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Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina)

Snapping Turtle | Stillwater, MN | View Enlarged Image

Shell of a Dinosaur, Tongue of an Angler

The Snapping Turtle is the largest species of fresh water turtle in the world! With its powerful claws, hooked jaws, ridged shell, and those incredible yellow eyes, it hasn't changed much since the days of the dinosaurs.

Snappers spend most of their lives in lakes, ponds, and wetlands. They prefer a marshy area, with lots of mud to sink into, and plenty of driftwood or aquatic plants for cover. They usually hunt by dangling their 'lure' a worm-like growth at the end of their tongue. When a fish comes close enough to take a nibble, the snapper's shoots out like a piston and the hooked jaws crunch down with enough force to take off several human fingers. They've been known to prey on mollusks, insect larva, fish, frogs and salamanders, even muskrats, ducks and geese! Despite their reputation as a hunter, Snappers are omnivorous, adding a good deal of aquatic plants to their diet. They will also scavenge when they can, tearing chunks out of the carcasses of deer, raccoon, or any other animals that are too large to be taken down in one gulp.

Like any other reptilian species, Snappers lay eggs. Females often travel a good distance from the water to find a nice gravely or sandy spot to lay their eggs. This is one of the few times they leave their lake and pond bottoms long enough to be visible to humans. When they find a good spot -- and this is fascinating to watch--- they'll take over an hour to excavate it with their rear legs before hunkering down to lay their eggs. Once the eggs are laid, mother snappers tamp down the soil and head back to the water -- they'll probably never have contact with their young. Caches of Snapping Turtle Eggs are often raided by crows and raccoons.

People have tried to keep Snappers as pets. Unless you really know what you are doing, this is generally a bad idea; both for you and for the Snapping Turtle. Snapping Turtles are wild, solitary animals that don't show affection in ways most humans are accustomed to. If handled improperly, even baby Snappers have been known to deliver deep wounds with their powerful jaws.

Some interesting facts about the Snapping Turtle:

• The upper part of a turtle's shell is called the carapace, while the under part is called the plastron.
• Snappers are primarily nocturnal animals, and will spend most of the day sleeping in the mud.
• Like human bone, turtle shell has its own blood flow, and cracks or fractures will repair themselves if properly treated.
• There are two varieties of Snapping Turtle in America; the Alligator Snapping Turtle, which lives mainly South America and the in the Southern United States, and the Common Snapper, which makes its home in the Eastern 2/3's of the United States.
• Snappers hiss when threatened.
• Like other turtles, Snappers hibernate through winter, usually spending the colder months lying dormant in deep mud. Once the water heats up to 40 degrees, they become active again
• Snapping turtles cannot pull their heads all the way into their shells the way some other turtles can.

What our reader's have to say: I was standing on the shore of the [Boundary Waters] lake bathing, went back to rinse off and thought "Never seen that BIG stump there before" as I bent down to look closer....well to say the least it was a EXTREMELY LARGE Snapper! who didn't like my face to close to the water! He came out snapping, just missing my nose. So since that day I figured that's where my second time on earth would start! -- Mark Conley

Multimedia:

Hunting Snapping Turtle | Stillwater, MN Snapping Turtle laying eggs | Stillwater, MN Snapping Turtle; Trail indicators, raided egg cache | Stillwater, MN

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