As slow as people think turtles are they make pretty good time when you look away. Those things will be there one minute and a block away when you look back. But if you watch them move (like across the road). They take their sweet time tying up traffic.
Snapping turtles do bite and can do serious damage, they generally won’t let go either. To move them the best method I’ve used is. Poke them with a stick, like a broomstick. They will get annoyed and bite it. Since they are too stubborn to let go you not have a turtle on a stick and you can carry it anywhere you want. Return in a few hours to get your stick back if needed.
We used to regularly get tortoises wandering through our yard. We were about halfway between a lake and the river. Our block was divided into three and the tortoises would nornmally be fine until they got to the front yard where the gate was always shut anf there they would stop until One of my family was nice enought to assist them on thier travels (which usually meant carrying them to the river so they didn’t get run over). I felt a bit like a lollypop lady for tortoises.
I would love to see one of those guys in person sometime. I think they’re awesome-looking beasts. The only ones I see around here are red-eared sliders (probably ex-pets).
Up close, what struck me most was the eyes. The rest of the turtle was muddy and grimy (and in the case of the road accident victim, had urinated spectacularly to deter us human predators) but his/her eyes were like colored stones set at the bottom of deep, clear pools. It really looked like the iris was way down beneath the the bright, clear surface of the eye.
Prehistoric indeed, can’t say what she’s thinking but she might be wondering what the 'ell happened to the ridge since the last time she visited. These homes didn’t used to be here!
A 5 minute walk up a hill ain’t gonna deter no turtle
You’re walking along in your yard, when all of a sudden you look down and see a snapping turtle. You flip it over, and it lays baking in the sun - struggling to right itself, but unable to do so. You aren’t helping. Why is that, Athena?
In our place in the mountains of Virginia we had one the size of Tamerlane’s first pic a few times come through our yard. The first time I had roofers out and said ‘Hey, boys! Get a look at this!’ and they about jumped out of their skins.
Lady Chance was away on travel so, being the idiots we were, we tried to catch it in a large garbage can and it didn’t fit. Pissed off that turtle real well, actually. And that sucker was huge.
I agree that one looks like a map turtle, I’ve seen a lot this spring/summer in Michigan. They also have a pretty good jaw for opening clams and snails. i would find broken clam shells and wonder, who or what did that? Map turtles can do that!
All of you guys saying they’re not dangerous - are you nuts!? As a kid at camp some counselors found one on the roadside; they prodded at it with a meter stick - it snapped and broke it in half! If that’s not scary, I dunno what is.
I’d try and get it the hell outta the yard…how, I have no clue.
We get alligator snappers around here. There’s nothing like wandering outside on a summer morning and finding an angry freaking dinosaur in your driveway. Snapping turtles are the number one reason I refuse to swim in any water that’s not heavily chlorinated. Along with leeches. And snakes. And those annoying little fish that nibble on you if you stand too still. Yeah, screw Nature.
Red Squirrels
Gray Squirrels
Chipmunks
A couple different types of weasel or stoat type things
Black bear (!)
Coyotes
White-tail Deer
We have a nesting pair of broadwing hawks that have come back every year for the past 2-3 years
lots of Pileated woodpeckers
Nesting Mallards & chicks
Hummingbirds
dozens of other kinds of birds
Garter snakes
And now the turtle
And though we’re on the outskirts of town, we are still solidly in town. Target, for example, is about a minute and a half drive away.
