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I was driving down a country highway (busy enough for a country highway), and saw a large turtle in the middle of the road. Of course without hesitation, I turned around and drove up to it and parked my 15-passenger van right in the middle of the road to prevent it from getting run over.

Needless to say there were some unhappy drivers who had to SLOW down, and pass me on the shoulder, but oh well!!!

Well I don't know my turtles well at all, all I knew was this was not a painted or RES... it was easily 8" long... well of course I'm not going to leave it in the middle of a country highway... I'm sure it got confused and away from the water with all of our storms and flooding lately, but the nearest pond or lake was a few miles away at least. So I reached down to pick it up and that baby LUNGED forward, I tried a second time, and it WHIPPED around and took a lunge at my shoe, just getting the plastic.

It was at this point that i decided what I'd come across was a snapper! Yes, my FIRST experience with a snapping turtle! Well luckily I had an animal carrier in the van, so I grabbed that and set it down in front of him, and he tried to bite that, I gave him a little nudge on the back with my foot, and it lunged right into the carrier! (WHEW!)

So I took it to a nearby lake (away from a shore or dog beach, so it wouldn't bother people), and let him go (but not after he turned and took one more snap at me!)

Here's a pic of him right before he dove in the water (remember, flooding... the water was so high it was up the streets so I couldn't get down to the edge of the lake, but he swam off into the lake!)

Nice save! Even tho he didn't seem very thankful, I am. Yes Snapper are wonderful at "attacking" when they feel threatened. They never read the book that says turtles are slow moving and shy.

Hello Kelly

That was really nice of you to save the turtle. I am sure in a way she knows you saved her life, well I guess so


Isa

If it is female (and probably is ) she was looking for nesting area. Next time you come across one, carry by tail away from body (easier said than done). I'm glad to see they coming back now that DDT is gone. I'm still waiting to see big ones like when I was a kid (back in the stone-age). LOL

apparently she ALSO hasn't read the book that says that farmland, with all the plows, tractors, etc, is NOT a good spot for turtles!

You know with all the snappers I have saw, I have yet to see one with an injured shell. Not talking about the roadkills. Talking about ones that would look like a plow got it or something like that. Have saw plenty of box turtles with those kinds of marks. Also had an Ornate who had a marked shell that looked like a cow had stepped on it...perfect hoof print. I think it's just that as a general rule, these guys stay safely put in their water. Egg laying and either too much/too little water are the major reasons they are out and about.

I prefer any time I handle a snapper, to first make sure I give it something to bite and clamp down on. It's not so likely to drop it to go for me.

Nice save Kelly. congrats on your first Snapper experience

oh yeah thats a snapper. i found like 3 snappers this year. the largest being about 18" it was huge!!!!!! scary

omg something that fierce being 18"???? i would have ran away! LOL!

They caught a 60+ lb common snapper about 20 years ago in N. Minnesota that 1.5 hours to land with rope. They gave it the state and was displayed at state fair. That was huge. And then there are the alligator snappers they are reihtroducing in the rivers of my area.