A coal shovel works fine for relocating those guys... and it also works to open them up should you decide you would rather make soup.
A coal shovel works fine for relocating those guys... and it also works to open them up should you decide you would rather make soup.
I think the world record snapper is from Ontario. Something like 56 kg.
We caught on in Ontario that was 46 lbs. Made a lot of good soup.
The turtles are taking over...
Found this little bugger in the driveway of my parent's house today:
Fortunately it didn't wish to dine on a phalange. I moved it to the flower bed and gave it some spinach.
Living in OK we had lots of green turtles. The house backed up to a pond and on pretty days they would all come out and sun on the bank. The got so common my dogs actually stopped barking at them.
PHeller wrote: Oh, and I've also heard that bigger turtles like Sulcata, like to push crap around...and sometimes will try to push really large objects (for their size). Is this true Wowak?
Yup, when the boys get bigger they will require a reinforced, countersunk enclosure, because they can ram down or burrow under most obstacles. There are plenty of ways to mitigate that behavior, though; mostly by keeping them happy and well fed. Also if they can't see whats on the outside of their enclosure they'll have no desire to go exploring. So... chain-link fences are a no-no, privacy fences are a must. My boys are good natured and generally only knock things over by accident (usually by trying to squeeze between things they can't really fit between.) They are VERY strong though, and will only get stronger (at least Spike will; its doubtful Gomer will ever regain full use of his rear legs.) The Brevard Zoo in Melbourne FL has a large Sulcata named Tate who is quite the escape artist. Despite the fact that his pen is on an island with the only foot bridge being elevated well above his pen, hes been found wandering around the front gate area in the morning.
Osterizer wrote: The turtles are taking over... Found this little bugger in the driveway of my parent's house today:
Awe, what a cutie! Its tough to tell species at that age (I'll be the first to admit I'm mostly learned about sulcatas) but I'd guess hes a Russian or Greek Tortoise.
Was it turtle week..
This guy showed up in my backyard this week.
It was about a foot long or so. I didn't approach closer due to the fact that I didn't have shoes on and despite my neighbor yelling, "don't worry it won't bite".. I know too much. I've seen one of those things snap a broom stick in half.
Wowak wrote:Osterizer wrote: The turtles are taking over... Found this little bugger in the driveway of my parent's house today: Fortunately it didn't wish to dine on a phalange. I moved it to the flower bed and gave it some spinach.Awe, what a cutie! Its tough to tell species at that age (I'll be the first to admit I'm mostly learned about sulcatas) but I'd guess hes a Russian or Greek Tortoise.
Trans_Maro wrote: Man I love Canada. No poisonous snakes or insects, no snapping turtles, no gators, no roaches. Just Celine Dion. Shawn
HA! We still win.
And yet people live in australia....
I didn't see any out of the ordinary turtles this weekend, just the red eared sliders and painted turtles that frequent the pond behind my house. I did have one of these little guys following me around while I was walking my dog in the woods.
That was kinda weird.
It was turtle week! 
I was working in the garage and i kep hearing a noise like someone was rattling the gate - kind of a 'ka-chink! ka-chink!' sound. I checked the front gate and there was nothing, it wasn't really windy. I shrugged and went back to what I was doing. Then I heard it again, so I checked the back gate. Sure enough, this fellow had propped himself up on the gate and was shaking it back and forth. When I came over he was staring wistfully at the pond on the other side, so I opened up the gate and let him through. Funny stuff.
Osterizer wrote:Wowak wrote:Gopher.Osterizer wrote: The turtles are taking over... Found this little bugger in the driveway of my parent's house today: Fortunately it didn't wish to dine on a phalange. I moved it to the flower bed and gave it some spinach.Awe, what a cutie! Its tough to tell species at that age (I'll be the first to admit I'm mostly learned about sulcatas) but I'd guess hes a Russian or Greek Tortoise.
"Maturity is not reached until 100-150 years of age"
Sounds like me!
Osterizer wrote: Gopher.
Oh yeah, I forgot they're lighter in color when they're young. They get much darker as they mature.
JG Pasterjak wrote: At least the armadillo moved on. jg
Yes, but unlike the Armadillo, which can give you Leprosy; Snapping Turtles can give you AIDS. And Dyslexia.
EDIT: No, wait. Maybe that's Ninja Turtles.
I hear the snappers make the best turtle soup.
Jensenman wrote: You ain't from around here, are ya?Southern kids learn a healthy respect for those things at a very young age. Glad you still have all your eye pokers.
I remember dad pulling the wagon over to the side of the dirt road somewhere when we were kids, hauling us all out of the car, warning us on penalty of a huuuuuuge beating to stay by the car, then picking up a broomstick sized tree branch to poke at a big one that some farmer had pulled out of his pond. Seemed like a trash can lid was about the right size, but I was 8 or so, so my memory probably isn't reliable.
The thing bit the end right off the branch, at a point further out away from the turtle than seemed reasonable. Dad says something like "Hey kids, that branch was bigger around than any of the bones in your arm. Don't touch snapping turtles, K?"
My father tells a funny story of something he and his friends did growing up in cheltenham pa.
They found a rather large snapper and proceeded to goad it into a nearby pond.. where it lived quite happily for about 6 months until the city had to drain it to get the turtle out.
During that time, the first thing to disappear were all the fish. Next the ducks started to loose feet. Soon there were no ducks.
Then they had to get the firestation to drain the pond to remove the turtle so that people could use the pond again
I bet that was one happy and well fed snapper for a while.
When I was a little kid, the neighbors had a pond (lived way out in the country). My grandma loves to fish, so when she would come over we'd all go over there and drown worms. There were a couple of small snappers and we of course poked at them and had them biting off twigs. The more we messed with them the madder they got (duh). She pointed out that there was almost certainly a mama turtle somewhere watching. 
A bunch of seven year old kids LEVITATED out of the water.
mad_machine wrote: the first thing to disappear were all the fish. Next the ducks started to loose feet. Soon there were no ducks.
My Dad lives on a small spot of land in upstate New York with a charming little pond.
He sees snapping turtles pretty regularly, and holds a bit of a grudge since the bass he stocked in the pond are all gone. He says a strong dose of 30-06 or .308 turtle repellent is the best cure.
Yah, we used to live on a lake when I was a kid. When they came up onto the back lawn, we were regularly sent into the house. I was critter crazy and my dad gave me a big old clawfoot tub to keep a couple in. My favourite was a snapper the size of a cantelope. I loved perching him on my arm like a twisted version of a falconer, he'd extend his head, jaws open and hiss at people. My parents made me let him go when he bit my little sister. It was a great lake for trout and bass - my brother learned the hard way not to leave his string of caught fish in the water while he kept fishing. Pulling them out one day he found each had a large bite out of them.
Snapping turtles = armadillo SEALs
Yeah, snappers sure give all Chelonians a bad name.
Here are some recent shots of Gomer and Spike munching on some kale.
Only recent turtle involvement I have had has been digging the bones of a proganochelys out of rock.
When the Turtles Cross the Road, it's a problem around here. People will stop on the highway, pick them up and carry them to the other side. I do it in my driveway. These are not the monster snapping kind.
Oh, yeah, look it up on Wikipedia first. Lessee the Wiki on that: "Snapping turtles and small boxes of fish soup best served with crackers and ketchup and applied to the forehead of blue cheese dressing while sunbathing."
Wowak, do you just feed them leafy greens?
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