Alligator Snapper's Habitat

• The river systems that empty into the Gulf of Mexico support the population of alligator snapping turtles in the United States. The states in which alligator snapping turtles make their home include Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Florida and Mississippi. This species of turtle stays in the deepest portion of a river, slough or oxbow (a curved portion of a river or stream cut off from the main flow that forms its own crescent-shaped body of water).
  
  

Effects

• The alligator snapping turtle has felt the adverse affects of dams and other changes in the rivers in which they live. These barriers prevent the turtle from finding breeding grounds. The dredging of rivers removes suitable nesting material from its natural habitat and can harm the turtle's eggs when dumped upon them. Removing logs and other impediments to navigation takes away places this turtle can hunt around or hide under.
  
  

Common Snapper's Range

• The four subspecies of the common snapping turtle own the widest geographical range of any of the North American turtles. This species, according to the California Turtle and Tortoise Club, lives from the Rocky Mountains in the West to the East Coast. The northern border of its range is southern areas of Canada, and the species exists through Mexico, into Central America and as far southward as Ecuador in South America.
  
  

Common Snapper's Habitat

• You will find common snapping turtles in nearly every wetland and watery setting within its range. The common snapper lives in streams, rivers, ponds, lakes, bogs, marshes, drainage canals, ditches, swamps and other spots that can support vegetation and provide food. A muddy bottom is not a prerequisite for the turtle's habitat but comes in handy when the turtle decides to bury itself in it to avoid detection or to hibernate.
  
  

Considerations

• Alligator snapping turtles males rarely, if ever, come out of their watery habitat. The females do so only to lay their eggs on a dry land setting before going back into the depths. The common snapping turtle stays close to or in the water, but will occasionally make an overland journey looking for another home. The common snapper will bury itself in the mud or take refuge in a muskrat lodge or under a riverbank to pass the cold winter months in northern states. Common snapping turtle have found their way back to their home territory when taken as far as 2 miles away, according to the "National Audubon Society Field Guide to Reptiles and Amphibians."