My Snapping turtle.

[Zman181]

I've kept big Snappers too when I was a kid, one old man started yelling at us catching one because he was scared of it. Then I showed him a salamander and he freaked out, saying "that thing's poisonous!" The things people are brought up believing, it's too bad. Anyway, I've watched big ones catch bigger fish. It looks to me that their jaws are designed to cut through to a point, then the prey butts up to the bottom and top of the mouth without cutting through all the way. That way they don't lose part of their meal to cutting some of the fish off, but I'm kind of guessing there even though that's how it looks to me. A lot of opinions on the web but this one makes a lot of sense to me personally. I took this from this site, http://www.naturealmanac.com/archive/snappers/snappers.html I remember the broom handle myth too, it's been around at least 40 years. "A large snapping turtle can be extremely dangerous if approached incautiously. Their powerful, shearing jaws, long neck, and quick reflexes can result in very nasty bites to the careless. While the strength of their jaws is impressive their bite is often exaggerated. They're incapable of biting through broom handles or snapping off fingers and toes and they do let go before it thunders. Still a snapping turtle bite is no laughing matter." Many people have been bitten but I can't find any report of missing fingers from a bite, doesn't that sound strange? I think those noodlers would show their missing fingers and tell stories about it on the interenet if it were true.

Valid point.

 

[Malhavoc's]

Was'nt their a study done recently that showed snapping turtles actualy had less bite potential when held in captivity due to the ease of whcih they got food?

 

[findi]

Hi all,

Thought you might enjoy this article of mine...photos of an 80 lb common snapper and a 206 lb alligator snapper that I worked with during my years at the Bronx Zoo. Second article has a photo of my 4 yr old nephew with a male common snapper we found active on Feb 17, in N NJ (click on "Smiling snapping turtle"), Best, Frank

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatr...le-chelydra-serpentina-–-miscellaneous-facts/

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatr...ne-cold-resurrects-hellbender-and-sick-frogs/

 

[pnshmntMMA]

snappers are awesome but man are they poop machines! two days ago i caught a 30 year old male, unfortunately he was very under fed. he only weighed 18 pounds. should have been closer to ~30. That same pond probably has hundreds. all you see are bubbles non stop from all different parts of the pond. its chock full of very well hidden aquatic turtles. yesterday i caught another snapper, 2 baby painteds, and a big ole bullfrog. turtling> fishing! i dont use hooks either, i feel bad.

 

[Formerphobe]

One of the part-time veterinarians I work with also does zoo medicine. One of his clients breeds alligator snappers. They recently pulled the big wheelbarrow-sized stud out of his pond to do some pond maintenance. Extricating him from his pond apparently involves something along the lines of a chain link 'net', a logging chain and a 4WD or two. Someone had the idea to put said large snapper in a sleeping bag and 'park' him in the garage for safe keeping while they cleaned the pond. A short time later they heard a strange noise which turned out to be Mr. AST Stud Muffin chewing his way through the wall of the garage, 2 x 4 studs and all, trying to get back to his pond. They've decided to build him a second pond for future maintenance events.

 

[flex]

I love common snappers & have kept a few through out the years... And that one zman has came from me as a hatchling , I do believe that an alligator snapper as big as the one in that article must have the power to inflict a very severe bite !! If not a severing bite !!!

 

[pnshmntMMA]

Caught this old guy in a pond. There must be hundreds of them in there as well as painteds, sliders, and cooters.

Bottle cap for size comparison. Let him go of course.

 

[catfishrod69]

Holy crap. I knew that alligator snappers got to 200 pounds, but look at the size of that mouth. You could fit your head in it! Thanks.

Hi all,

Thought you might enjoy this article of mine...photos of an 80 lb common snapper and a 206 lb alligator snapper that I worked with during my years at the Bronx Zoo. Second article has a photo of my 4 yr old nephew with a male common snapper we found active on Feb 17, in N NJ (click on "Smiling snapping turtle"), Best, Frank

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatr...le-chelydra-serpentina-–-miscellaneous-facts/

http://blogs.thatpetplace.com/thatr...ne-cold-resurrects-hellbender-and-sick-frogs/

 

[stingray]

Click on the link and check out this big guy named CRUNCH....http://www.crunchinfo.com/

ALSO

Here are some pics I have saved of some bigguns.

 

[Formerphobe]

Great pics, stingray!!!

 

[stingray]

Thanks. Did you check out the link named crunch?

 

[Formerphobe]

Did you check out the link named crunch?

I did! Great link. Snappers are amazing. Couldn't watch the feeding video, though. YouTube and my computer fight...

 

[Zman181]

Awesome pics!