Snapping Turtle escapade

[dumpster56]

Just spent 30 mins saving a huge snapping turtle. Looks like this guy..
http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/muskmudsnappingturtles/tiny_15.jpg.

Driving down the road not far from the house this turtle is trying to make it across, and of course he does not stand a chance with 45 mph vehicles and a 8 inch curb on the other side of the road. So I stop the car and try to pick up said turtle, man this guy had 2 inch claws and one heck of a beak, and was pi$$ed! I miss and of course now he heads under the car which I parked on the side of the road. He is sitting right in front of the left tire under the AC condensate drip which he is loving and snapping at the drops of water .

I try and move him with a stick in the car and get him in the middle under the car. I get in and say well if he wants to be saved he better not move. I pull the car up and he is now back in the middle of the road. again I head over to again try and pick him up. I get to grab him and again he slips away. The torque this turtle has is something, must have weight 5 to 7 pounds when I finally got him and avoided losing fingers. Hissed and tried to snap even when I got him off the road.

Stinks to musk smell that he emits.

 

[Puzzley]

I just moved one off the road myself a couple of weeks ago. If you can get them by the tail, they can't get to you with the jaws, but they'll try! Even a small one can do serious damage, and a big one can clip a digit off....

 

[Danny]

Must be that time of year for turtles to cross the road. I ended up doing the same thing an hour ago...

Why Did The Turtle Cross The Road

 

[Goonie]

There were several lagoons where I used to work, and every so often a snapper would venture out and end up somewhere where it shouldn't be. We'd just take a stick, broom handle, piece of rebar, or a wrench handle, and provoke the snapper a bit until it chomped down. Then we'd just carry it over by the lagoon and set it down. Eventually it would release it's 'prey' and crawl back where it belonged.

We did about the same thing when we'd butcher them......drive a spike through their tail into a tree....which fairly well p*sses them off (understandably so)....then get them to chomp down on a stick, stretch their neck out, and whack it off with a meat cleaver.

 

[dumpster56]

We did about the same thing when we'd butcher them......drive a spike through their tail into a tree....which fairly well p*sses them off (understandably so)....then get them to chomp down on a stick, stretch their neck out, and whack it off with a meat cleaver.

Visual

 

[Goonie]

Visual

Sorry, but I don't have any pix of prepping the turtles, otherwise I'd most certainly post them......along with pix from when my Grandad used to butcher chickens and the headless wonders would run around the yard while us kids would chase (and be chased by) them......Now there's some Saturday afternoon excite on an otherwise boring day! (I don't have pix of that either....only memories!)

 

[lazygood4nothinbum]

if the turtle was headed to the other side and you did not help it complete the journey, likely, by now, it is soup.

 

[tangomonster]

Scary looking! But on behalf of the turtle, thanks for saving it. It's like the parable of the monk with the starfish...making a difference in that one turtle's life....

 

[martyb]

I've helped a few turtles across the road over the years, but I don't think any of them were snappers. Usually box or painted turtles. I see plenty o' snappers when I'm on the water fishing but never in the street. I once had a fairly good size fish on a stringer tied to a dock on a pond where I was fishing from the bank. I left the fish alone tied up for about 10 minutes. When I came back, there was a good size snapper munching on my bass. When I lifted the fish out of the water, the snapper didn't let go. I had the fish all the way out, and the turtle all the way out too, and he was clamped down like a vise on my/our fish! I picked up a stick & whacked him two or three times before he finally opened up & slid back into the water. Then, instead of swimming away, he sat there on the bottom waiting for me to put the fish back in. One tough hombre...

 

[Ronstar]

I've also helped quite a few turtles across the road. One day on a busy road, i saw a lady get out of her vehicle (with "petworld" plates), pick up a turtle from the middle of the road, and carry it through traffic to the edge of the road.