@kayamedic said:
I think the common snapper is enough… We have a sizeable one Tony that wanders the neighborhood… Or Antoinette… It is two feet long… seriously. No one wants to pick it up. ( maybe 30 lbs)
For Tom L…
Rileys Bait. enjoy!
Revenge severed hot or cold can leave a sour taste in ones mouth…and in this case no “kidding”! :s
Thanks for the photos, Rookie! For some reason, I love that shot of it forging through the downpour the best. I suppose it knows if it just halts and pulls in its head, the deluge might float it away, out of control. Sort of like getting caught paddling in high winds and just stopping. No such option.
@kayamedic said:
I think the common snapper is enough… We have a sizeable one Tony that wanders the neighborhood… Or Antoinette… It is two feet long… seriously. No one wants to pick it up. ( maybe 30 lbs)
For Tom L…
Rileys Bait. enjoy!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9g6yMA3aaE
Cute song but unfortunately it just perpetuates a myth. You’d have to accidentally stick a toe in one’s mouth or poke at it while on land to get bitten. Every one I’ve ever seen acted like every other turtle just trying to avoid contact with people. I once dove in a clear lake with a sandy bottom to watch one (about the same size as Rookie’s pics) and it just immediately left the area.
https://www.metroparks.net/blog/snapping-turtles-fight-viciously-territory-rarely-attack-humans/
I saw a video of guys noodling for snappers in muddy water with their feet. They may have been drunk.
So Tom L about the same as a gator… Songs need not all be serious especially canoeing songs… Guess here all is serious… I know we have snappers in the lake… We swim and waterski and paddle and sing …
@pikabike I like that photo too and think the turtle enjoyed the downpour as all that water made its trip a bit faster.
Interesting link Tom posted. Since the big snappers shared the earth with the dinosaurs, I wonder if they looked the same back then or if they were larger.
As to picking one up to help it get across the road - nope, not even if I was wearing my thick leather woodstove gloves. If it tried to bite, I’d probably drop it.
@Rookie said:
There are various Native American legends about the Land of the Great Turtle, an island shaped like the back of a turtle. Now called Mackinac Island.Saw another traveler this morning in my driveway during a downpour. Was glad it veered to the south and avoided my garage door.
Bighead in pagoda
in shell game onward rowed a
stormy ocean towed the
parts it’s said unknow’d, huh?
A survivor of the dinoapocalypse!
They are just so magnificent. Like many threads this one prompted me to do some Googling…
“they are curious, friendly, and unlikely to bite unless threatened”
“by the time they are a quarter century old the shell is about 11 inches long”
“they often live over a century and theoretically could live to 170”
“never lift any turtle by the tail since you may damage it’s spine”
“leave them alone except to help one across a road”
“lift gently under the edge of the shell with the head facing away from you”
“never lift an agitated turtle”
Rookie - apparently the prehistoric ones got to the size of a small car. I wonder if they were curious and friendly. Maybe lots of dinosaurs were curious and friendly.
I don’t mean to be too serious but at the same time it seems like many people’s reaction is to poke at them or try to lift them by the tail just like most people want to kill the small, docile Massasauga if they come across one.
I have a small water garden and sometimes a bullfrog or 2 will show up during a rain.
@TomL
While a snapper won’t charge you as you stand a foot or so away, I would be more careful of fingers and toes than you indicated . If caught in a spot where they feel they may be at risk - which is pretty much anywhere on land when they are doing their springtime transits - they will spin around and try to bite if you go to grab them. Said grabbing being necessary at times to get them off the road before a car full of teenagers runs them down.
The classic cases was one that had made the unfortunate decision to cross from a shallow spot in a river to a pond nearby, during the day, with a heavily used walking path and a road between the two. I really tried to figure out how I could get the thing lifted up and across the road to the pond, so it wouldn’t be at risk from cars. If it was a smaller one I would have gone for it. But it was very big with a long neck, big claws, an ability to spin very fast and a lousy attitude after a number of folks on the bike path had taken a closer look. There was no way I could be fast enough to beat the risk of injury. I just had to hope it got stalled long enough to complete the road crossing after dark, when there would be fewer cars on the road.
I agree Celia. I don’t touch them and like Rookie mentioned if I picked one up I’m sure it would at least scratch me with its claws and then I’d drop it. The couple of times I came across one on a road I looked for a stick to help push it along and that didn’t work either since that just pisses them off and makes them turn and face you. You just never have a turtle scoop when you need it.
@string said:
I saw a video of guys noodling for snappers in muddy water with their feet. They may have been drunk.
Sounds like good material for Jeff Foxworthy.
TomL - I have picked up a lot of snappers. lots in my younger days from nearby ponds. We as kids would bring them home and parents would tell us to take them back. One summer day we figured out that three play groups of kids in my block had each brought home the same snapping turtle in one day. Times two and three made easier because each group was a bit less diligent about getting him all the way back to the pond, just left him near the woods path to it.
Not so much now, but I still stop and try to get them to safety if they are in the road. I end up grabbing one every couple/few years that way. I have been on my way to one when a car load of kids came thru and smashed it on country roads. So I really wanted to get this big one across the road and to that pond.
But I just had to hope his age had given him wisdom to try it at night.
Celia said:
“One summer day we figured out that three play groups of kids in my block had each brought home the same snapping turtle in one day. Times two and three made easier because each group was a bit less diligent about getting him all the way back to the pond, just left him near the woods path to it.”
“Not so much now, but I still stop and try to get them to safety if they are in the road.”
It’s often said the third time is the charm,
perhaps by the fourth and thereon comes no harm,
elephants aren’t alone in their never forget,
and old turtles remember a god’s child not to fret
@Celia said:
Not so much now, but I still stop and try to get them to safety if they are in the road. I end up grabbing one every couple/few years that way. I have been on my way to one when a car load of kids came thru and smashed it on country roads. So I really wanted to get this big one across the road and to that pond.
That kind of meanness really makes me wonder. I stopped my car when I saw a robin that had been hit by a car but was still alive, on the pavement. Before I could pick it up, another driver came along and hit it again. This time, it was flattened to the road on the rear half while it feebly lifted its head up. HORRIBLE SIGHT. I carefully picked it up and rushed to the nearest vet. The vet shook his head and said it had suffered so much impact that it would not survive. He put it out of its misery.
I don’t get it. One thing when it is in front of you and an accident will happen if try and avoid. But in the above l meant swerving to make sure they hit it. Sicko little sh#ts
Actual update. Willowleaf was thru yesterday and we drove out to the end of the Flight Lock series. Near the end of the road there was a medium sized snapper in the middle of the road. My first chance to move one out of the road in a long time and l blew it!
I got him/her up fine, but one fingertip was not tucked tight enough with the other fingers. The little booger caught me with a claw and I dropped.
Turtle was fine but it was a little embarrassing that an older guy who my guess is was living in the woods while having a truck came along and finished the job. I need to renew my snapper skills!
