My dad thinks my snapping turtle looks fat. The skin you see by the legs is bulging. From the books I have read this means it is okay. Can you also over feed a snapping turtle? Here are the pics.

I used to have a snapper and he looks very healthy to me. How much do you feed him on average?

Mabye a spoonful of fish every other day.

How big is he? How much has he grown(in carapace length) since you received him? How old is he?

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He doesn't look too bad yet, but he's closer to being too chubby than too thin. You may want to cut back on the amount you feed him just a little bit to keep him from getting fat, even if he's not too fat yet.

And that pretty much answers your other question; Yes, you can overfeed a snapping turtle (or any turtle). Obesity is a common problem because they just don't know when to quit eating, lol. So yeah, you will have to watch what and how much you feed him to keep him from getting too fat. In my opinion, obesity in turtles has got to be worse than obesity in other pets, simply because they're stuck inside a shell. If they get too fat, I imagine that builds up some unpleasant pressure because with that shell, the turtle has less ability to expand (unless his carapace is made of spandex of course ).

What kind of fish are you feeding him? And are we talking teaspoons, tablespoons, or what?

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

If he is over a year old every other day might be too much. I fed my adult every three days or so, but I also kept live fiish he could try to catch if he wanted. I am definately not an expert though, so get a second opinion from someone who is.

He is around a year. We caught him as a hatchling last August. He is 4in. from head to tail. He is 3 1/4 in. from side to side. He is eating fish called Pollock.

As far as I know pollack should be just fine to feed him. I believe they're an oceanic fish that are commonly caught off the coast of Alaska. Your turtle is most likely eating wall-eye pollack (Theragra chalcogramma).

In addition to that though, I'd add other foods. A varied diet is always important for proper nutritional balance. Plus it keeps the turtle more stimulated. You'd get rather bored eating the same food too I imagine.

There's a wide array of feeder insects you can add to the diet, including crickets, mealworms, zophobas (superworms), cockroaches, butterworms, waxworms, silkworms, cutworms, hornworms, etc. It's not like you have to add ALL these though, but they give you some choices to mix around now and then. Keep in mind that some are more nutritionally sound than others too. Crickets are great, but waxworms can only be fed sparingly.

Other food options include nightcrawlers, frozen krill, ghost shrimp, tadpoles, pinky mice, and live fish. Try and avoid goldfish though, they're rather poor in nutrition compared to other options. Mollies are much better, and usually cheap. Pinky mice should only be fed on rare occasions as treats, as they're high in fat.

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"Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines." - John Benfield

The turtles get a variety of food beside the fish, crickets, worms, etc. even greens. I just have to get Sean and my husband to stop feeding them soo much. You must realize Marty give the cats half of a can of tuna a day.