Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)
Ms. Snappy was in search of a place to lay her eggs, when she was detained by a barking dog and a human with a blog.
The business end, a.k.a. how she got her name.
The other end. The gait reminds me of a toddler.
If you've got your sound turned on, you can hear an Eastern Bluebird (Sialia sialis) in the background of both videos.
16 comments:
Did Ms. Snappy "hiss" at you? I've had that happen!
We have Snapping turtles here as well. They can take a duckling or a gosling under rapidly. Therefore we do not much like them. But they are quite interesting. Many years ago one of our dogs had one at bay. That turtle was larger than the old galvanized washtub. In fact we tried to trap it under the tub then we placed a slate transformer on top so we could later relocated it or…we were headed out for ONLY 30 minutes. When we returned the turtle was gone.
Another time we watched a Mom lay her eggs and amble off for the eggs to hatch. Totally fascinating critters We often talked about making Turtle soup , but that has yet to happen.
"Beautiful Soup, so rich and green,
Waiting in a hot tureen!
Who for such dainties would not stoop?"
- Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland
Carroll indeed was referring to Turtle Soup…
we just rescued one the other day, crossing a road near out house and we stopped to kind of hurry her along so she didn't get smushed.
I wonder if she was walking that way because he was gravid.
(So did you get a new camera?"
Hey Karen! I came upon a Ms. Snappy at my place the other day too right in the middle of laying her eggs. I didn't realize, from your video, that they could stand up so high! Sorta looks like a small coffee table ambling along.
We saw one in the middle of the road when we were biking. My wife directed traffic while I tried to shush it off the road. It only turned and hissed at me. Luckily a motorist stopped to help and we finally got the snapper off the road pushing it with a 2x4 and stout tree branch. It was the size of a watermelon and seemed to weigh as much.
I saw show once on a snapping turtle hunter. He claimed that any small pond contained many snappers. He would go around asking farmers if he could catch the turtles. They would usually say go ahead and try but we haven't seen any turtles here. He would then proceed to pull out, barehanded, many turtles from each pond. Quite fascinating.
Ki, that is neat to know about the snapping turtle hunter. It was just this spring my niece told me they had a man that took the snappers out of their farm ponds. We are soon to be on the list for that. Sure would make it safer for human swimming as well as the wee ducklings and goslings.
It does remind you of a toddler walking. And of the many turtles that I've assisted across the road, I've never had one be anything close to grateful.
I get these in my yard laying eggs...never seen the adult, just a raccoon-raided nest, or if I'm lucky, baby turtles. I have also helped these turtles across the road-watch out for that mouth! I almost lost a chunk of my hand forgetting how long their necks are! Gotta grab that shell WAY in the back! My folks made turtle soup out of one when I was little-but I made the mistake of watching dad butcher it-couldn't stomach even a taste of soup after that, but I hear it's yummy.
Ooo, she's lovely!-- but I wouldn't want to be anywhere near her business end!
I haven't seen a snapping turtle that big in a long time. The ones up here that I have seen have been small.
Thanks for sharing.
By the way...I still say the pecan soap is delightful. It's about half gone because I use it all the time.
Alas, I live in dry country & haven't seen a turtle, except in captivity, for years. OTH, both the kids began rescue services for turtles crossing Interstate highways & neither could resist collecting one or two of the rescuees.
Deemom, Great to know the turtle hunter or more specifically snapping turtle hunter wasn't just some tall tale. Would be interesting to know how many turtles he pulls out of your pond. Funny that I haven't seen any snappers in nearby ponds or lakes. Just regular turtle sunning themselves on rocks or fallen tree branches. Makes you wonder how many are really lurking in the water. The hunter mentioned a huge number in farm ponds something like an average of 100 if memory serves?
We were always told as kids that if a snapping turtle bit you that it wouldn't let go until it thundered!!
I've caught a few whoppers running amok in my back yard. I think they've been digging in my garden to lay eggs. Do you think they would do that or do you think I've another varmit causing damage?
Sorry I didn't answer comments before! Busy busy busy!
No, no hissing. I don't think I've had one do that but now I'm curious to hear it.
Yep one of these guys just about killed Runt, our smallish duck. But we saved her, poured lots of Bactine on the wounded leg, and she recovered fully.
They supposedly make a lovely soup, but nowdays it's dangerous, due to the amount of mercury they end up ingesting. Sad, huh?
I've never actually seen them laying eggs. I wanted to follow her, but I could tell it was disturbing her so I went back inside.
Rachel, I'd always heard "til sundown". (!)
KF it's possible! Of course there are lots of varmints that like to dig in the garden. :)
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