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Snapping Turtle

MichaelJ

Member
Joined
9 Feb 2021
Messages
3,346
Location
Minnesota, USA
Hello, this Snapping Turtle came out of our lake today to lay eggs. I tried not to disturb it so I couldn't get much too closer with my phone camera.

SnappingTurtle.jpg



Judging from the size of the carapace (shell) being about 17-18 inches this lady must be somewhere between 60-80 years old - pretty amazing to think she's being doing this seasonally for some 50 odd years (they mature around 10-15 years old) likely in or around the same location every year.... It took her several hours to dig a hole in the lawn and lay the eggs before making the journey back to the lake. The eggs should hatch in about 90 days. We usually see hatchlings in the late summer / early fall. Mostly from Snapping and Painted turtles.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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What a magnificent danger-walnut 😄
And kudos to you and your household for letting her dig a lil hole and have her offspring in peace 😊
Oh for sure! I’m extremely soft on our wildlife LOL - just as I am on my fish and shrimps - here on our little 3 acres slice of heaven as my wife calls it…. Except for wolf and black bear (that roams locally around here) we’ve seen just about all major wildlife that inhabits Minnesota in our yard over the years… currently we have deer, woodchucks, raccoons, bunnies. squirrels "wreaking" our yard… but we love it! … and they love us… I think 😂 … I do yell a lot at the chipmunks that hang out in our garage and eat my birdseeds… they have zero manners and run circles around me :lol:

Cheers,
Michael
 
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@MichaelJ that does sound like a slice of heaven!
Unfortunately it’s not going to last long at the rate of destruction we are seeing - seems like people prefer superficial urban sprawl over the joy of nature … not even sure most would appreciate the profound experience of seeing a grey wolf in the wild :( … I know that everyone here would… gives me hope… anyway, I don’t want to sound all full of melancholy…
Just to give some perspective, Minnesota is like the size of the UK with 1/12th of the population mostly concentrated in the southern part of the state, so that goes a long way to maintain that little bit of that authentic nature we have left.

Cheers,
Michael
 
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