somewhat aggresive. I am willing to learn and make a outside pond if he gets bigger, but i also will contact some private zoos i know about, or Gatorland, to secure a future for this turtle. My husband suggsted to keep until it is 4-5in and then release it in a remote area in Florida to give it a chance of breeding. he said something like that 90-95% of them would die before they are 1 in the wild.
You can't release it. I'm sure that just like every other state, that it's illegal to do so in Florida. Set up sounds ok for now, you'll want to up the UVB to a higher % and it would be best to leave the ground beef out of the diet. Too many nasty things in that to make both you and the turtle sick. Since it's little, it will be hard to get it to eat veggies but you may have luck with some aquatic plants like duckweed. You can also offer cut up nightcrawlers and earthworms.
