HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT SNAPPING TURTLES? A gargantuan female Chelydra serpentina stopped by here yesterday (just as one does every spring), for the sole purpose of laying eggs. I can’t say I cherish such visits. But how do you shout “Get off my lawn!” to a creature with powerful jaws and a killer instinct? (Click all photos for full effect.)
Above, my visitor laid her first batch of eggs outside the fenced-in herb garden. Snapping Turtles have powerful legs which permit them to dig deep holes in which the eggs are deposited.
After moving on to the Serpentine Garden, she laid more eggs next to a variegated hosta. If I knew how to communicate with a snapping turtle, I would have asked her to dig a few holes for my newly purchased Viburnums.
Although I loathe adult snapping turtles, I find the babies adorable. When these hatch in August, they seek out the nearest body of water. This means either the swimming pool or the fountains in the Rose Garden. As in previous years, I will rescue those I find, and carry them down to the Hudson River tributary that runs behind my property. This way they can live out their long, murderous lives.
Kevin, I frequently stop my car to help snappers and other turtles out of the middle of the highway before a fast-moving car squashes them.
Here's a trick a wildlife biologist taught me for moving snappers — not that you want to when they're laying eggs, but to pack away for the future: Take a garden tool with a long handle and without a sharp edge — shovels work well (I keep a foldaway in my car). Extend slowly toward toward the snapper's mouth and it will usually lunge and grab hold of the shovel edge. Then you can drag it carefully to its destination (if helping across a road, bring it to the side it was headed toward).
They're ugly suckers but I find it fascinating to look at them and think about how dinosaur-like they are.
Tammy – Thank you. I could never harm a snapper, either. Your tip is extraordinarily helpful.
OMG – Kevin be very careful. When I went to camp as a kid my friend Myrna was bitten by a snapping turtle! The nature counselor Bob was stupid enough to lift it into our canoe and it bit Myrna's finger and wouldn't let go. The counselor had to hit it on the head with a blunt instrument (the turtle — not Myrna!) How did Lily react?? Judy
Judy – How awful for your friend – and the turtle!
Lily the Beagle was not permitted to encounter the snapper; we had our “walkies” elsewhere that day.
Kevin, thank goodness I have never encountered a Chelydra serpentina. That's probably because I'm nowhere near a pond or river.
cute, but I'm glad they are at your house and not mine…. I saw Lily out for a walk the other day, she looked great!
Erin – you haven't lived until you've witnessed an enormous snapping turtle digging up your garden. I'll be sure to send one of my mine your way.
Such is wildlife in our “citified” country life!
I just caught (in a have a heart trap) an adult opossum under my back porch. My two terriers were going nuts! And, a good friend just rescued a fawn that had been abandoned by its mother. He fed it bottles of goat's milk fortified with pedialite! I am happy to report the fawn is up and walking and was delivered to a wildlife rescue center nearby. Looks like he'll make it! All animals need a little help from their human helpers sometimes!
Sue – Great to hear about the fawn. I love all deer — babies and adults! A number of deer have visited my property — but they have all been very respectful of my gardens!
lol, we seem to both be beacons for wildlife. i currently have a snapper and two mallards living in my pool. The mallards return every year…
we recently released Gamera, a snapping turtle my nephew rescued as a very dehydrated hatchling 9 years ago. he grew from the size of a quarter to salad plate size in that time.
snapping turtles don’t reach maturity until between 23-25 years old, and of the hundreds of eggs a female lays over her breeding lifetime, only about 10 will reach maturity. snapping turtles are the most primitive of the turtles & were around with the dinosaurs. it would be too bad if we wiped them out.
Gamera was used to being handled & was very calm. he enjoyed having his shell scratched… not something i’d try with a wild one though.
a couple more tips on moving snappers: don’t try grabbing the back of the shell. their necks are long enough to reach back, and they have really strong legs to kick with, and never pick one up by the tail! you’ll damage it’s spine.