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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsYikes! Snapping Turtle!
Found this guy in one of our goat pens this morning. Snapping turtles are like little alligators--bite first, and no questions later. They don't even bother to pull their heads in their shells. He was at least 12 inches across. My brother had one almost rip his kneecap off years ago when he tried to pick it up by its tail.
I came out later, and didn't see him. I hope he didn't head to our pond, or we could be missing some ducks. I definitely don't want the dogs getting their nosey noses torn off.
sfstaxprep
(9,998 posts)raccoon
(31,110 posts)The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)Siwsan
(26,260 posts)keithbvadu2
(36,787 posts)genxlib
(5,524 posts)Was the time that my grandfather brought one home in the bed of his pickup truck. It was pretty big. I would guess at least 30" long but that may have been my child's eyes.
Before I knew it, my grandfather butchered the thing right in front of me. I was way too young for that. But that was the kind of rural family I come from.
Wawannabe
(5,656 posts)Hehe. But it is done. Yep. I have nevwr had it. You?
genxlib
(5,524 posts)And not very squeamish in general. But seeing that thing butchered pretty much put me off of ever eating it
Tanuki
(14,918 posts)3catwoman3
(23,975 posts)...at our deck and was surprised to see a very large snapping turtle on it. It looked like a small dinosaur. I figured some dumb teenagers had probably put it up there as a prank.
Not so. When I went out to take a closer look, I was shocked to find claw marks on the stairs.
I never knew turtles could do stairs.
What did you do with him?
3catwoman3
(23,975 posts)I called the non-emergency local police number, and they declined to get involved. I spoke with a 3rd person (cant remember what organization) - a rather little old lady-sounding voice who said, Well, honey, if youre afraid, have your husband take care of it.
My husband was out of town. I bit my tongue not to say to her that my being a woman had nothing to do with my reluctance to touch it. I didnt want a finger bitten of, regardless of my gender.
A neighbor who was braver than I came and grabbed it by the sides of the shell, between the front and back legs, put it in a big box and took it across the street to one of the small protected wetlands in our neighborhood. She said the snapping turtles usually moved from one wetland to another in the spring and summer, looking for mates. Cruising for chicks, so to speak.
Why this one climbed my deck stairs remains a mystery.
2naSalit
(86,577 posts)we used to go out and catch turtles and bring them home for a few days then take them back where we found them. One of the neighbor kids found one that big. After the whole neighborhood got a good look at it, he took it back. Another time, may years later, I was staying with a friend and discovered five tiny snapping turtle babies in the driveway, I picked them up and looked them over then walked them over to the creek which was about a hundred feet from the driveway. After I put them all on a small path of mud near the water, most of them scampered off but the last one stopped and stuck its head out, turned to look up at me before it ran off too. That was kind of cool.
I hope you don't have any problems with that guy, he's big and probably not friendly. Keep an eye on your ducks!
Duppers
(28,120 posts)Yes, that damn thing is dangerous.
I'm not a fan of big turtles - they've eaten all the baby ducks on my neighborhood's little lake.
On edit:
Got a shotgun? Go hunting. Save your ducks and perhaps even your puppers' noses.
Skittles
(153,156 posts)yes......while swimming in a lake. They cannot retract their heads into their shell like other turtles so snapping is their defense. I knew not to try to pull him away, they won't let go until they are good and ready. I drummed my fingers lightly on his eyes until he got tired of it and let go. Ear was sore but healed in a few days (yeah I googled to make sure I wasn't going to get some sort of turtle plague).
Such a calm response. Not me man. I would have been kickin and a screamin. Howd you remain so calm? Damn
Skittles
(153,156 posts)Wawannabe
(5,656 posts)Then I saw Jaws. End of story.
Skittles
(153,156 posts)never liked the idea of being part of the food chain
I did swim in the North Sea when I was a kid in England
3catwoman3
(23,975 posts)...ear left to talk about!
Skittles
(153,156 posts)no INDEED
3catwoman3
(23,975 posts)I would have freaked out.
Skittles
(153,156 posts)I was treading water at the time.......but I know how those things are, they won't let go until they want to
safeinOhio
(32,674 posts)an hour or so after death, they can still scratch you with those claws.
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,683 posts)when he saw a large snapping turtle swimming nearby close to the surface. When the turtle submerged, boyfriend quickly got out of the lake - because he was skinny-dipping and he knew turtles have poor eyesight....
Wawannabe
(5,656 posts)Bayard
(22,062 posts)I can't figure out how he got into or out of that pen, but adios.
So sayeth the old lady shaking her fist and yelling--STAY AWAY FROM MY POND!
Wawannabe
(5,656 posts)Oh man! He was a pissy fella too!
Me and friends poked him with sticks for a bit. (I know! I was young!)
Threw a fried chicken wing to it and he snapped it in half so fast it freaked us out. Anyway, lesson learned. We left that dude ALONE!
Rhiannon12866
(205,268 posts)They apparently inhabited the "river" where the swan boats ran and the park, first and foremost, was afraid of lawsuits - even though those of us who drove those boats made a prepared speech telling passengers to keep their "hands and arms" out of the water. I heard via the grapevine that they'd managed to capture a snapping turtle and they planned to have the "sheriff" of the western part of the park come down and shoot it.
So I immediately went to my boss and begged for the life of the turtle and he immediately put it in a box, poked some holes in the box and handed it to me saying "you want the turtle, he's yours!" (My boss liked me, said I was "reliable." ) So I called my Dad, another animal lover, and he said he knew the perfect place to let the turtle go.
And that happened several times that summer, they'd capture a turtle, my boss would call me, and I'd call my Dad and we'd transport the turtle to safer ground. Granted, my rescued turtles were a lot smaller than that one, one was so small that I was worried about letting him go, but my Dad knew a place where they congregated, so that's where we left them.
BTW, that particular spot was adjacent to the local Country Club Beach - where my Dad was a member. And he was not a golfer, he and my mother frequented the beach. I told that story at his funeral...
Submariner
(12,503 posts)A survivor of the of the dinosaur extinction they are not to be screwed with. Preserve their habitat once your goats are out of harms way.