The species Chelydra serpentina is found in the family Chelydridae and divided into four subspecies:
·  Common Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina serpentina). This is
·  Florida Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina osceola)
·  Mexican Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina rossignoni) 
·  South American Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina acutirostris). This subspecies is also referred to as the Ecuadorian Snapping Turtle.

Common snapping turtle range
The four subspecies are distributed geographically through a range that stretches from southern Canada to Ecuador (west of the Andes).  

Common snapping turtles habitat
Common snapping turtles can survive in a wide range of different aquatic environments. If given the opportunity, Common snapping turtles will usually choose bodies of water that offers muddy bottoms suitable for hibernation.

Common snapping turtles can be remarkably cold tolerant and are known survive even in lakes, rivers and streams that freeze up during the winter. Even though they usually hibernate during the cold season, they have been spotted when swimming under the ice.

Common snapping turtle feeding
The Common snapping turtle is a highly opportunistic feeder that will eat a wide range of different foods, including frogs, fish, crabs, insects, waterfowls, snails and mammals. It will also eat reptiles, such as snakes, and do not hesitate to devour members of its own species. The Common snapping turtle is a capable hunter, but will gladly eat carrion if given the opportunity. In addition to prey, the Common snapping turtle consume plant and vegetable matter. Wild caught deceased snappers have turned out to have up to 40-50 percent vegetable matter in their stomachs.

Common snapping turtle feeding in captivity
This opportunistic feeding habit described above makes Common snapping turtles easy to feed in captivity. You must take responsibility for providing them with a nutritious and well balanced diet, since they will happily eat pretty much anything, even food items that are not healthy for them or unbalanced food that cause them to develop nutritional insufficiencies over time.

Common snapping turtle adoption
If you want to keep a Common snapping turtle and live in a part of the world where they are naturally occurring, you can contact the California Fish & Game department. Snapping turtles are not native to California and can disrupt the native ecosystem. When the California Fish & Game department finds specimens that have escaped or been deliberately released into the wild, they will therefore try to find someone out of state that is willing to adopt it. Keeping Common snapping turtles are today illegal in California.

Common snapping turtle description
The head of the Common snapping turtle is large and features tow barbells on the chin. The tails are elongated and equipped with three rows of plate-shaped tubercles. Common snapping turtles have oval shaped shells (carapaces) with three longitudal keels. The keels are much less pronounced than on the Alligator snapping turtle and are decorated with knobs under each scute. The keels as well as the knobs vary in size between the four different subspecies. As the Common snapping turtle becomes old, the keels and knobs will often become worn down and even less noticeable. The shell coloration varies from pale tan and olive to brownish or nearly black. The top skin is dark brown and neck, legs and tail are often covered in tubercles. The skin underneath the Common turtle is much paler and of a creamy or yellowish shade.

Snapping Turtle Articles:

Snapping Turtle Care
Snapping Turtle Facts & Information