I ran over this guy late last summer with the garden tractor and cracked his shell from front to back. I didn't think he would survive but I went ahead and put a bead of JB Weld down the crack and kept him over winter. His shell grew back together but by the time he was healed up winter was here. SO in a aquarium on the kitchen table he stayed until this morning. Over the years I have dug out a dozen or so shallow stock ponds and wallows for the hogs and those in turn have attracted millions of frogs and hundreds of Snapping Turtles, Painted Turtles and no shortage of water snakes. POE is our resident giant Snapper and weighs in at 38 pounds. LOL every summer she makes regular rounds up and down the rows of vegetables.......... the tomatoes in particular eating the low hanging tomatoes. Won't say she is safe as a toe or finger close to her head is at risk, but everyone including the dogs leave her alone and gives her a big right of way and keeps a eye out for her. Every year she also makes a huge clutch of eggs in the same general spot by the same pond. For whatever reason when those eggs hatched last year....... instead of scuttling into the pond like all of his siblings baby Poe was heading North on the dirt road and I didn't see the very tiny turtle until I had ran over him and flattened him out pretty good. The last two weeks I have been catching him tadpoles and crawdads and letting them go in his aquarium. And every morning there is not a tadpole or crawdad to be found in his aquarium. One little crawdad I got to see him snatch..... it was zipping across the tank and like lightning Baby Poe's head shot out and snatched it in the blink of an eye. So now it is warmer, and one of the ponds only has a couple of paint turtles living in it at the moment. And Bay Poe Obviously has his hunting instincts in tact, so I let him go into the wild this morning. I imagine I will see him around the farm from time to time in the future and will always know it is him since the left side of his shell will always be a bit deformed from the crack. Going to miss watching the little guy but snapping turtles don't make the best of pets And if he gets anywhere near the size of his mother.......... a aquarium to house him would cost a small fortune
I had a bob tailed dog because of a turtle,I told him time and time again to leave it along but no it would not listen. A coyote finally got the dog one night,and the turtle is still in the dug out. MAGA
I used to catch them when I was a kid , fed them worms . kept them for a month or so then let them go . Then Grandpa taught me how to clean them , and Grandma taught me how to cook them . Knowing these things , hopefully I'll never go hungry .
I got to where I enjoy watching a row of ducklings bobbing along and one just plop disappear under the water and swirl as the big turtle heads to the bottom I know how to clean them and cook them just don't have the need to when they provide so much entertainment.
Yes , I have seen that enjoyment as well . But around those little duck ponds , you can usually find a mess of duck eggs for a good breakfast . Plus , knowing the fact that it takes a snapping turtle about 20-40 years to grow big enough for a decent meal , you don't want to wear out the pond to extinction .
Counted the rings on Mother Poe's shell a few years ago and she is pushing around 62 years old now. The next oldest I have found in 43 and considerably smaller than Poe and obviously Poe younger boyfriend. The rest have all been in the 1-10 year old range and were most likely born here as offspring of Edgar and Poe. They did some serious Turtle Traveling to get here from closest streams and ponds. Occasionally we get a Alligator Snapper that passes through and hangs around in the ponds for a day or two before moving on. I like them as long as they are not here. The bigger ones can really put a hurt on a pig laying in the mud. Had a nice little boar prospect lounging in one the ponds 5-6 years back, and he jumps up screaming from the mud, blood spurting everywhere and got there in time to see three big shell ridges heading for the deeper side of the pond. Damn A Snapper bit my new boars dick sheath and the end of his dick off. Boar ended up dying from the a infection and that was a waste of $1600 for a top of the line boar prospect. The turtle...... I helped him move and and enjoyed a very damn expensive turtle stew And he was just a mid size 90 pound alligator snapper. Fortunately those are very rare this far in from the bigger rivers. Saw a Alligator Snapper down South that weighed 220 pounds. LOL Folks down South can have them
Sorry to hear about your pig,, but that was one damned funny story ,,yea , there’s some of us southern folk that still like them turtles,,, I just wish my cooter stew was as good as grandmas was.
Enough time has passed that it is funny now Walked around butt hurt over that one for a couple of years lol.
They are hard on the fish I raise in my ponds. Personally, I put a few 9mm rounds in them anytime I catch on one out on land.
I saw one as big as a trash can lid crossing the road in Hartwell GA,I was wondering how old that thing was.
