Photo © Copyright 2004 Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved.

Snapping Turtles

Late spring/early summer marks the beginning of the turtle migrations hence you're likely to encounter turtles (of all kinds) wandering across roads in our area. The largest and least friendly of these armored reptilians are the Snapping Turtles who are cruising the great outdoors. Some are females looking for a quiet place to lay their eggs, but the great majority are young turtles in search of new, less-crowded homes where they'll have room to grow and prosper.

It is generally illegal to gather turtles from roadways, but interested hunters and especially fishermen should check your local regulations governing the harvest of snappers.

Photo © Jim Jung and licensors. All rights reserved

Once a female finds the right spot she'll deposit up to 30 nearly spherical ping-pong ball size eggs in the nest she excavates with her hind feet. Wandering females are most often encountered in the late afternoon since they prefer the cover of darkness to ensure their brood's safety. Once laid and covered the female returns to her pond and leaves her eggs to their fate.

With luck they'll avoid detection by passing predators and hatch out in late September. The young usually leave the nest at night and then proceed downhill until they encounter water. Even here though they aren't safe. Herons, snakes and larger snapping turtles all find the youngsters a tasty delicacy and most of each year's crop of hatchling turtles disappears down the gullet of one or another of their numerous predators.

But if they avoid being eaten the inch long baby turtles grow rapidly adding up to an inch per year to their shell length and reaching sexual maturity at five years when they complete the circle and begin laying eggs of their own.

From our Archive:

• Snapping Turtles
• Hatching Reptile Eggs

Offsite Links:

• Even Snappers are cute when they're small
• Common Snapping Turtles: Catching, Cleaning, Eating, from Missouri Dept. of Conservation

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