Snapping turtle
Common Snapping Turtle
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Reptilia
Order:	Testudines
Family:	Chelydridae
Genera
See text.

Snapping turtles (or snappers) are large, New World freshwater turtles of the family Chelydridae. The species range from southeastern Canada, west to the Rocky Mountains and south through Mexico to Ecuador.

Snapping turtles are noted for their powerful beak-like jaws and pugnacious disposition. They have a muscular build with ridged shells that may measure from 50 cm long in Chelydra species to some 80 cm long in the Alligator Snapping Turtle (Macroclemys temminckii). The latter species is the largest freshwater turtle in the world, weighing up to 100 kilograms. The Common Snapping Turtle (C. serpentina serpentina) and its subspecies are much smaller, weighing up to 17 kilograms in weight. Common snapping turtles kept as pets can become quite corpulent and difficult to move without their co-operation, and require frequent cleaning of their water tanks to remain content and healthy. In some areas they are hunted heavily for their meat. They may live for 50 years or more.

Snapping turtles have long spiked tails and necks which can reach two thirds the length of their shells, making handling dangerous. They cannot fully retract their head and appendages, relying on fierce displays when aggravated. Their snapping jaws and sharp claws are capable of inflicting serious injury; these turtles are best left alone.

Strangely enough, the Common Snapping Turtle, when raised in captivity from a hatchling, can sometimes become extremely docile and devoted to their owner. They show signs of intelligence in recognizing individual people and will seek out those they prefer to be around. Some can be taught to obey simple commands with enough patience, but this can be a long process as Snapping Turtles display the stubborn nature that is a defining characteristic of all turtle species. They are poorly suited to terrestrial locomotion, spending most of their time in ponds, shallow lakes and streams; Snapping turtles normally bask by floating at the surface with only their carapace exposed. Basking on land does occur at times. The belief that they never leave water to bask lends itself to the fact that they are very secretive about doing so. Other turtle species (Pseudemys, Chrysemys) are much more conspicuous in their basking habits. Rare forays onto land occur in June and July when females lay their spherical eggs. Male and Female snapping turtles also travel over land to reach new habitat. Pollution, habitat destruction, food scarcity, over-crowding and other factors will drive snappers to travel across land. It is common to find Common Snapping Turtles traveling far from the nearest water source. Some may inhabit brackish environments, such as estuaries. All snapping turtles are omnivores and are important scavengers, but also actively hunt fish, frogs, birds and small mammals. The alligator snapper has a flesh-red, worm-like tongue which it uses to lure fish into its mouth.

It is a common urban legend that picking up a snapping turtle by its tail is an acceptable way to handle a snapping turtle; this has a high chance of injuring the turtle. A handler also needs to be wary of injury to him or herself. Snapping turtles are so named for a good reason, as they can snap with amazing speed and power. A full grown snapping turtle can easily snap off fingers. The safest method, of course, is to avoid handling the snapper at all. Lifting a snapper with a shovel is a good technique that protects both the handler and the turtle. Lifting the turtle only just off the ground to move it is advised as otherwise they can easily squirm and fall off the shovel.

Lifting the turtle with hands is a trickier technique. Some snappers can stretch their necks halfway back across the carapace. Manual lifting is best done by sliding fingers behind the turtle's hind legs with the tail between the hands, and gripping the turtle between your fingers and thumbs. The handler then proceeds to lift the turtle only just off the ground. The turtle will probably squirm and try to dislodge the handler's hands with its hind legs. Snappers are often slimy and wet, and they are good at causing a handler to lose their grip, so it is best to have the turtle already almost on the ground. The turtle may be covered in a smelly slime and may also defecate or urinate on handlers, and they usually expect their hands to be extremely smelly after carrying the turtle.

The snapping turtle, known commonly and in folklore as the "Ograbme", was the central feature of a famous American political cartoon published in 1808 in protest of the Jeffersonian Embargo Act of 1807. The cartoon depicted a snapping turtle fervently holding onto an American trader with its jaws, who was attempting to bring a barrel of goods onto a British ship. The trader was seen whimsically uttering the words "Oh! this cursed Ograbme", which was Embargo spelled backwards. This piece is commonly considered to be a pioneering work within the genre of the modern political cartoon.

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  Common Snapping Turtle
• 
  Snapper and Canada Goose

Family Chelydridae

• Genus Acherontemys (extinct)
• Genus Chelydrops (extinct)
• Genus Chelydropsis (extinct)
• Genus Emarginachelys (extinct)
• Genus Macrocephalochelys (extinct)
• Genus Planiplastron (extinct)
• Subfamily Chelydrinae
  • Genus Protochelydra (extinct)
  • Genus Macrochelys
  • Genus Chelydra

• View the Ograbme Cartoon (Shown in Question #5)
• Manufacturer of snapper soup
• Recipe for snapper soup
• The Snapping Turtle Page - www.chelydra.org
• Snapping Turtle Resources