Question: Should I hibernate my snapper ?

Answer: I don't recommend hibernating your snapping turtle - unless it lives in natural setting in an outside pond. Snapper ready themselves for hibernation during summer, eating lots and storing fat for those winter times, sort of like bears do. Getting to the point of hibernation is a process and removing your snapper from its warm tank and putting it in a cold garage is not good. It is perfectly ok to keep your snapping turtle year round indoors in warm environment. It does not affect its health in any negative way. For proper hibernation wild snappers require special conditions to make this process safe and successful. They need a layer of mud at the bottom of the pond, in which they will burry themselves. Also, since they absorb certain amounts of oxygen directly from water during hibernation, leaving them in a small tub for hibernation is not a good idea. Large water bodies, like ponds or lakes, supply a steady oxygen rich water and only those are suitable for the turtles natural hibernation. Being on owner of a snapping turtle just let it live at your warm home year round. To read more about snapping turtle behavior please click here Thanks for asking! Stan

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