Saw this guy in the parking lot this morning.
That’s an American Snapping Turtle. Common to pretty much most of North America, also tasty from what I hear. This guy was basking in the middle of the parking lot access road. Not a bright idea, so I grabbed him by the tail (they have long necks so they can bite or claw you if you grab them by the shell. Their tails are big and sturdy enough to hold their weight.
I moved him to the other side of the curb where he could still get some sun, but stay clear of the cars.
A much smarter move. Reminds me of this video
Note how the turtle drags the pigeon down to drown it. Good move turtle! Keep it up!
for awhile there, Chris was talking about getting an alligator snapper. i told him no…here’s why.
Yeah that and they get fucking HUGE! Maybe if you kids lived out in the sticks and had pond or a big house where you could build an enclosure, but seriously if you do your job as mommy and daddy right you’ll need to either get rid of it or eat it, because there will come a point where keeping it just won’t be worth it.
and goodness knows i get too attached to my scaly kids. i’m STILL sad about my leopard geckos passing away a couple of years ago.
I had a spiny iguana that I’m still a little broken up about his untimely end. Also had a red-eared terrapin that was my long-time companion for about 18 years.
He was a good boy!
awww, hooray for long-lived scalies. 😀
Your lucky you didn’t get pulled down to your watery grave…….
…..you should turned the tables and made some turtle soup…..
If this fucker grabbed me he’d be eating some .38s right quickly!
Pizza Time!
COWABUNGA!!111!!
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Saved a little orange turtle on the highway in eastern Montana, once. Of course, “saved” is probably a strong word, considering we passed the turtle, went a half mile, decided to go back, put the trick in reverse, and backed back up to it. Not very much traffic. The turtle would have been fine. And that’s my rambling turtle story for the day.
I “saved” a few like that too. Same idea as this one. Dunno if I really “Saved” anything, I just wanted to play with the turtle!
Dude, 900 ish tons of fill later, I’d almost got the nasty pond in the back yard filled in. It was my usual to let the trucking company dump on the property all week, and then grab the dozer or mini excavator on the weekend, have a few drinks, and go play in the dirt on a friday night. Rum, heavy equipment, and some Buffett or Alabama and you’ve got the makings of a good time.
Imagine the shock to my slightly fuzzed brain, when I dump a big hunk of clay into the pond, and it starts to float. I did a double take, but the 3 foot hunk of clay WAS floating. And it had legs. and HUGE head. and it was pissed.. Friggin snapper the size of a VW….