How to Make the Perfect Alligator Snapping Turtle Tank Setup

Alligator Snapping turtles don’t need too much to be happy, but the few things that they require are essential. So it’s important that you get everything right. But don’t worry it’s actually quite simple to make the perfect alligator snapping turtle tank setup.

Any alligator snapping turtle tank will need the following things:

A properly sized tank
A water heater
A water filter
A basking area
A heat lamp
A UVB lamp

So in order to make the perfect alligator snapping turtle tank, you don’t need that many things. But it’s very important that you get each one of them right. If, for example, you get the wrong basking area, your turtle won’t be able to stay on it and it won’t be able to get the benefits of the heat and UVB lamps. And the same applies to the rest of the things. So let’s take a look at each item on the list and see how to choose the best one for your alligator snapping turtle.

How to Choose a Proper Tank for Your Alligator Snapping Turtle

This is probably the most important part, but luckily it’s very easy to choose a good tank.

The most important thing that you have to do when choosing a tank for your alligator snapping turtle is to make sure that you follow the 10 gallons per inch of shell rule.

As you can probably guess the rule implies that for each inch of the shell that your turtle has the tank should have an extra 10 gallons. So if your alligator snapping turtle has a shell length of 3 inches, the tank should be able to hold at least 30 gallons.

While the rule is quite simple to follow, it’s actually quite easy to screw things up. This is because when choosing a tank people don’t take into account that their turtle will grow. Young alligator snapping turtles can grow more than one inch per year, so it’s important to take this into account as well.

Depending on the age of your turtle, my suggestion is to get a tank that is at least 20 gallons bigger than what you need right now. This way you won’t have to change the tank every year.

As for which tank to get, from my experience I can tell you that there is no difference between the ones that I owned. Usually, the water filters, heaters, and other accessories are low quality, or simply not good for a turtle so you should avoid them. So my advice is to go for the cheapest one. All you need is a sturdy tank that is big enough for your turtle. It doesn’t matter if you get it from Amazon or from your local pet shop.

How to Get a Good Water Heater for Your Alligator Snapping Turtle

After choosing a tank, it’s time to choose a water heater.

Alligator Snapping turtles need a water temperature between 75 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit. So the first thing that you want your water heater to be able to do is to reach this temperature.

The next thing that you want from your water heater is to have an adjustable temperature. This is important because during the winter the water in the tank tends to get colder, while in the summer it tends to get warmer. So your heater needs to be able to adjust to the temperature changes.

Another thing that you want in a heater is a guard. A lot of heaters are designed for fish, who aren’t as strong and agitated as turtles, so if they don’t have a guard they will eventually break.

I’ve recently (1 year ago, so maybe not so recently) purchased a new heater for one of my tanks, and I couldn’t have been more pleased with it. This heater is the Zoo Med Turtle Therm Aquatic Turtle Heater, this heater is able to heat up a 100 gallons tank up to 78 degrees, and it had no problem maintaining 80 degrees constantly in my 70 gallon tank. The guard is extremely resistant, and the suction cup that keeps it on the tank has never failed. So if you are looking for a good and sturdy heater for your alligator snapping turtle tank, I suggest you get the Zoo Med Turtle Therm Aquatic Turtle Heater.

What Water Filter You Should Get For Your Tank

Now it’s time to look for a good water filter. Water filters play a vital role in any tank, as they are responsible for keeping the water clean. So it’s very important that you choose a good one.

All filters are rated based on how much water they can filter, so all filters will say that they are good for a 20 gallon tank, for a 50 gallon tank, 70 gallon, etc.

So you would think that for a 30 gallon alligator snapping turtle tank you will need a 30 gallon filter. But you would be wrong. Most water filters are tested in tanks that contain fish, but alligator snapping turtles are considerably messier. So for a 30 gallon alligator snapping turtle tank you will need a 60 gallon water filter.

Two other important things that you want from a water filter are for it to be silent and clog proof. If your filter gets clogged easily it won’t be able to filter anymore. As for the silence part, I believe that nobody wants a loud device in their home that runs non-stop.

I am personally a long-time fan of the Fluval Filters Series. Over the years I’ve tried a lot of different water filters, and I’ve had mixed results, but once I discovered the Fluval filters, I never looked for anything else.

Unlike most filters on the market, the Fluval Series allows you to easily change the filtration medium, which is great because based on the water that you use in your tank you will need a different medium.

Another thing that made me become a fan, is that none of my filters ever clogged. And not having to spend every weekend unclogging my water filter really made a difference for me.

As for the noise, I will be honest with you and say that it’s not completely silent. It’s not loud but you will probably be able to hear it. If you don’t keep the tank in your bedroom, there should be no problem. If you keep it in the living room where the TV is you will most likely not even notice it.

Overall the Fluval filters are the best filters I’ve used and I am very pleased with them. So I will recommend you to give them a try. If you want to get one here is a link to Amazon.

How to Make a Good Baking Area for Your Alligator Snapping Turtle

Alligator Snapping turtles need to bask in order to regulate their body temperature and to properly assimilate the calcium in their bodies, among other things. But overall it’s important to know that basking is essential to any turtle. And in order to bask, they need a proper place to do so.

