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RE: Snapping Turtles
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by Time on January 29, 2010
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I have several Alligator and one Common Snapper that I use on a regular basis. Basically, they know the routine.
I will say this though, in the field common snappers seem much calmer when in the water than when out of the water!
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RE: Snapping Turtles
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by jparker1167 on January 29, 2010
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i wouldnt trust one lol my friend as a few albino common snappers and adult het females he will be breeding this year again. he hatched out 8 albinos a couple years ago and one last year if i remember right. they are sure cute when they just hatch
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RE: Snapping Turtles
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by Rob_Carmichael on January 30, 2010
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Dogs can be considered "tame" but are you going to go up to one and blow in its face"? Of course not, you still take certain precautions around these "tame" animals. We have "tame" boas, pythons, monitors, and, even a common snapper at our museum. Does that mean we assume they are going to be a lap doll all of the time? No way. It just means that they tolerate a great deal of human interaction but still require the knowledge of knowing these are wild animals - it's all about semantics and the intention for which words are being used. Some herps,on the other hand, tolerate absolutely none. Hope that clarifies my point.
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RE: Snapping Turtles
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by FSB on January 30, 2010
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I`m with you, Rob. I don`t equate "tame" with "domesticated." It can be a very subjective thing, and I don't think that the quality of "tameability" resides so much with the animal as it does with the person. Some people, it has always been recognized, have a special gift - a "way" with animals, as is so often said. It could be in their chemical make-up, a complete lack of fear, whatever, that puts animals at ease around them [Grace Wiley comes to mind here]. As to Jon`s original question - I do know that a hand-raised snapping turtle, while it may never be "tame" in the kitten sense, will be a lot more at ease and less excitable than a wild adult dragged out of a mud-hole or found crossing a road. Snapping turtles are a life-long favorite with me - I currently have both common and alligator snappers. I've raised many from quarter-size to adulthood and I've never been capable of "leaving them alone." They are just too much fun. I have stopped and pulled them out of roadways countless times, no matter how many annoyed motorists I inconvenience, and anyone who asks if I plan to eat it for supper gets a taste of my own rarely-seen "snapper side." I seldom have kept a wc specimen unless there were something unusual about it, but I always have to pull them out of the mud, whatever their size, just to say "hello." I never get tired of watching them rebury themselves. One thing that really makes me irate is when people try to get them to bite broomhandles and such. I have enormous respect for these unique "take-no-shit" chelonians that bear such a strong resemblance to the earliest-known turtle, proganochelys. Chelydra serpentina - the snake turtle, is no doubt the favorite chelonian of most snake-fanciers.
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RE: Snapping Turtles
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by ssshane on January 30, 2010
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I am raising one now. I got it at the end of 2008, or maybe Jan 2009, and it was a little larger than a quarter. I could hold him in the palm of my hand for photos for the first 6 to 8 months, then things changed. Now its business as usual when you think about holding a snapper. I have no desire to have much physical contact with mine, other than when cleaning. I think the feeling is mutual.
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RE: Snapping Turtles
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by FSB on February 10, 2010
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I spent my high school years seriously upsetting the status quo at one of those British-model Holden Caufield-type boarding schools [seemed like a good idea at the time dept.]. Anyway, during my 4th Form [sophomore] year they had the annual "spring formal" dance when the upperclassmen could invite actual girls [!] to come for the weekend. Not being an upperclassman, I decided to spend the evening looking for frogs in one of the ponds on the golf course. Much to my delighted surprise, the beam of my flashlight caught the rim of a huge serrated shell moving through the water a few feet from shore. I went splashing in after it, seized the tail and dragged the most enormous snapping turtle I had seen up to that time out onto the bank. I had to show it to someone... It took me almost a half an hour to struggle up the hill to the school with the ponderous beast, having to set it down and switch arms several times. Each time she lunged at my leg in the dark, it threw me off-balance. I finally made it to "Tiger Square," the common gathering-place, while the band was taking a break. The whole square was filled with smartly-dressed young couples smoking and schmoozing their dates - so self-absorbed that they didn't even notice me, covered in pond slime, entering their midst with this gigantic turtle. I set the turtle down on the bricks and took a seat on a bench, lighting a cigarette. It was amazing to me how long it took anyone to notice this dinosaur of a turtle lying on the pavement, but finally one debutante looked down and then the screaming began. The reaction far exceeded my expectations as girls in formal dresses and heels launched themselves up onto the benches and the guys piled into one another trying to get away. Finally a group of very serious-looking seniors collected themselves enough to come over and order me and the turtle out. Guess they didn't like my choice of a date.
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