Where Do Snapping Turtles Live? Ponds, Rivers and Range

The range of the common snapping turtle

The common snapping turtle has one of the widest ranges of any North American turtle. In Canada it lives in the south, from the Prairie Provinces east through Ontario and Quebec to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. In the United States it is found in nearly every state east of the Rockies, south to Florida and the Gulf Coast and southwest into Texas.

The western edge of the range follows the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, from Montana and Wyoming south to Colorado and New Mexico. Snappers in the Middle Rio Grande have been there since at least the 17th century and are probably native. Populations farther west, for example in parts of California, Oregon and Washington, come from released animals.

Snapping turtles in Mexico, Central America and northwestern South America were once included in the same species, but they are now recognized as separate species: the Central American snapping turtle and the South American snapping turtle.

What kind of water do snapping turtles like?

Biologists describe the common snapper as a habitat generalist, which means it can live in most permanent bodies of water. Its favorite places are shallow, slow or still waters with:

• a soft bottom of mud or silt, where it can bury itself
• plenty of submerged and floating plants
• logs, roots and brush for cover
• sunny, loose soil nearby for nesting

That description fits ponds, lakes, slow rivers and streams, marshes, swamps, bogs, oxbow lakes, reservoirs, farm ponds, canals and roadside ditches. Snappers also do well in urban wetlands and stormwater ponds, where people are often surprised to find a large turtle living in a small pond.

In shallow water, a snapper often lies on the bottom with just its head out of the mud, stretching its long neck so that the nostrils at the tip of its snout reach the surface. It can stay hidden like this for long periods.

Do snapping turtles live in salt water?

They are freshwater turtles, but they can tolerate brackish water. Some live in tidal marshes and estuaries along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where fresh river water mixes with seawater. They do not live in the open ocean and are not related to sea turtles.

How much do they move around?

Snapping turtles spend most of their lives in the water, but they are not tied to one pond. They walk overland to new ponds when water dries up, when food is scarce or when an area is crowded. Experiments suggest they can sense the Earth’s magnetic field, which may help them navigate.

The biggest movements come in late spring and early summer, when females leave the water to find nesting sites in sandy or gravelly soil. They often choose road shoulders, railway embankments, gravel pits, lawns and gardens, sometimes some distance from the water. That is why so many are seen on roads in June; see why do turtles cross roads?.

Where do snapping turtles go in winter?

In the north, snappers spend the winter at the bottom of ponds, lakes and streams, often buried in mud or under banks, while the surface freezes over. They can remain under ice for more than six months without breathing air, slowing their metabolism and absorbing small amounts of oxygen from the water through the lining of the mouth and throat.

Some turtles remain active under the ice all winter. In the south, where water stays warmer, snappers may be active for most of the year.

Snapping turtles outside North America

People have carried snapping turtles far beyond their native range through the pet trade. In Japan the species became established in Chiba Prefecture, near Tokyo, after being imported as a pet from the 1960s; about 1,000 turtles were found there in 2004 and 2005.

In Europe, unwanted pets have been released into rivers, canals and lakes in several countries. In Italy, large adults have been caught in recent years, including one of about 20 kg (44 lb) in a canal near Rome in 2011. Because they are big, long-lived predators, released snappers are a concern for local wildlife, and many countries restrict keeping or releasing them.

Where does the alligator snapping turtle live?

The alligator snapping turtle has a much smaller range. It lives only in rivers draining into the Gulf of Mexico, from the Florida Panhandle west to east Texas and north up the Mississippi Valley. It prefers deep, slow rivers, bayous and swamps and seldom leaves the water. Where the two species overlap, a snapper in a small farm pond or crossing a road is almost always a common snapping turtle; see alligator snapping turtle vs common snapping turtle.