Henry Miller

Statesman Journal

There haven't been any alligator snapping turtles reported in Oregon in more than a year since a 10-pounder was captured on Oct. 18, 2013, at Prineville Reservoir in Central Oregon.

That's the good news.

The bad news, according to Rick Boatner, is that about a dozen common snapping turtles have been captured or turned in, many of them showing signs that they had nested.

"No alligator snappers, but I did have at least five of those common snapping turtles that were turned in by the public," said the state invasive species coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. "They were either just done nesting, or they were returning to the water and got intercepted. They had nested.

"I know Susan (Barnes, a department wildlife biologist at the Clackamas district office) got at least three or four. We probably got a good dozen snapping turtles that were taken out of the wild."

Do the math.

"When a common snapping turtle lays 60, 70 eggs at a time, that's quite a few," he said.

The pattern of captured and turned-in turtles roughly followed the Interstate 5 corridor with snappers found near Portland, Canby and Woodburn, along with one near Medford.

Both the alligator and the common snapping turtles most likely got into the wild because of aquarium hobbyists who released them after they either got tired of them or the critters outgrew their aquariums.

Both are voracious and indiscriminate predators, Boatner said.

One common snapping turtle was captured near Beaverton about 30 feet from some wood duck nest boxes when the property owner complained about ducklings disappearing.

"One day there'd be a dozen, and the next day they just started missing," he said. "The snapping turtles were most likely the culprits in this case.

"It does affect waterfowl and other things that they grab, because they're not real picky about what they will eat. If they can grab it, they'll take it."

The major source of the problem is online sales from reptile farms, most of them in the South, Boatner said.

Looking at one website, he noted that a common snapping turtle will set you back $30, while red-eared sliders go for $10.99, and yellow-bellied sliders sell for $12 apiece.

"These are raised in a farm environment, so they raise them in the hundreds and thousands," he said, looking again at the website. "Right now they have 10 prohibited turtles for sale, hatchlings."

Boatner mails lists of banned species to each new dealer that he discovers online. Some put disclaimers on their websites that "sales are for educational purposes only" or list states where it is illegal to ship them.

Still they arrive and end up in the wild to threaten Oregon's native species, Boatner said.

It's technically a federal Lacey Act violation to ship a prohibited species across state lines, he said, but it's hard to get the feds interested in the sale of a $12 turtle through the mail.

Snapping turtles get a lot of press because of the name, their looks and their reputations, but similar threats come from release of red-eared and yellow-bellied sliders that can muscle out and outcompete our two native turtles, the western pond turtle and the western painted turtle.

"They're actually pretty cute, so everybody wants them," Boatner said about the prohibited species that are shipped at small size. "But once a slider gets 4 or 5 years old and it's as big as a dinner plate, and you need a 100-gallon tank to take care of them, it's not as attractive.

"Once you have them for a while you lose interest in them, and you're cleaning the tank every week because you can't stand the smell. That's not too attractive."

If you come across an illegal turtle – one red-eared slider was picked up walking down a sidewalk on the main drag in Stayton in front of a pizza parlor – the best thing to do is turn it over to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

"Be willing to turn them in," Boatner said. "Yea, they're going to be euthanized, most likely. But no other states want them back. We've tried to ship them out to other states, and their resource agencies don't want them back, mainly because of disease issues, that's the biggest one.

"There's also genetics issues. They may all look like common snapping turtles, but they are genetically different, and it's difficult to tell what region they're from and get them back to their home place.

"And they have them already, and they don't need any more. We've spent hours trying to find homes for these things."

Because of disease concerns, salmonella mostly, both federal regulations and Oregon statutes have a 4-inch rule to keep hatchlings from getting here, even turtles and tortoises that are legal in Oregon.

"If they want a turtle, give me a call. There is a list of turtles that are legal to have that are water turtles," Boatner said, adding that a better alternative is. "If you want a pet turtle, go with a tortoise over 4 inches.

"They're much easier to take care of. You don't need a huge tank to keep them in. They live fine in a box-type environment where they have room to dig. They have a whole lot of personality, I think they're kind of cute."

hemiller@StatesmanJournal.com, (503) 399-6725 or follow at twitter.com/henrymillersj and friend or facebook.com/hmillersj

Turtle information

ODFW web page:www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2013/march/032713.asp

Boatner: (503) 947-6338.