# Suwanee Alligator Snapping Turtle, or Master Wang-ka's friend Bob got off lightly **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 23, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566 "2020-06-23T22:21:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566/1 "2020-06-23T22:21:40Z")
Old timers here will recall Master Wang-ka’s friend Bob in the saga of the [Horror of Toobs](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-horror-of-toobs/190750). I’ve just learned that Bob got off lightly, because if he’d been toobing in GA instead of TX, he might have encountered a [Suwanee Alligator Snapping Turtle](https://twitter.com/AlongsideWild/status/1275419415148998665/photo/1), and I think this picture is going to give me nightmares. That thing is 100 **pounds**. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566/2 "2020-06-23T23:00:11Z")
Snapping turtle mentions always remind me of my one-day “honeymoon” at Lake McBride. Abandon that thought immediately. 🙂 What happened was, we were driving on a nearby two-lane road, and stopped because there was a good-sized turtle blocking our lane. Being a nature Samaritan, I got out and lifted the turtle to carry him to safety, not expecting he would squirm out of my hands as I got him near the road’s edge, plopping onto his head. This evidently pissed him off, for when I reached for him again to get him completely out of the road, he lunged viciously at me, at which point I realized he was a snapper. You’re on your own now, bub. I was involved in a much less traumatic rescue earlier today, when I saw Pluto the field spaniel was charging and pawing at something on the ground, and realized to my horror that it was a half-grown, flightless baby bird. Luckily I was able to get Pluto to drop the bird and carried it to safety. This contrasts with another recent episode in which I tried to persuade a large snake to exit our garage, which did not end well (for the snake). Too many dang critters out here that can’t keep out of trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2020, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566/3 "2020-06-23T23:11:32Z")
Holy crap. That’s scary. We have snapping turtles in our pond. I’ve seen them as big as turkey platter. I’m told they can remove a finger. That one could take a large leg of a linebacker. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566/4 "2020-06-24T13:44:18Z")
Alligator snappers can weight 200-300 pounds. They live for a long long time, too long to absolutely determine currently, but some years back I read an article about one of these monsters found with Civil War era bullets deeply embedded in it’s shell. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566/5 "2020-06-24T15:14:51Z")
TriPolar: “Alligator snappers can weight 200-300 pounds. They live for a long long time, too long to absolutely determine currently, but some years back I read an article about one of these monsters found with Civil War era bullets deeply embedded in it’s shell.” Neat story, though I couldn’t find a primary source for it. Here’s a related link (I like that the zoologist featured in the story is named Godwin). > **[Meet the prehistoric-looking alligator snapping turtle](https://www.al.com/news/2016/03/alligator_snapping_turtle_a_pr.html)** > > The largest freshwater turtle can eat small alligators, but there is much we don't know about them. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2020, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566/6 "2020-06-24T18:36:09Z")
I probably saw this in some publication related to Herpetology. I was keeping lizards and turtles at the time. ETA: I ended up linking the same article you did so removed that. ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2020, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suwanee-alligator-snapping-turtle-or-master-wang-kas-friend-bob-got-off-lightly/912566/7 "2020-06-25T03:19:33Z")
S’truth; Alligator Snappers can weigh in mighty big; I’ve seen a few. The one on Bob’s butt, though, was no more than five pounds or so, and we STILL had holy hell getting it to let GO of him.