- Slow-moving rivers and large streams are the natural habitat of the alligator snapping turtle. It is not an accomplished swimmer and prefers to walk along the bottom to get around.
- In the Deep South, the alligator snapping turtle lives in southern Georgia, northern Florida, and the lower half of Alabama. It exists in all of Mississippi and most of Louisiana.
- In the lower regions of the Midwest, alligator snapping turtles live in eastern portions of both Texas and Oklahoma.
- States such as Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Iowa, Kentucky, and Illinois contain waters that hold these turtles. The turtle once thrived in parts of Indiana as well but is now on the endangered list there.
- Humans rarely see the alligator snapping turtle. It typically only will leave the water during the breeding season.









