Re: question for lynn...

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Posted by Lynn_DeVries on January 26, 2003 at 02:57:39:

In Reply to: question for lynn... posted by sk8r009 on January 24, 2003 at 00:15:02:

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::Kevin-
::I don't Know What maximum is for Loggerheads, but my outdoor Loggerhead pond is 60x20 and I house 3.7 adults in it in the summer. I bring them indoors in the winter and keep them at 50 degrees F. as it is too cold here for too long of time. It's 15 degrees below zero right now and that is not including the wind chill. Common Snappers, I keep 40 adults in a round pond that is 60 feet in diameter, and they live in there year round and seem to do fine. Lynn
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:lynn,

:i was wondering how much bickering and fighting goes on with your commons. mine always at the very least peck at each other and have little white scratches on themselves if i keep them in the same enclosure. do you encounter this situation with your snappers? i no longer keep snappers(common) together simply because its hard to trust them. especially since one of mine was almost a meal for his own daddy when i adopted him.

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:greg
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Hi Greg- I Keep the little ones (hatchling up to maybe 5-6 inches) Individually as they have such a strong feeding response to anything that moves,that they will constantly pick and fight with each other. The adults on the other hand if kept in a large enough natural enclosure seem to do fine although the males do combat in the early spring. I believe this to be normal, but the loser has to be able to get away. and you can't have too many males or they come in contact with each other too freqently and fights break out. By natural enclosure I mean an earthen pond with mud and cat tails etc...I have never had any sucess keeping mature males in a tank situation at normal feeding temp.
I had always assumed the adults would eat the hatchlings, but one summer day as I sat next to the main snapper pond. I was feeding the adults and probably 20 adults were milling around right in front of me and feeding voraciously, when I spotted a hatchling buried in the mud right at the edge of the pond near where I was sitting. I reached down and picked him up and as I looked him over I wondered....would they or wouldn't they? I would hate to sacrifice even one baby even though I had over a thousand eggs in the Snapper barn incubating. This baby had hatched that spring as they often do, after over wintering in the nest. As the adults continued to feed, I just had to know if they would eat thier young or not. So out of pure scientific curiosity I tossed the hatchling in the water about 6-7 feet from shore. As soon as he hit the water a 15 pound male nailed him and he was gone. I was bummed out. I thought maybe he would at least have a chance to swim back to shore. And all of a sudden he popped back up to the surface! That male had SPIT him out! I couldn't believe it. the little guy swam back to shore amongst all the other adults, and I picked him up again and checked him out.. there was not a mark on him! I thought about tossing him out there again... but then changed my mind. I wasn't that curious. I only did this one time and probably will never do it again. It doesn't Prove they don't eat their young. But that day they didn't. Lynn

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