Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Snapping turtle

Any thoughts on how to get it out of my pond? I am trying jugging I had it on once but it got off and I have the rifle by the door but have not seen it in 2 weeks now. Any one know anything about snapping turtles besides the feed at night?

Snapping turtles are quite smart, evolution wise. They don't show themselves much, can stay hidden underwater for hours, can detect foot vibration in water ages before you get close to the pond...

Turtle traps can winkle them out easy, at an average speed of about one per hour

You may want to assess what problems they really present, adult snapping turtles are by and large vegetarian, scavenging bugs, crustaceans, snails and dead fish is about the worst they feel inclined to do, healthy fish are usually way too nimble for them in water

Regards, andy
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html

bc, I would second Andrew's comments. They are easily trapped, and you might just as easily find someone to trap it for you.

The only reason I'll remove snappers from either of my ponds is to aim them to the freezer...after they've had a chance to lay their eggs if the so choose. We only start trapping after mid-July just to allow for this.

They really don't hurt anything, and if a fish should happen to die, they will clean it up quickly.

I have a good-sized snapper that inhabits my pond. When I feed my fish he makes a beeline to where I'm standing. He's fast too. He will even walk out of the water and approach me within a few feet (I'm not stupid enough to hand feed him). But he's pretty tame by wildlife standards. I've gotten kind of fond of him and I guess he can stay as long as he likes. He's a little bigger than a large wheel cover. Occasionally I'll see two other smaller ones, but they have been scarce lately.

tac5,

I would think a single snapper in 1 acre or larger ponds is harmless. Right? They are cold blooded and do not move around much, so they probably don't eat a lot. They scavenge dead fish and other critters as well, so they're not all bad. Red ears breed like rabbits, so I don't want them. But 1 wise old snapper would be interesting and fun.

Over this past Labor Day weekend, my friend and I were fishing on my pond master boat. We were rounding a corner and heard this loud thrasing in the water. We cut the trolling motor and drifted until we could see into a cove.

My friend was in the front of the boat, and as we rounded the corner, we could see (about 40' away), what looked like an animal head sticking out of the water and about 4' away from the head, a webbed foot sticking out of the water also.

My buddy said "that looks like a river otter," and I quitely said back "that's the last thing I want to hear." As I stared at this thing, I felt myself agreeing that it was an otter. It looked just like the nature show clips of an otter playing in the water.

I pulled out the oars and slowly started rowing towards it. As we were getting closer, the John Carpenter movie, "The Thing," was going through my head. Within about 35' of the writhing mass, we still couldn't tell what it was.

Once we got witin about 20', we could tell.

It was two big snapping turtles doing the nasty.

That is nasty...but you probably won't live long enough to see their offspring get 10" across...they're really slow growing...

I remember reading an article in Yankee Magazine about a man who called Snapping Turtles to the surface to capture them. The writer spent a week with him and watched as he called up multiple snappers from ponds people would swear didn’t have one. I truly believe if you live in the Eastern United States and have a pond older then two or three years you probably have a snapping turtle in it. I have raised them in tanks and while they are ok at fishing they don’t pose much threat to fish populations. An Alligator Snapper might be a concern in a small pond, since they are fishing specialists

Do they mind swimmers? I'd think they are as scared of a swimmer as a swimmer is of a snapping turtle. But like you said, they can get very tame. I wouldn't want the kids, or worse yet, me to get bit by one of these things.

Remember Woodstock? (The more I think about it, the more I'm sure I remember seeing someone who looked just like Sunil...)

A month or two after all the damages, Max Yasgar (sp?) had a turtle trapper work his pond. This was the same pond that had been full of hopped-up, skinny-dipping kids (Which reminds me - Sunil, do you have a birthmark on your left buttock?) with no reported problems, not even drowning.

The trapper took out over 30 large, eating-size Snapping Turtles, who apparently had not messed with any of the skinny-dippers.

Well Theo, if I have a birthmark on my butt, I'd be the last person to know about it! Contortionism is not in my skill set.
I suppose I could ask my mom or my wife.

As far as having been at Woodstock, I can honestly say I do not remember as I was about 1-2 years old.

As far as Snapping Turtles go, I would guesstimate that I have anywhere from 30-70 in my 6-7 acre pond. They are all size ranges with the biggest being in the 15-20" shell diameter range.

I don't mind them being in the pond.

If you remember Woodstock, you probably weren't there.

Hey guy's do the snapping turtles kill baby ducks or adult ducks in the water?

Don,

Not having had any ducks nest at my ponds, I cannot speak from personal experience, however there are others who will tell you that snappers will prey on baby ducks.

Link

Good one Jersey . I was too young for Weirdstock but can recall some of the news reports about it.

bc,

Unless the snapping turtle is doing specific damage, I wouldn't waste the effort. They are very low maintenance creatures. They only eat a few Oz. of food per month, and this is usually crippled and dead fish anyway. If you catch and release, probably 10% of the releases die, and the turtles are very beneficial for cleaning them up. Also, I have never heard of anyone being bitten by a snapper.

I happen to know for a fact that snappers do eat baby ducks because I had the odd occassion of actually unknowingly rescuing a baby duck from a HUGE snapper. 10-12 yrs ago a friend and I were bass fishing on Old Hickory Lake on the Cumberland river in middle Tennessee. We heard a big commotion near the bank and saw a mama duck with a bunch of little fluffy ones around her and she was throwing a tremendous fit, in the water thrashing her wings around and quacking a storm. After this went on a few minutes we decided to investigate. The mama duck was circling a baby duck which kept bobbing under the water. He would be floating low in the water one sec then go under for a few secs only to reappear and peep a few times before going under again. I thought he was tangled in fishing line as he was near the bank in shallow water on top of some small limbs lying in the water. We trolled on over and I reached down to see if I could free it from whatever it was tangled in. I reached into the water and up under the baby duck and started to try to lift him with his legs sticking between my fingers but he didn't want to be lifted very easily. I gradually applied more pressure and whatever he was hung in started to give a little and come toward the surface. Expecting to see a stick tangled in monofilament come up out of the water I was surprised to say the least when a snapping turtle head the size of a baseball appeared with the ducks foot in his mouth. As soon as the turtle saw me he let go and disappeared beneath the surface. Apparently the ducks legs were crossed up around a stick and that's what saved it. I tossed it over to it's mamma and she was very relieved to say the least. I felt bad for the turtle though. Probably the best meal he'd had in a year and I snatched it right out of his mouth.

Great story! Welcome TN Hillbilly.

I've seen lots of ducks and geese with twisted legs on our lake. I think this would probably explain that.

I've seen them kill adult ducks