We found a baby snapping turtle last night in our pool skimmer. He was all caught up and my husband actually had to cut whatever was twisted around his leg off of him. He is only about 2 inches long without his tail. We brought him in as we didn't really know what to do with him.

We set up an old fish tank with the colored gravel in the bottom, a small tupperware lid with water in it, a fake tree and a real plant(a small spider I cut off my spider plant). We've tried to put him in the water a few times, but he climbs right out. Last night he buried himself under the gravel and stayed there overnight. He hasn't eaten, we tried a couple of things we could think of like lettuce. We looked to see if we could find any kind of bugs around last night, the best we got was a beetle and the cuddled together!

In any case, I don't want to kill him. So the first question is....we do have a small retaining pond on our property and wanted to know if we should just put him out there. We don't know where he came from, so we aren't sure what to do. Should I give him to someone to care for or care for him here for awhile (with guidance)? We are in Dutchess County, NY.

Thanks,
Regina

You can try to find a wildlife rehabilitator that knows something about snappers (most don't) or try a local turtle expert to take in the turtle. Where do you live? I can find your local turtle club to contact. Otherwise, it sounds like the retaining pond is an option. Is it natural and nice or more like a cesspool? If it's got plants, etc., he might be okay there.

For more information and how to care for the snapper in the mean time, see my page on hatchlings at http://www.fishpondinfo.com/hatchling.htm

Thanks for the fast reply. For now, I've taken out the gravel and put him in a container with about 3/4" of water and a basking area of rocks and a fake tree. He definitely doesn't want to be in the water right now, but everything I've read made me feel like changing what I had would be best.

The retaining pond actually doesn't seem to have any water right now. It's been pretty dry here lately except for last week. The pond is very lush with growth, just no water now. We also have a small stream at the back end of our property, maybe that would be a better choice.

I am in Fishkill, Dutchess County, NY which is about 90 miles north of NYC.

I did read over the hatchlings page and I feel it would be best to release him, it's just a matter of where.

Thanks,
Regina

Well, we released him into our stream at the back of our property tonight. He couldn't have been happier! It really looked like he was saying "yeah, I'm home again".

Thanks for the help.

Regina

The stream sounds like your best bet. Hopefully, he will do well there.