The children and I went out on Saturday morning to discover this big boy next to the house. He was about 2 feet long and a foot wide, with a wrinkly neck and long tail. My son announced it was a snapping turtle and we should stay away. Having never seen a snapping turtle, I couldn't refute or agree with this declaration but I didn't want to find out the hard way!
Of course my son had to run into the house to get his DSI hand-held game thing because it has a camera and he desperately wanted to record this moment. I'm not sure how great his pictures turned out though since he refused to let anyone near Mr. Turtle. Luckily my camera has a zoom.
Mr. Turtle glared at us for several minutes and posed for a few pictures. Then he looked around, gave me the Stink Eye, and headed off at a quick pace for the pond.
See you later, Alligator, Turtle!
Here is a picture of the Common Snapping Turtle. Was our early morning visitor a Snapper? Maybe. I'm not a Turtle Expert but it's close enought that I'm glad we didn't get too close.
That is a Snapper. I used to play with them all the time. Just stay away from that head. Pick them up by the shell behind the front legs and you are fine.
ReplyDelete~~Matt~~