Snapper!
Jonathan and I found this snapping turtle crossing
our road today!
We were driving home from Theatre Camp when I spotted this big ol' bugger. I pulled over and told Jonathan to quickly get out of the van. "What? What?!" he was saying, until he saw it - "Can I take it home? Pleeeease?!?" Um, sorry, no.
I told him we're supposed to get him to the side of the road and point him in the direction he was headed, according to wildlife rehabbers who urge against taking home wild pets. We don't want him to get hit by a car. (Though one might wager the car getting the worse end of the deal if it struck this big'un!)
Once I did take a wild turtle home - just for the afternoon. That one was in the middle of a highway, hiding in its shell, probably wondering how in the hell he'd gotten himself into such a spot. On impulse, I pulled over, nabbed him, and brought him home to surprise the kids. Jonathan especially, who sometimes volunteers for Critter Camp, wanted to keep it. It had long claws, too, just like this one and was much faster than I expected as it zipped around our house, looking for a place to hide or escape. We looked it up on the computer 
(we think it was a mud turtle), played with it for a while, and then returned it to where we'd found it, but across the road, deep in the ditch, pointed the way it had been heading.
Today, Jonathan petted this turtle for a while as I snapped photos before we realized it was a snapping turtle. After this shot, Jonathan walked in front of it and out of the corner of my eye I thought I saw it lurch forward. I said I bet it's a snapper and told Jonathan to stick his foot out and see if it would reach for it. Next thing we know, the snapper has clamped its jaws onto Jonathan's shoe! It caught Jonathan by surprise and he jumped and screamed and shook the turtle off. We were laughing hysterically when a neighbor girl showed up on her bike to see what all the fuss was about. (The poor girl - she thought we'd hit her dog on the road, as we were stopped in front of their lane and crouched over something.)
We told the girl about it snapping Jonathan's foot and she came closer to let the turtle snap at her bike tire, which it obligingly did. We got a video of it! There's a creek that runs under our road there and these neighbors have a newly built pond in their front yard (it must be pond season 'round here, but HER dad owns an excavating business so their pond is a big one!) and the girl told us that same snapper had been in their yard this past weekend. Either that, or it has large kin.
This guy was huge and we enjoyed visiting with it. We're grateful we left with all limbs intact, despite Jonathan's need to touch it over and over.
7 comments:
haha! We had a HUGE snapper that lived down by our pond in the backyard in Pensacola. We dubbed him "big Mo".
He scared me a bit. We gave him plenty of clearance.:)
Big Mo - Too funny!
Growing up we had a stone quarry in our pasture that filled with water and made for the most fantastic exploring adventures. Snapper lived there too! Added to the excitement and 'danger' of exploring. :)
Oscar insisted on watching the snapper video 6 times.
Hi...I'm not sure if you were tagged yet. I checked around and didn't see it and I'm tagging all the participants of the last Unschooling Voices that haven't been tagged it. :-)
Click here
Hi Laura -
Just got back from Michigan, read your post on mine and then got caught up in your two blogs. It's now 11 a.m. and I haven't gotten a thing done except sit and cry, laugh, wonder, over the vagaries of life and how it is that I didn't manage to make a stronger connection with you earlier. So much was painful for me in Lanark, I just had no will to fight for anything except the need to get out.
Now that that is fixed, I'm so happy that we have reconnected - I love your blog and will definitely keep reading - only problem is it will be hard not for me to simply chuck half my new life in Galena by the wayside in the process - as you can tell I'm a little disillusioned with various things, and your writings are so inspiring.
Sigh- it's hard, but in a good way. I have to grow up sometime, and in the true sense of growth - the ability to make tough choices. ;)
In the meantime - at least I can find ways to feel more connected to people who share some of my crazy ideals and conflicts about how to accomplish all I want to do in this life. . .
OK, enough.
Anyway, thanks, and I would love to keep reading. I don't have your email, so I didn't send you a message, but I have a new post - mostly just a travelogue.
Take care,
Wendy
Hello Oswald.
Thanks for your comments in my blog.
I'm so glad about that and I saw very nice pictures in your blog.
You are like me, love and respect the animals.
GOD bless.
Oh my goodness!!! Thank you so much for getting him off the road and posting what the experts say about pointing turtles in the direction they were headed. So few people know that they have a natural directional system. It's funny I have a bumper sticker that says, "I break for turtles!" You need one! :) What a cool, but little bit scary experience with a huge turtle!
Post a Comment