A snapping turtle! This snapping turtle was spotted laying her eggs and covering them up with mud on our creek bank Monday morning. She was there for over an hour, so it gave me lots of time to approach her for photos. I could see the eggs dropping into the hole, but I didn't want to disturb her so I didn't go to close during the actual laying. The eggs (probably about 35 of them) should hatch in about 90 days, so it will be fun to check the creek about that time for little ones scurrying into the stream. They live mostly out of sight under the water and in ponds, streams, marshes and in slow rivers. They like to eat fish, frogs, worms, crawdads, mice, snakes, insects, plants, carrion (dead animals that they find), smaller turtles and even birds. This kind of turtle does not make a really good pet because of its temperament and its strong jaws. I've read different things about how long they live--from 30 to 150 years. Their predators are man and raccoons. Snapping turtles are part of God's plan to keep a pond population healthy, because He designed them to eat the sick and weak creatures of the pond.
Wow! That is awesome. Y'all have a great place there to study science. How big was it? It looks pretty huge in those pictures. Hope you do get a glimpse of those babies.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure about the size. It was about 2 feet long and almost as wide. I'll have to go out there in August to see the babies come out.
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