Snapping Turtle Saga - Part I
After reading this, make sure you read part II also.
The other day my 7 year-old son informed me that we had a snapping turtle in our window well – again!
It had happened a few years ago and we bought a cover for the window well. (see the window well in the background) I guess we should have purchased covers for all of our window wells.
What made this situation unique is that “Chippy” was down in the window well with this rather large snapping turtle. Yeoww! Needless to say, the little chipmunk seemed a bit nervous.
During this time of the year in our north western part of Minnesota, snapping turtles trudge out of the lakes and ponds and search for a suitable place to dig a hole and then lay their eggs. OK, maybe suitable is a dubious term. I’ve seen them lay their eggs on gravel roads and even on the top of a fresh load of black dirt delivered for our new landscaping project. When I saw this turtle in our window well, my only thought was, “Buddy, when your reached your leg out and couldn’t feel the ground underneath it, why did you keep pushing forward?”
After viewing our unplanned terrarium of co-mingled species, we placed a decent-sized stick into the window well so Chippy could climb out. After some time he did without ever having to encounter the wrath of the turtle.
FREE!
After the chipmunk was freed I wrangled the turtle out of the 5-foot deep window well. The best part is that I made a movie of the adventure with my boys.
Stay tuned to this blog.
Signed, Gordon - aka Snapping Turtle Wrangler PS - Below is another nervous fellow, but my guess is that the turtle never knew he or she was there! :)
PSS - After reading this, make sure you read part II also.
The other day my 7 year-old son informed me that we had a snapping turtle in our window well – again!
It had happened a few years ago and we bought a cover for the window well. (see the window well in the background) I guess we should have purchased covers for all of our window wells.
What made this situation unique is that “Chippy” was down in the window well with this rather large snapping turtle. Yeoww! Needless to say, the little chipmunk seemed a bit nervous.
During this time of the year in our north western part of Minnesota, snapping turtles trudge out of the lakes and ponds and search for a suitable place to dig a hole and then lay their eggs. OK, maybe suitable is a dubious term. I’ve seen them lay their eggs on gravel roads and even on the top of a fresh load of black dirt delivered for our new landscaping project. When I saw this turtle in our window well, my only thought was, “Buddy, when your reached your leg out and couldn’t feel the ground underneath it, why did you keep pushing forward?”
After viewing our unplanned terrarium of co-mingled species, we placed a decent-sized stick into the window well so Chippy could climb out. After some time he did without ever having to encounter the wrath of the turtle.
FREE!
After the chipmunk was freed I wrangled the turtle out of the 5-foot deep window well. The best part is that I made a movie of the adventure with my boys.
Stay tuned to this blog.
Signed, Gordon - aka Snapping Turtle Wrangler PS - Below is another nervous fellow, but my guess is that the turtle never knew he or she was there! :)
PSS - After reading this, make sure you read part II also.
Comments
Wow, Gordon! How on earth did you get a snapping turtle out of a 5-foot deep window well and keep all your fingers? That's pretty impressive, I must say!
Posted by: Susan | June 27, 2007 8:00 AM
Susan, I worked on the video a bit more last night. The video shows the whole process! Stay tuned and keep wondering.
Posted by: Gordon | June 27, 2007 8:12 AM
Nice photography!
Posted by: kathryn | June 27, 2007 10:41 AM