Happy thing for today

[eve11]

D was getting ready to leave for his pistol club and looked out the door and said, "What the hell is that in the driveway?" Upon closer (but not too close!) inspection:



Just out for a stroll.




Hard to tell exactly the size without a reference, but (s)he is probably bigger than either TinyCat or Ivy, but not so big as Ash. I'd guess about 12-13 pounds. Small for a snapping turtle, but still a giant turtle. With a dinosaur tail. And head. And feet. Awesome.

ETA: Definitely a she. Looking for a sandy spot to lay her eggs. Well, we don't have much sand here but she found a low grass/dirt spot on a slight hill behind the barn and has been there for a while. I'll make sure to tell D not to mow there.

Comments

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

Eeeee!! I wouldn't get near it, but he/she is pretty. *BEAMS*

[eve11]

The toes are awesome. Seriously, she's like a mini dinosaur.

[a-phoenixdragon.livejournal.com]

True, lol!! She does have monstrously awesome toesies. And that TAIL!! *Beams*

[nonelvis]

Whoa! That sucker is huge!

[eve11]

Ha yeah, after the "What the hell is that?" question, D went on to say, "It's a fucking HUGE turtle!" Snapping turtles get pretty big!

[kernezelda]

That's both awesome and a bit scary - snapping turtles are scary!

[eve11]

Ha, yeah. I am a bit conflicted about the nest! But I do kind of want to put stakes and some ribbon tape around it so it's not mowed over.

[giallarhorn.livejournal.com]

Whoa, I didn't even know that snapping turtles could be found that far north- I always thought they were restricted to the southern half of the continent.

[eve11]

Oh yeah, they live all the way up into Canada. We had big ones in our pond growing up, too :) ETA: there's apparently a different species called Alligator snapping turtles that show up mostly in the south. But the common snapping turtle is all over the eastern US and midwest.

[singeaddams.livejournal.com]

Oooooh, the alligator turtles! Fun times down here for sure.

[clocketpatch]

I can confirm seeing them in Ontario as far north as Ottawa as a child. There was one in a pond near my house and I was taught from a young age not to go ANYWHERE close to that sucker.

They are super cool creatures though. What an awesome driveway find!

(and good on you for trying to keep the eggs safe. I just did a quick look up and they're not endangered, but they are listed as vulnerable)

[flowsoffire.livejournal.com]

Whoa, that's cool! :D

[rabswom.livejournal.com]

She definitely looks like a dinosaur.