Turtle Pic

He was calm when he was little but I guess instinct kicked in and now he's a holy terror.
 
RussB said:
I think the confusion in the matter lies is the fact that my turtle's carapace is ridged and spikey like an alligator snapper. This is because he's still a young adult and the shell hasn't smoothened out yet. Common snappers start out very jagged.

Mine looked like this one when I first found it.

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Yes. Now I think you are right. 5 is very young for most turtles. He doesn't appear to have the little spikes around his eyes like an Alligator would. His head is more pointed at the snout then most commons but that may also be because he is a juvenile.
 
I ran across this gator snapper the other day while fishing. All I had was my cell phone, so I apologize for the crappy pics.

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Echo4v asked how to tell which is male and which is female. you have to look at the shell right above the tail. the shell will come to a v where a female will have a more rounded u shape. i'm not sure if its the same for the alligator snapper but if i were to guess about the one russb posted pictures of, i would say that one is a female.
 
I believe this is the time of year they make their nests and lay their eggs as well, so that may be the reason you see turtles coming out of the water and plodding across the roads....
 
I caught another one today. Its not nearly as big as the one I put up on post #35 but its still a nice one. This one is a male. It everted while being held and tried to take a leak on my boots. He was pretty well tempered for a snapper. He was as bitey as usual but didn't try to get my hands with the back claws.

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PayetteRucker said:
I believe this is the time of year they make their nests and lay their eggs as well, so that may be the reason you see turtles coming out of the water and plodding across the roads....
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Absolutely. I found these two ladies across the road from each other, laying eggs this morning. There was a third, but she dove into the water before I could get any pictures. I've seen all three laying at the same time other years.

(click on the thumbnails for much larger images)
 
Thanks Lycosa. I'm actually getting ready to leave for A three day herp trip starting tomorrow morning. Hopefully, I'll have more good pics when I get back Monday night.
 
snappers are welcome in the pot in louisana & east texas, however we have a saying,"if a snapper grabs you he will hold until it thunders"
dennis
 
Turtles...are good eatin' :)

My parents found a box turtle in the yard a couple days after I was born. Supposedly it's good luck in Asian cultures or something :rolleyes:
 
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