Snapping Turtle in my yard

[Lamb]

I looked outside this morning to see a leather sack crawling across my back yard LOL Okay, it wasn't a leather sack but a snapping turtle and no, I did not go out to look at it. We have binoculars. I think she was laying some eggs out there so I looked up some info and found that sometimes they create false nests to confuse predators. If she did lay her eggs, most of them won't survive and predators get to them or they never make it back to the water. There is a creek a few doors down in our neighbor's backyard so that's where she came from. Maybe in August through October we'll see baby turtles? Or maybe we'll see skunks looking for eggs before then? ugh. Nature.

 

[ImaginaryDay2]

Can you contact your Dept. of Natural Resources? Maybe they'll have ideas how to protect the eggs/nest

 

[Lamb]

I think it's a false nest to throw off predators so they don't find the real nest. I went out to look at it and I don't see eggs.

 

[psalms 91]

They make good soup

 

[tango]

I found a snapping turtle in my yard a few years ago. I picked it up with a snow shovel and tried to carry it back to the stream at the end of the yard before it had chance to walk into the road. It walked off the shovel, so I ended up beating the ground with two snow shovels trying to guide it back to the stream. That would have made for a comical video.

 

[Lamb]

That's hilarious, Tango! Tango the Turtle Guide!

 

[MennoSota]

I saw a dead snapping turtle on the way to church last weekend. Probably about 26" from head to tail. Looks like it was trying to go from one lake to another when a vehicle ran over it.
Snappers are the Minnesota alligator so I didn't feel to sad for it. Hear they taste like chicken.

 

[hotrhymez]

i used to catch those things all the time in our lake. They are scary!

 

[Lamb]

This little lady turtle looked to be about 2 feet wide...I mean I could see her head like the loch ness monster peering out (if she had been underwater instead of in a shell). I haven't seen her since. We've had a family of foxes playing in the back field and they're super cute. My husband's new glasses must not be right because he thought they were baby deer until I told him otherwise.