The other day I was on my home and as I was going up the hill something caught my eye. It had rained just a little bit so what caught my eye was the shine a deep dark color of a large turtle. Now it is our family tradition saving turtles every year and even though this one was no longer in the road I wanted to make sure it was not hurt and I was curious about what kind of turtle it was.
Much to my surprise it was a large female snapping turtle and she wasn't hurt she was laying a clutch of eggs in the sandy hill top. I noticed several other areas that appeared to have been dug up and patted back down so I am assuming that it is a seasonal breeding ground for the local snapping turtle population.
I wear a size 11 and 1/2 boot so you can get an idea of how big she really is! I also moved her off the hole so I could get a good picture of all the eggs. When I was done I moved her back over the hole and she resumed laying. I also returned later that night and verified that she had covered the nest. I marked the spot and I am hoping to catch some of the babies when they hatch out of the nest but it will be purely luck to time it right as the hatch date will vary a day or two.
2 comments:
That is an amazing find. Those eggs should hatch pretty quickly. We used to hunt snappers in Windsorville pond & then sell them to the migrant workers in the summer. We caught some monsters. I remember one that literally snapped the boat oar in half! I hope you get some pics of the hatch. I was cleaning a small bass once & found a babby snapper in the stomach. I put it in some water & it revived!
Makes me think of the great turtle soup we had in Sandusky, OH quite a few years back. Yummy.
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