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My across the street neighbor texted last night to tell me that there was a snapping turtle on her sidewalk! This is certainly not a usual occurrence. In all the years I have lived here I have never seen one.
We both started googling to find out what we could about Common snapping turtles.
It seems that after hibernating all winter, turtles begin feeding and searching for mates. To hunt for food snappers bury themselves in the mud with only their eyes and nostrils showing as a means of ambushing their prey. It sounds like they eat anything that happens past!
In May or June they leave the water to lay their eggs, and this one was looking for the perfect spot for her nest. She must have crossed my yard, then the road and climbed a hill. She even climbed up the doorstep step and was just outside the frontdoor!
Lifting the turtle with your hands is dangerous. Snappers can stretch their necks back across their shell as far as their hind feet on either side to bite. Their bite is powerful enough to break bones
The nest is about 6 inches deep and she probably deposited 30-40 eggs.
Snapping turtle eggs are about the size of golf balls and can take three months to hatch. The hatchlings usually overwinter in the nest. Many nests are destroyed by skunks, raccoons, foxes, and coyotes. My neighbor will put up a wire enclosure to try to protect them.
Her mothering duties are done and by morning she was gone.
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Photos were taken by Vickie, my neighbor.
