Alligator snapping turtle swimming under a frozen Arkansas lake

[adavisus]

Looks like this chilly stuff is going to hang around

http://wncn.com/2018/01/17/huge-snapping-turtle-discovered-under-ice-in-frozen-lake/

 

[bentaz]

Wow, I had heard that turtles could breath through their bums, but it amazes me that they can be active in such a hostile environment.

 

[addy1]

wow huge!

 

[j.w]

Good thing there is ice between that guy and that huge thing!

 

[Angel]

soup

 

[JamieB]

That’s big enough to take more than a finger or toe.

 

[adavisus]

I tried a bite strength test on a snapping turtle a while ago. While it bit down on a stick I picked it up and waited for it to release, after 5 mins or so. It did not mark or break a 10 mm thick twig, but did stubbornly clamp its own weight on to it long enough to comprehend it would hurt some...

 

[JamieB]

Where at in Arkansas was that turtle? I used to live in Harrison, and traveled around a bit. We found one when I was in 4th grade about that size, or not much smaller. Some how, we three kids managed to get it in a pillow case, ( I’d have been like 9, so my sister would have been 13, and my brother 5.) we drug it to the house, put it in the tub. It was too wide to fit flat! My mom came home, rushed to the bathroom to go pee, screamed when she looked over. We had to get it out. It took a chunk out of a 2x4 my mom used to try to move it. Poor turtle, I think it was ok with us kids at first, but after the indignity of being shoved in a pillow case, put in a bath tub that was too small, getting screamed at, the 2x4 to pry it out of a rut was too much! It went off to the cow pond and we never saw it again.

 

[Lisak1]

We saw a large snapper crossing a busy road one time so we stopped to help it get across before it got crushed. My husband picked up one of those wooden stakes the utility people use to mark lines that was laying by the side of the road to help nudge it along. That turtle reared up on it's hind legs, grabbed the stake and snapped it right in half. Husband - and a bunch of other kindhearted drivers - opted to stop traffic instead and let old Mrs. Crabby Pants cross the road at her own speed! (He said he assumed it was female, base on her reaction. haha!)

We have snappers that migrate through our neighborhood all the time - we are surrounded by natural ponds and wetlands. The kids and the dogs all learned early on to just let them pass on by. My son had to call in late for school one day because a snapper parked itself behind his car in the driveway. The attendance lady was like "couldn't you just move the turtle?" and my son said "YOU come move the turtle!"

 

[JamieB]

I can handle most of them. If something like that happens again, toss a towel or other sturdy fabric over its head, and grabbing it at the back end of the shell, carefully move it out of the way.

 

[JamieB]

I’ve been known to put them on a leaf rake to drag them away. Our dogs freak out at turtles, have no clue why rocks are walking, trying to bite them. We’ve got a river right behind us, a couple of creeks near us, and a pond in the field across the toad from us. But I’ve only seen three snappers in about 5 years, one was a little baby! I’ve seen a big red eared slider female, she somehow got into the ducks pool, and couldn’t get out on her own.

 

[seandelevan]

Bet that thing is old as dirt. Isn't there a snapping turtle in a zoo somewhere that is over 150 years old?