Sammy the Snapper, on the Move

   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #1  

Richard

Super Member
Joined
Apr 6, 2000
Messages
5,057
Location
Knoxville, TN
Tractor
International 1066 Full sized JCB Loader/Backhoe and a John Deere 430 to mow with
A year, perhaps almost two years ago... my neighbors helper brought to our house to show my wife, what turned out to be a baby snapping turtle.

She, in her ever so thoughtful ways, had him put it into our recirculating pond right behind the house. The one that has frogs (no fish) and the one the dogs walk into to cool themselves down....as much as we tell them to get out.

We've been trying to catch the growing turtle to get it out of the pond, so far, with no luck.

Down the field a bit is a dry pond. Never has water until/unless it rains, then it goes to about ankle or ankle "+" deep... and when rain stops, will slowly dry up over a couple days.


This morning, taking two dogs out, Pyrnese in one hand, Border Collie in other, both on leashes, one in each hand. Guess what I see walking across the grass but, Sammy the Snapper. He's inching his way from the baby pond behind the house, to the Luxury Pond in the field (little does he know it dries up pretty quickly!)

Backhoe is right there....if only I could grab his tail, toss him into bucket, I could keep him on ice while I finish taking dogs out but alas, that is not to be the case. Both dogs get VERY interested in this new species they've never seen and I'll just leave it at the excited Border Collie can be a handful and the Pyrnese is easily twice his size so I was busy.

Finished their walk, hurried back to house, put them in their room, got shovel, boots....went back to pond and Sammy the Snapper was gone. He's evidently made it to the water and now I have no idea where he is.

The pond has a flat bottom full of grass that I cut pretty short so there is nothing in there that he can hide under, beside, around....nothing. Right now, his only cover is water.

Left shovel by pond and now I just wait.

My intent is to find him, scoop him up, dump him into backhoe bucket and then drive him down to the "community pond" (the full blown lake from where he originated).

We'll see....
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #2  
Good luck. I've got a couple of big snappers in my pond. This year one managed to take down a big blue heron. It was pretty ugly.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move
  • Thread Starter
#3  
Hmmm....wife said it was more like 10 years ago!

My how time flies. He is about six inches across his back if that is any indication. (I've no idea how fast they grow)
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #4  
He'll bury himself in the mud when the pond dries up, if he wants to go to the lake he'll find the way.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #5  
I am generally a "Live and Let Live" kind of guy, but I would NOT want a snapping turtle of that size in a pond where pets or children swim. It might be worth finding out what the community thinks of having the turtle relocated to the community pond. If pets or children swim in THAT pond, it would be the same issue.

I would also NOT attempt any sort of manual handling of a large snapper, such as grapping its tail. Those things do NOT let go!

Personally, I would just shoot it.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #6  
I am generally a "Live and Let Live" kind of guy, but I would NOT want a snapping turtle of that size in a pond where pets or children swim. It might be worth finding out what the community thinks of having the turtle relocated to the community pond. If pets or children swim in THAT pond, it would be the same issue.

I would also NOT attempt any sort of manual handling of a large snapper, such as grapping its tail. Those things do NOT let go!

Personally, I would just shoot it.
Their necks are also longer than you realize... don't ask me how I know that. ;)
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #7  
I grew up on a lake. Many huge snapping turtles, among other species. I've gone near plenty of them and they are never aggressive. Only when poked or stepped on. The ones we'd see while snorkeling would turn and swim away if they saw you.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #8  
Their necks are also longer than you realize... don't ask me how I know that. ;)
If you still have all your fingers, then it must have been a smaller one. :)

It also takes them forever to be "dead" in the sense that they will stop trying to bite things. I shot one right in the head once. Then I came back a good while later and poked it in the nose with a long stick before picking it up to bury it. I'll be danged if that thing didn't grab ahold of the stick!

I think their bodies are designed to tolerate being underwater for a long time, so they can survive on a small quantity of oxygen. Even if the brain is destroyed, the body reflexes continue to operate for quite some time.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #9  
^^^
I was driving down a rural road during mating season and came across a turtle lying on the centerline with it's legs in the air; there's no way that it got that way alone. :( It had been there a while and was dried out so I grabbed a back pack to use as a buffer, and picked it up to carry it to water. It's a good thing that I hadn't picked it up bared handed or they'd be calling me "one-thumb."
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #10  
I grew up on a lake. Many huge snapping turtles, among other species. I've gone near plenty of them and they are never aggressive. Only when poked or stepped on. The ones we'd see while snorkeling would turn and swim away if they saw you.
I would agree that they aren't naturally aggressive toward humans. The distinction might not seem so important if an adult or child accidentally steps on one.

Also, I believe they would be aggressive towards smallish pets. A large snapper will pull an adult goose underwater. I have to believe that a similar sized dog would be viewed as food.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #11  
I have a soft spot for most reptiles and amphibians; but I’ve never found love for snapping turtles, copperheads and rattle snakes.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #12  
Their necks are also longer than you realize... don't ask me how I know that. ;)
I used to pick them up by grabbing the shell between the front and back feet from behind. They can't quite get their heads 180 degrees around. They try to, but if you keep fingers in tight to the grip, you're good.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #13  
I used to pick them up by grabbing the shell between the front and back feet from behind. They can't quite get their heads 180 degrees around. They try to, but if you keep fingers in tight to the grip, you're good.
That's just what I did, but she almost got me anyways. I have a bad habit of "helping" turtles out of the road... for snappers I carry a snow shovel. What always amazes me is the number of leeches which are often attached to them. That shell must not be as hard as it seems.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #14  
Ha. I used to move them off the road too. One time i did so and another driver saw me. He stopped and came over after i moved it and said, they make good soup, and took it! I couldn't belive it.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #15  
Ha. I used to move them off the road too. One time i did so and another driver saw me. He stopped and came over after i moved it and said, they make good soup, and took it! I couldn't belive it.
I've never had it myself but have heard that about them also. You do need to know how to prepare it.
The only bad part about turtle soup is that the next day you find yourself moving very s-l-o-w-l-y. :D
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #16  
I was cleaning out a 5'x6'x2' rubber lined pond which had been flooded over by our creek - lucky it was winter time. Using a shovel to get the muck out and thought I got a hold of a rock... Nope, Snapping turtle about a foot long and 8" across!! With him flipped over, slide the shovel under it and put him in a trash can.

We live on a good size creek so I set him free into the creek. Decided we didn't need that third pond and removed it...

Funny side note, those ponds really attracted bull frogs... both super cool sounds but also very annoying at the same time. Anyway, the pond froze over and all these "dead" bull frogs were all under the ice. Not wanting a stinking pond from them rotting away, I collected them into a garbage can again... and set them "free" into the creek. I think they might have warmed up and came to about 20 miles down stream!! (thinking, where the heck am I...)
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #17  
I've found snakes out in the snow during deer season before, obviously alive yet too anemic to go to shelter.
Apparently they didn't watch the weather channel before going to bed the night before.
 
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move
  • Thread Starter
#18  
   / Sammy the Snapper, on the Move #20  
mom would stop and help any snapper she found in the road into the truck bed and then into the frying pan.

snapper is the best wild game ever cooked.

on a Canada fishing trip we were taking a dip in the lake and a rather large snapper started to come for my toes. he was about a 12 incher in if i stopped and wiggled my toes he would turn around and start for them. when i stamped my foot he would turn and swim away. after the third turn i reached in the water and picked him up by the tail. every one was shocked that i could catch him.

the following year in a different lake my bud done the same thing to catch one.
 

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