- Messages
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So I arrive home this afternoon, glad to have a couple hours of free time before the SO gets home. I know something's amiss as I stop to check the mail, when I hear one of the dogs barking hysterically all the way back at the house (almost a quarter mile away). Sure enough, Stringbean's got something pinned down in the front yard. Buckshot, on the other hand, couldn't care less, as whatever it is doesn't have wheels.
I'm thinking, great, probably a snake, it's just about the time for them to be coming out. But no, it's a big freakin snapping turtle! OK, when I say big I mean my own first time up close to a snapping turtle kind of big, not Animal Planet big. I'd say it was about the size of a dinner plate.
I manage to contain the dogs and go back to check out the turtle. At first I'm not sure it is a snapping turtle, cause it's all hunkered down and covered in mud. Well, I'm thinking to myself, "Do any other turtles around here have big fat long tails like that?" Then I nudge it with a stick and all doubt is removed. Bear in mind we have no bodies of significant water around us except our own pond, which we put in last fall. And the turtle was making a b line for it, along with all the minnows we just stocked it with on Saturday.
So with repeated efforts I manage to get the thing into a cat carrier, despite his best efforts to avoid this. I just could not convince him that it was in his best interest. Finally I manage to slip a snow shovel under him and put him in the carrier with the top off. Oh and if anyone tells you they can't right themselves if you flip them over, don't believe it, this one just stuck out his incredibly long neck and leveraged himself (herself?) back over just like that.
The turtle and I then take a road trip about eight miles away to the James River, where last I saw him he was heading quite happily toward the water. Stringbean's still out in the front yard trying to find him again, I'm just glad I didn't come home to find him attached to her muzzle.
I'm thinking, great, probably a snake, it's just about the time for them to be coming out. But no, it's a big freakin snapping turtle! OK, when I say big I mean my own first time up close to a snapping turtle kind of big, not Animal Planet big. I'd say it was about the size of a dinner plate.
I manage to contain the dogs and go back to check out the turtle. At first I'm not sure it is a snapping turtle, cause it's all hunkered down and covered in mud. Well, I'm thinking to myself, "Do any other turtles around here have big fat long tails like that?" Then I nudge it with a stick and all doubt is removed. Bear in mind we have no bodies of significant water around us except our own pond, which we put in last fall. And the turtle was making a b line for it, along with all the minnows we just stocked it with on Saturday.
So with repeated efforts I manage to get the thing into a cat carrier, despite his best efforts to avoid this. I just could not convince him that it was in his best interest. Finally I manage to slip a snow shovel under him and put him in the carrier with the top off. Oh and if anyone tells you they can't right themselves if you flip them over, don't believe it, this one just stuck out his incredibly long neck and leveraged himself (herself?) back over just like that.
The turtle and I then take a road trip about eight miles away to the James River, where last I saw him he was heading quite happily toward the water. Stringbean's still out in the front yard trying to find him again, I'm just glad I didn't come home to find him attached to her muzzle.
