Paging Professor gekkogekko...

[scotzoidman]

We awoke this morning to a new addition to our pet collection...Riley, our black Lab/Blue Heeler mix, was barking frantically at something in the side yard, just a few feet from the creek...the wife investigated, and found what she insisted was a snapping turtle...she, being the country girl was very sure what it was, & I wasn't about to argue so early in the day...but I did suggest that some pics would be a good thing.
As background info, it rained heavily last night, which may have driven the turtle to higher ground. Wife found evidence that he/she had tried to climb into her flower bed next to the house, but was prevented by the border of rocks...the turtle was covered in dirt (which can be seen in the pics), & there was about a one foot circle of disturbed earth around him/her...when my wife got in too close, the turtle snapped at her, making her jump back (& making our 15 yr old laugh)...could that dirt be covering a nest of eggs, or was it just a disoriented reptile cutting donuts in my yard? (damn punks...)

note: the last pic is the most recent we have of Riley, just cuz I have room for another pic...

[IowaMan]

oh......... c'mere Riley! C'mere boy! :D


I had a great dane when I was growing up with damn near the same markings. Sure do miss that big fella, he was incredible.

[scotzoidman]

Actually, Riley is a bitch...literally...she has this little white spots on her head, probably the heeler markings coming thru...she is turning out to be a quite amazing dog herself...

Post script to the turtle story, the pics don't show that it was a big honkin' mofo, I estimate about the size of a large serving platter...after the photo shoot, our model disappeared fairly quickly, I assume making the 10-15 foot descent back to the waterway...

[Lilith]

Weird. About 8 years ago a turtle came and layed eggs in my flower bed on Mother's Day. Must be that time of year.

[scotzoidman]

Doh!

[IowaMan]

oooops, sorry Riley. :yikes:

[sodaklostsoul]

I remember years back my sis's 2nd ex hubby now, had found a little turtle out on the road when he was truckin', he almost ran it over so he stoped and brought it home. Had it in a plastic kids pool and then it rained so much the water rose and off the turtle went.

[gekkogecko]

Snapping turtle, no question. Most likely it's a female, possibly looking for a good nesting site. Especially given the "disturbed earth", it's equally likely she found one. And yes, while they're there, they will defend their nesting sites, but baby snapping turtle are precocious, so the mother will wander off after laying so as to not give away the location of her eggs to nest predators.



Cool story for Mother's day, though, thanks.

[sodaklostsoul]

So Scotz will have baby turtles then?

[Oldfart]

Reminds me of a famous Mad magazine cartoon.

[Lilith]

So Scotz will have baby turtles then?

or some critter be it coon or dog etc. will have them

[LixyChick]

Cool happenings! TY for the pics!

[sodaklostsoul]

or some critter be it coon or dog etc. will have them
Ya, thats too bad..................but life. :(

[gekkogecko]

So Scotz will have baby turtles then?

No, Scotzoid's wife will have the babies.

[sodaklostsoul]

No, Scotzoid's wife will have the babies.
Oh!!!!! And here I thought the eggs would hatch. :banghead:

[scotzoidman]

What's the incubation time for baby snappers? The nest is very vunerable to predators, so I have little hope that they would make it, & I don't believe in interfering with nature's plan, but...on the slim chance, when should we look for some hatchlings?

And I'm very confused by the last few postings, but I'm not gonna ask for an explaination, knowing this crew...

[wyndhy]

i think gekko called your wife a reptile ... quite the compliment. :D

[sodaklostsoul]

Roflmao!!!!!!!

[gekkogecko]

Incubation period is usually between two and four months. Thing is that the higher, steady temperatures don't usually result in shorter incubation times.

Snapping turtles are among those which exhibit TDSD: temperature-dependent sex determination. Incubation temperatures <20 C or >30 C tend to produce females, while temps in the 22-28 range end to produce more males, with the narrow bands of 21-22 C and 29-30 C producing a fairly evenly distributed mix.

[Winston77]

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/snappers.htm

[Teddy Bear]

awwww.... hope to see baby snapper pics soon. :)

[dicksbro]

Incubation temperatures <20 C or >30 C tend to produce females, while temps in the 22-28 range end to produce more males, with the narrow bands of 21-22 C and 29-30 C producing a fairly evenly distributed mix.

I didn't know that. Mother nature is amazing.

[scotzoidman]

Well, cross your fingers, everybody...I'm not taking any extraordinary measures to protect the nest, but I will watch it for signs of pilferage and avoid running the lawnmower over it...thanks to winston for the very informative webpage, from what I could glean from it we shouldn't get our hopes too high...snappers take the approach of live long & reproduce a lot with the understanding that most of the eggs will not survive to hatch, & most that do hatch will be eaten before they mature...all nature demands is to produce one more like yourself by the time you die...db is right, nature is simply amazing...


I'll keep everyone posted here.