Corina wan't looking for the Jersey Devil, but, she found something close..lol. I would hope that's a sweet box turtle, but, his back feet make me think he's a snapping turtle. We have those suckers too and they will hurt you and make you cry. They hiss and growl. A big one can take off the end of one of your toes before you can yell "WTF was that?" He's giving you the eye, Corina!
8 comments:
My little boy loves turtles and makes me stop in the middle of the road and collect them if we see one there. We release them back into the weeds after he looks at it for a while. That is a pretty pic DD.
I hope they're box turtles. Snappers are bad news. The painted box turtles are so sweet. Every kid needs one for a day.
The little ones around here seem harmless, I think they are probably the good ones. There must be thousands around here, because at least once a week we find one.
We always had box turtles for pets. All kids here do, but, most of them get dumped in scummy wading pools in the backyard and forgotten, which is so mean. I had a great big desert tortise once, it was really sweet. I let it go eventually..fatter by then. LOL.
Oh, I forgot, did you know they LOVE tomatos? Me either until this year. I've caught them chomping the tomatos they can reach. I share with them.
Snapping turtles are scary! I went to the aquarium in TN and they had one that his shell was 6 ft across. He looked like he could chomp through a small wrist. Geeze I hope he never escapes as they are fast as lightning.
I am no turtle expert, but I have done some work with them, snappers are a feisty bunch they will live to be old and HUGE one of the turtles we were tracking this year was over 12.0kg! That turtle looks to me to be a painted turtle by the size and shape of the shell and the markings on the shell/head. They wont harm you they'll put up a fuss if you pick them up but are harmless.
Jenn
I'm pretty sure it's a painted too. Snappers are actually amazing creatures, and they won't bother you if you don't bother them.
Lisa's way of dealing with turtles found on the road is exactly right. Take the turtle across in the direction it was headed and let it go.
Sadly many species of turtle are in decline (box turtles are endangered in Massachusetts and probably should be in many other states). They get killed on roads, by lawnmowers, but collecting by humans is a big problem too. Very few hatchlings survive to adulthood, so removing even one adult from a breeding population can be devastating.
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