Diet
Alligator snappers are opportunistic carnivores more often at a young age, but are also scavengers. Fishermen have glorified the species' ability to catch fish and to deplete fish populations. Minnows are usually the main source of meat for the species at a young age. They will eat almost anything they can catch.
Their natural diet consists primarily of fish and dead fish carcasses (usually thrown overboard by fishermen), invertebrates, carrion, and amphibians, but they are also known to eat snakes, and even other turtles. In captivity they may consume almost any kind of meat provided, including beef, chicken and pork although these are not always healthy on a day to day basis. They will refuse to eat if exposed to temperature extremes. Though not a primary food source for them, adult Alligator snappers have been known to kill and eat small alligators that they have been confined with, such as in a net, small bog, or poorly planned aquarium display.
Read more about this topic: Alligator Snapping Turtle
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