Slamfire
Veteran Member
Box turtles are actually tortises, around here, just to confuse damnyankees, we call 'em terrapins, /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
What kind of turtle is this?
- Thread starter Henro
- Start date
- Views: 3553
MossRoad
Super Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 31, 2001
- Messages
- 58,353
- Location
- South Bend, Indiana (near)
- Tractor
- Power Trac PT425 2001 Model Year
Alligator snappers are listed as a threatened species and will probably make the endangered species list soon, as opposed to the common snapping turtle, which is a dime a dozen, so to speak. Many folks confuse the common snapper with the alligator snapper. They think any large snapping turtle is an alligator snapper. Stories about giant man eating turtles abound and are often perpetuated by people in areas where these giants never lived in the first place. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
Alligator snappers range doesn't extend much further north than southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. 10-15 pound common snappers are just that... common. 20-30 pounders are getting harder to find each year due primarily to overharvest and habitat loss. And large alligator snappers in the 100+ pound range are few and far between.
I've had turtles raid my stringer before, so I switched to a live basket or just throw them right in a cooler and skip the turtle feeding, altogether. It isn't too hard to outwit the turtle. Poultry farmers that raise ducks and geese have legitimate concerns about snappers and they can decimate the young birds quickly. There is little that can be done to keep them out, so harvesting the turtles is the best solution. As for fish farmers, I haven't heard of turtles being a problem, but I would think they would just harvest the turtles and eat or sell the meat. Killing them just because we don't like them and not using the meat seems like an awful waste of a resource. There are turtle trappers around here that offer their services for free so long as they get to keep the meat. They use traps that are highly affective on turtles and the meat isn't wasted. I'd suggest going that route if anybody wants to rid their property of turtles they don't like, rather than just shooting them and letting them sink to the bottom. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
There was an excellent article in National Geographic on snapping turtles in the March, 1999 Edition. I think it was titled Swamp Thing.
Alligator snappers range doesn't extend much further north than southern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio. 10-15 pound common snappers are just that... common. 20-30 pounders are getting harder to find each year due primarily to overharvest and habitat loss. And large alligator snappers in the 100+ pound range are few and far between.
I've had turtles raid my stringer before, so I switched to a live basket or just throw them right in a cooler and skip the turtle feeding, altogether. It isn't too hard to outwit the turtle. Poultry farmers that raise ducks and geese have legitimate concerns about snappers and they can decimate the young birds quickly. There is little that can be done to keep them out, so harvesting the turtles is the best solution. As for fish farmers, I haven't heard of turtles being a problem, but I would think they would just harvest the turtles and eat or sell the meat. Killing them just because we don't like them and not using the meat seems like an awful waste of a resource. There are turtle trappers around here that offer their services for free so long as they get to keep the meat. They use traps that are highly affective on turtles and the meat isn't wasted. I'd suggest going that route if anybody wants to rid their property of turtles they don't like, rather than just shooting them and letting them sink to the bottom. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
There was an excellent article in National Geographic on snapping turtles in the March, 1999 Edition. I think it was titled Swamp Thing.
ducati996
Banned
They grow the largest down in Lousiana and other areas similiar habitat...records show over 400 lbs and a few hundred years longevity...
http://www.ruralmissouri.org/04Julyturtles.html
Alligator Turtles
http://www.ruralmissouri.org/04Julyturtles.html
Alligator Turtles
DAP
Veteran Member
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2001
- Messages
- 1,180
- Tractor
- JD LX288 and a B7800
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( DAP,
No lofty purpose or high ideals needed. Y'all have a good day. )</font>
ROFLMAO /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
No lofty purpose or high ideals needed. Y'all have a good day. )</font>
ROFLMAO /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif
Currmudgeon
Gold Member
</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Well, humans are tasty )</font>
Ah, Long Pig. Pass the applesauce, and the fava beans.
Ah, Long Pig. Pass the applesauce, and the fava beans.
higgy
Platinum Member
- Joined
- Jul 7, 2003
- Messages
- 590
- Location
- mid-south idaho
- Tractor
- Kuota L3130, Ford 9-n, Allis AC, and a JD 4020 with powershift
shooting a turtle must be about as hard as shooting the barn wall, darn fast target I'm sure.
/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Poppa
Gold Member
TBN to the rescue!! /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
I am in the process of building a HUGE sandbox for the girls. 20 by 20. So far I have leveled the ground and placed landscape timbers for a border. Yesterday my oldest (three and a half) comes up to me and tells me that there is a turtle in the sandbox. A black turtle. I am laughing to myself because where I live there is no way that there could be a turtle. Laughed all the way to the sand box and then stopped laughing while I gaped at a turtle.
Now I am not any kind of expert on turtles. I looked at that guy for awhile before deciding how to get him out of the box. And of course all I could think about was Henro's Snapper. I was pretty sure my turtle wasn't a snapper but I wasn't positive. I mean a snapper needs water right? But then again, other than a desert tortoise I though all turtles lived near water and there is no standing water anywhere near me.
Well, after careful consideration, I reached down to pick him up. He hissed and I just as quickly put him right back down again. DANG!! Came inside, checked Henro's picture. OK, my turtle doesn't have that tail and his head is a lot narrower and has some yellow striping. He is not a snapper (I hope). Went back outside, picked him up, he hissed, I put him down OUTSIDE the sand box and watched him crawl away. I was doing other things and somehow he disappeared. Last I saw he was headed east. Maybe on his way to Tres Crows' place.
I think he was a Painted Turtle based on pictures from the internet. No, as I told my wife, I did not take any pictures.
Who'd a thought TBN would help me with turtle identification? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Who'd a thought I would need turtle designation? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Anybody heard of nomadic Painted Turtles? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Mike
I am in the process of building a HUGE sandbox for the girls. 20 by 20. So far I have leveled the ground and placed landscape timbers for a border. Yesterday my oldest (three and a half) comes up to me and tells me that there is a turtle in the sandbox. A black turtle. I am laughing to myself because where I live there is no way that there could be a turtle. Laughed all the way to the sand box and then stopped laughing while I gaped at a turtle.
Now I am not any kind of expert on turtles. I looked at that guy for awhile before deciding how to get him out of the box. And of course all I could think about was Henro's Snapper. I was pretty sure my turtle wasn't a snapper but I wasn't positive. I mean a snapper needs water right? But then again, other than a desert tortoise I though all turtles lived near water and there is no standing water anywhere near me.
Well, after careful consideration, I reached down to pick him up. He hissed and I just as quickly put him right back down again. DANG!! Came inside, checked Henro's picture. OK, my turtle doesn't have that tail and his head is a lot narrower and has some yellow striping. He is not a snapper (I hope). Went back outside, picked him up, he hissed, I put him down OUTSIDE the sand box and watched him crawl away. I was doing other things and somehow he disappeared. Last I saw he was headed east. Maybe on his way to Tres Crows' place.
I think he was a Painted Turtle based on pictures from the internet. No, as I told my wife, I did not take any pictures.
Who'd a thought TBN would help me with turtle identification? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Who'd a thought I would need turtle designation? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Anybody heard of nomadic Painted Turtles? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Mike
Bird
Rest in Peace
Yes, Mike, turtles live in or near water, but it's not unusual for one to "migrate" somewhere else cross country to a different water hole. I've seen lots of them a long ways from water. And how they know where they're going is way beyond my knowledge.
Poppa
Gold Member
This guy was very single minded in his direction. Been thinking about it and I guess I do have a neighbor that has a small pond about a half mile away. It was in the right direction anyway, assuming he was able to cross the road and get past the house with the dogs. Wild.
Mike
Mike