This place is called a basking area. A basking area can be any simple platform above the water which is lighted by a heat bulb and a UVB bulb. The only thing about the platform is to be stable, how it will look is up to you. Here are a few examples of basking areas:

As you can see you basically have two options when it comes to basking areas, you can either make one or buy one. But in both cases what you want is to make sure that the basking area is stable.

If you want to buy a basking platform, here are a few links to Amazon, to some of the basking areas that I’ve used and were very sturdy and good looking:

What Heat Lamp Alligator Snapping Turtles Need

Alligator Snapping turtles need to bask at a temperature between 85 and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. So you will need to get a bulb that is able to produce enough heat. The tricky part is that on the bulb it won’t say “this bulb will create temperatures between 80 and 90 degrees”, it will say 50 watt bulb or 75 or 100. So it’s up to you to determine which bulb is good for you. But to make things simpler here is a table that will tell you what temperatures the bulb will create depending on how far from the basking area it’s placed.

So to explain the table, we will use the 50 watt bulb as an example. A 50 watt bulb that is 4 inches above the basking area will create a temperature of 104 degrees fahrenheit. If you place the same bulb 8 inches away from the basking area it will create 81 a temperature of 81 degrees, and if you place it 12 inches away from the basking area the temperature will be 73 degrees fahrenheit.

To measure the temperatures I used an Infrared Thermometer, If you have a few dollars to spare, my suggestion is to get one, this way you will know exactly the temperature in your basking area. When I created the table I measure the temperatures during the spring, but if I were to measure them during the winter, they might be a little lower.

One thing that you should keep in mind is that you shouldn’t place the bulb lower than 4 inches, anything lower than that and your turtle might get burnt.

As for what bulb you should get I will recommend you the Exo Terra Swamp Glo Basking Spot Lamp. Depending on your needs you can choose between the 50,75 and 100 watt options. Those bulbs will last a long time and they will produce enough heat for your turtles. Because I had no problems with them I didn’t feel the need to try too many other options since those bulbs worked great for me and my turtles.

How to Choose a Good UVB Lamp for Your Alligator Snapping Turtle

And finally the UVB lamp. The first and most important thing that you have to do when buying a UVB light is to make sure that the box says something like: “This bulb produces UVB wavelength light” or something similar to this. There are some products out there that have UVB in the name but that is the only place you will find the UVB, as they don’t produce any UVB light.

Now let’s talk about the two different forms in which you can get get the UVB light

Bulb Light

Bulb light, sometimes also referred to as “compact light” is one of the two options. They look like most normal white light bulbs and they are usually easy to find and not very expensive. But they can sometimes cause photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. Photo-kerato-conjunctivitis is basically a problem with the eyes that can occur due to overexposure to UVB light. But beside that there is no problem with them.

Tube Light

Tube lights are what most people would recommend you to get, and I also agree with that. The biggest advantage that they have over is that they are completely safe, there are no known problems like in the case of the bulb with the photo-kerato-conjunctivitis. They can be a little more expensive than the bulbs but not by any considerable amount. So overall I would call the tubes the better choice.

Don’t Make This Mistake UVB vs UVA

When choosing a light bulb you have to be careful not to confuse UVB light with UVA light.

While UVA light is not bad in any way, it’s not what your turtle needs. So make sure that you don’t confuse them.

As for the recommended products, at the moment I am using the Zilla Slimline Tropical 25 UVB T8 Fluorescent Fixture with the Zilla UVB Fluorescent Bulb, and I am really liking this setup, and so do my turtles. The only thing that you have to be careful of when you get this setup is that you have to make sure that you have a good place where to put it because it won’t be as easy to place as a bulb setup. Other than that I can just say that this tube UVB light is working great. Before moving to a tube, I’ve used the Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Mini Compact Fluorescent bulbs. And here is the Lamp Fixture that I’ve used. The only reason I changed them is that I was moving and I took that opportunity to change things up for my turtles as well.

Final Thoughts

So if you follow everything in this article you should be able to easily make the perfect alligator snapping turtle tank setup. As a final recap here is what you will need:

A properly sized tank – to get the correct size you will need to have 10 gallons of water for every inch of shell, having some extra 10 or 20 gallons is a good thing to do especially if your turtle is still growing.
A water heater – A good water heater will have a guard so it won’t break, and it will be adjustable.
A water filter – Make sure that you get double the amount of power. SO if you have a 50 gallon tank, you will need a 100 gallon filter. A good water filter will be as silent as possible, won’t get clogged, and will allow you to change the filtration medium.
A basking area – A good basking area will be stable.
A heat lamp – heat bulbs don’t specify how much heat they will provide, so make sure to check the table I gave you to know what to expect.
A UVB lamp – make sure that you don’t mistake UVB and UVA.

I hope that this guide answered all the questions that you had about how to make the perfect alligator snapping turtle tank. In case you have any questions left feel free to leave them in the comment section below, and I will answer them as soon as possible.