Left000Common Snapping Turtles Essays - Cryptodira, Pantestudines

left000Common Snapping Turtles Chelydra serpentine 3764915103115100Description: Common Snapping Turtles have a shell that covers their back its about 8 and 18 1/2 inches long. The shell color ranges from dark brown to tan and can even be black. As a snapping turtle grows, the shell often gets covered with mud and algae. Their necks, legs, and tails have a yellowish color and the head is dark. A snapping turtle's mouth is shaped like a strong, bony beak with no teeth. Their skin is rough with characteristic bumps. The feet are webbed and have strong claws. Habitat: Its natural range extends from southeasternCanada, southwest to the edge of the Rocky Mountains, as far east as Nova Scotia,andFlorida. The common snapping turtle inhabits a wide rangeof water bodies from rivers and lakes to temporary pondsand marshes However; this species tends to show a preference for slow-moving waterways that have a sandy or soft mudbottom and an abundance of aquatic vegetation. Diet: As omnivores, snapping turtles feed on plants, insects, spiders, worms, fish, frogs, small turtles, snakes, birds, crayfish, small mammals, and carrion. Plant matter accounts for about a third of the diet. Hibernation: Snapping Turtlesusually enter hibernationby late October and emerge sometime between March and May, depending on latitude and temperature. To hibernate, they burrow into the debris or mud bottom of ponds or lakes, settle beneath logs, or retreat into muskrat burrows or lodges. Reproduction: Sexual maturity has more to do with size than age. Turtles are ready to mate when their shell measures about 8 inches. Snapping turtles rarely leave their aquatic habitat except during the breeding season, at which time females travel great distances in search of a place to dig a nest and lay eggs. Some turtles have been found as far as a mile from the nearest water source. Selected nest sites include banks, lawns, gardens, road embankments, and sometimes muskrat burrows. One clutch of eggs is laid in May or June. With powerful hind legs, the female digs a shallow bowl-shaped nest in a well-drained, sunny location. Over a period of several hours, she lays approximately 20 to 40 creamy white, ping-pong ball-sized eggs. Endangered: They are not endangered, and you can legally have one as long as the turtle was not born in the wild. It is however illegal to sell wild turtles.