Spring wildlife-watch your fingers!

[Badfish740]

Found this fella wandering in the road...

I stomped my feet at him at a few times and he hissed at me and turned around. I left him alone after he headed back into the woods-not to say that he won't try to cross again. I'm a hunter and I hate seeing animals hit by cars and wasted.

 

[gpcollen1]

Probably a she looking for a spot to lay some eggs...

 

[karri0n]

I agree, that's likely a female trying to lay. We had one in the parking lot of our office a couple days ago. She comes up from the creek behind the parking lot every year.

 

[Badfish740]

I agree, that's likely a female trying to lay. We had one in the parking lot of our office a couple days ago. She comes up from the creek behind the parking lot every year.

I wasn't even thinking of eggs-duh... It probably was a female. I know that they will often travel over land quite a distance to lay eggs, but I found it odd that this one had decided to cross a fairly busy (and noisy) road with lots of thick vegetation nearby. Anyone know what drives them to do so?

 

[billb3]

I think the egg laying out of the pond is for survival of the young 'uns. By the time they make it back to the pond, they're enough stronger to survive all the predators in the pond.

We have snappers and a turtle with red around the edges of its shell in the pond across the street.
I've caught the smaller ones with the red around its shell with the lawn mower.
Now I look for them after the second time cutting the lawn. (end of May through June)

There was a snapper the size of a soccer ball trying to make it back across the street Sunday back to the pond.
Little kids would find it and parents (funny to watch someone try not to get bit the first time) pick it up and put it behind thier house (wrong way).



When we were kids there was a snapper that was huge (took 4 of us to pick it up) that would walk up the middle of the street. (dead end street) If you put a broom stick sized branch in front of it , it would grab it and snap it like it was a tooth pick. It would walk up the middle of the street every year. We tried following it to see where it went, but it would just stop. It had all day, we didn't.

 

[Delta-T]

theres a massive female snapper that lays every year in my moms front yard. It has crossed the road that leads to a pond 2 times per year for 20 years. It has a large crack in its shell, likely from a car, but has had it forever as far as i can tell. I wonder if turtles instictively travel to the place of their hatching to lay, like salmon.

 

[jj3500]

Had one walk by my back porch. I was a little bigger than a dinner plate. Had moss on its shell and it looked like a rock. After seeing that one, I see them all over the streets now. Unfortunately, they are being driven over by "mom" on the phone driving her Ford Excursion.

 

[BrotherBart]

Two things this planet will do just fine without. Snapping turtles and rattlesnakes. And if one has to stay, give me rattlesnakes any day.

 

[cncpro]

I second the motion about the destruction of all rattlesnakes but turtles don't bother me. You must be a fisherman Brother Bart, right ?

My wife came home telling me about the turtle she carried to safety last year. She was pretty surprised when I described how far they can reach around to bite and told her she was lucky not to have lost any fingers...