My Little Bear

[grumpa]

That's his name given by my youngest granddaughter, found him while cutting the lawn around one of our ponds.
His shell was about 2 inches long at the time, thank God I saw him before he was shredded. He started out in a 10 gallon tank, now he is in a 75 gallon tank with a powerful filtration system.
He is a real monster now at about 9 inches or so across his shell, ponds are frozen now but he will gladly take any
raw meat or fish he also loves shrimp.

Jim

[papa 695]

So prehistoric looking, is it a snapping turtle Jim? and is that as big as it will get?

[Jim R]

Hi Jim
Fascinating creature but certainly not a pet you'd want to cuddle.
Jim

[RonGlass]

We've got a couple of box turtles that I've made habitat pens for. One is very anti-social / shy, but the other knows my voice and comes running top speed when I feed her. They really are quite smart

[JR]

Than tank is a credit to you Jim, you can see just how clean the water is from the state of the pebbles.:thumb2::thumb2::thumb2:

[Tim Marlow]

Fantastic. In this day and age wildlife needs all the help we can give it.

[The Smythe Meister]

What a cracking little chap/girl
Excellent pictures too Jim,nice one.
Andy

[minitnkr]

They don't stop growing, I'm told. I have seen several shells from snappers that were a couple feet across (displayed in a bar that featured turtle soup). Once saw a duck disappeared by a snapper. Duck paddling along--an eyeblink later--ripples. No fish anywhere near that big in the lake I was fishing.

[RonGlass]

They don't stop growing, I'm told. I have seen several shells from snappers that were a couple feet across (displayed in a bar that featured turtle soup). Once saw a duck disappeared by a snapper. Duck paddling along--an eyeblink later--ripples. No fish anywhere near that big in the lake I was fishing.

So was the turtle, fishing that lake. You're probably lucky you didn't end up doing a Roy Schreider impersonation Paul

[The Smythe Meister]

...... he needs a bigger boat Ron!!

[Mini Me]

The largest Snapping Turtle I've seen weighed over 70 lbs. And was caught by a buddy of mine who was fishing behind the Base when I was stationed at Whiting Field down in Florida. Might add, they are on the menu along with Crawdads, Rattlesnake, and Catfish as well as other "delicacies" in the deep South.

[The Smythe Meister]

HA,That menu's nothing Rick.....
.... Down ere in our Deep South,(West),our menu consists of such exotic wonders as,Steak Pasties...erm... Peppered Pasties.... Minced steak Pasties,OR if you're feeling really adventurous you could sample completely different types of food,such as, Chicken, vegetable,balti or curried lamb....... Pasties........
..... Oh,......I see what you mean!!
Andy

[grumpa]

So prehistoric looking, is it a snapping turtle Jim? and is that as big as it will get?

Yes Ian, it is a common snapping turtle native to the lower 48 (states).
In our southern states there are also alligator snappers which get much larger than the common snapper.
The common snapper is much more aggressive and will actively hunt down prey, the alligator species is much more docile
and is a lye in wait predator with a small worm like appendage on its tongue that it waves about to attract small fish into it's gaping jaws
then...SNAP! They are more ornate and depend on camouflage to hide their bulk.

common snapper


alligator snapper


Alligator on left, common on right

I love em all!

Along with my alligator gar, I need to add.....maybe a crocodile to my collection?
......:smiling:

Oh wait!...I already have one!

[Tim Marlow]

HA,That menu's nothing Rick.....
.... Down ere in our Deep South,(West),our menu consists of such exotic wonders as,Steak Pasties...erm... Peppered Pasties.... Minced steak Pasties,OR if you're feeling really adventurous you could sample completely different types of food,such as, Chicken, vegetable,balti or curried lamb....... Pasties........
..... Oh,......I see what you mean!!
Andy

Wot, no clotted cream pasty…with Jam first of course…..

[grumpa]

The largest Snapping Turtle I've seen weighed over 70 lbs. And was caught by a buddy of mine who was fishing behind the Base when I was stationed at Whiting Field down in Florida. Might add, they are on the menu along with Crawdads, Rattlesnake, and Catfish as well as other "delicacies" in the deep South.

I spent some time in Louisiana when I was in the service...I think....anyway,
I loved the whole Cajon cuisine except for the crawdads or "mud bugs" as the locals called them.
No matter what they did to them they still tasted like, well....mud.



They also love to eat turtles and gators, I had eaten fried alligator tail, tasted like fishy chicken....weird.
I love all turtles too much to even consider killing a single one for any reason plus they too taste fishy and slimy...ugh!