Alligator snapping turtles

[VWE]

These live in the southern U.S.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=623_1190771778

[DREDIOCK]

We have em up north too.

Nasty critters.

when I was a teenager I used to have a buddy with a crazy kid brother who used to go into the water and catch them by hand and sell them to one of the local resturants

[Airscrew]

20 years ago I was riding with one of my wife's brothers down some back roads near their parents house in southern Georgia.  We came across one of those turtles crossing the road.  It was almost 2 feet long or so.  We stopped so we could mess with it and get it of the middle of the road.  I picked a good 3 inch diameter and 3 foot long piece of wood and walked up to it just to poke at it and get it off the road.  I never seen a turtle move so fast before that.  He lunged and snapped that piece wood right in half.  I dropped the other half and left it alone,  that taught me to never under estimate a turtle, any turtle...

[Halo]

Yeah, some real creepy stuff in streams and ponds.  It's an act of faith to ever stick your hand under water and try to wrestle some critter out.  

When I was a kid in southern Indiana, I spotted a big snapping turtle (not alligator, just regular, same disposition) crawling across a field heading for a big ditch.  I ran home, grabbed a rope, and with my trusty dog headed off the turtle and finally managed to get a loop around its tail.

I dragged it home about 300 yards, put a big galvanized trash can on its side, and finally got the snapper backed in so I could raise the can back up.  The turtle filled the bottom of the can, wedged tight. I carefully put a steel grate over the open top, then a concrete block on that.

When Dad came home from work, he asked as usual, "What did you do today?"  

"Dad! I caught this HUGE turtle!"

"Really?  Where is it?"

"In back.  In a trash can with a grate and block on it."  

Dad was amused,  certain I was exaggerating.

"Let's take a look at it."

"Be careful, Dad.  Don't take the grate off.  Just peek in from a distance."

"Sure, sure, I'll be careful."  With that he took the block off.  

"Dad, don't do that!  It's a BIG turtle!"

"I know.  Don't worry ... "

He never finished the sentence.  As he slid the grate off and peered over the top, that turtle shot its head clear up out of the trash can and its jaws snapped shut just inches from Dad's nose.

Dad leaped back while somehow managing to drop the grate accurately enough over the top that the can rocked back and forth but didn't turn over.

Ashen faced, he turned me and said, "That IS a big turtle!"

[lasersailor184]

Snapping Turtles have an amazing ability that is a little rare.  Most people don't believe it.


But snapping turtles can go bipedal and run at you covering about 10-15 yards really quickly.

[Slash27]

Originally posted by VWE
These live in the southern U.S.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=623_1190771778

That ones a monster.

[texasmom]

Originally posted by Halo

"Be careful, Dad.  Don't take the grate off.  Just peek in from a distance."

"Sure, sure, I'll be careful."  With that he took the block off.  

"Dad, don't do that!  It's a BIG turtle!"

"I know.  Don't worry ... "

Ashen faced, he turned me and said, "That IS a big turtle!"

Halo, I enjoyed your story sooooooo much!  99% of the time it's the opposite:  The parent warning the kid:

"son, you're going to get hurt if you dive off the bed into that pile of pillows. There's lots of bare floor there."  5 minutes later there's crying and a face-full of rug-burn.

Was a real hoot to read it flipped around.

[crockett]

When I was a kid that was one of my things I did, riding around on my bike looking for turtles in ditches and so on.

I remember one time after a big rain storm the ditch I was riding along had a lot of extra water and was running pretty fast. I just happened to see a lizard on a branch that was hanging out low over the water.

Just as I saw it, I then see this big soft shell turtle head come up out of the water and grab the lizard, the branch and everything. Was crazy too see how fast the thing was, and how it bit through the branch and everything just to get the lizard. (after that I watched my fingers more closely when turtle hunting )

I also had a baby alligator turtle for a very short time as a pet when I was a kid. I knew what it was but it was very small, the size of a hatching so it wasn't big enough to take a finger off or anything.

That didn't matter to my mom when she saw it eat the minnows I had in the fish aquarium. She thought it was a snapping turtle and made me let it go. lol I never told her it was a alligator turtle.

Sucks though because it was the coolest one I ever caught, never found another one after that.

btw if you have never seen a Alligator Turtle here is a vid I found on youtube

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2044724580669889348

[1cajun]

Good eatin.  

[AKIron]

I've never found 'em to be aggressive if left alone and I've swum in many a pond where they undoubtedly lived.

[lasersailor184]

Originally posted by AKIron
I've never found 'em to be aggressive if left alone and I've swum in many a pond where they undoubtedly lived.

No, they're not aggressive if you never get in the same state with them.

Otherwise, they'll bite you for any reason they like.

[AKIron]

Originally posted by lasersailor184
No, they're not aggressive if you never get in the same state with them.

Otherwise, they'll bite you for any reason they like.

I guess they found me unappetizing but I'm not sure I can distinguish between a normal snapping turtle and the alligator sort. Perhaps I never shared a pond with the latter.