Common Snapping Turtle

• The common snapping turtle, whose scientific name is Chelydra serpentina, has a large mouth with no teeth. Instead, they have sharp jaw surfaces adapted for cutting. They are not aggressive towards humans, but will defend themselves against attack. The turtle's extends from southern Canada to Florida, and from the Atlantic coast to the Rocky Mountains, according to TortoiseTrust.org. The turtle usually crawls slowly along the bottom in shallow water, rather than swimming on the surface. They prefer to live in soft mud with dense vegetation and organic matter, but easily adapt to any body of water that is still or slow-moving.
  
  

Habits

• Adult female snappers typically measure from 9.5 to 14.5 inches long, while the males grow to about 15.5 inches. Adults weigh between 35 and 45 pounds. The oldest snappig turtles on record have been over 70 years in age. Snappers reach sexual maturity in 10 years. Snappers are omnivores. They eat mostly aquatic plants, and also slow-moving fish, amphibians, mollusks, crustaceans, water fowl, small animals and carrion. They do not require much food, however. One turtle eats only the equivalent of its body weight in one year. In northern areas, they begin hibernating in October, and emerge in the spring only when the water is about 41 to 50 degrees Farenheit.
  
  

Snapper Soup

• Pennsylvania allows harvest of wild common snappers from July 1 through October 31, after they have laid their eggs. Turtle flesh is dark and resembles beef in texture. Although there is no one recipes for snapper soup in Philadelphia, a recipe for one of the better-known versions, called Bookbinder's Philadelphia Snapper Soup, calls for beef stock, to which other ingredients like onions, celery, carrot, tomatoes, spices, sherry and turtle meat are added.
  
  

Additional Information

• Demand for snapping turtle meat is expanding internationally, putting pressure on wild stocks. Asian consumers of turtle meat, who have depleted their own wild turtle populations, are increasingly looking overseas for their uses, causing concern in the United States about pressure on domestic populations. While U.S. populations of the common snapping turtle in the South are denser, northern populations are smaller because they reproduce more slowly.