Big Snap Daddy
One of Schramm's most popular displays is a 90-year-old, 90-pound common snapping
turtle named Big Snap Daddy. "He's just as nasty as the day we got him," said aquarium
biologist Tony Korth, who has been taking care of Big Snap for 25 years.
He was caught by a fisherman in 1993 from the Missouri River and was housed at Ak-
sar-ben Aquarium before the recent Venture Parks renovations. Having spent the past
year at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln herpetology lab with Dennis Ferraro and his
staff, Big Snap was recently introduced to his new home – a 600-gallon tank substantially
larger than his previous home at Ak-sar-ben before the renovation.
"He's the largest common snapping turtle you'll ever see," said Korth. "He's good at
educating the public about what these animals look like and how they behave. At this
stage, we don't think he'd be very good at taking care of himself in the wild. But we're
happy to take care of him here."
36 Nebraskaland • June 2019
