| Author | Message | ||
     Electraglider_1997 |
And more pissed off than ever. He made it through another Nebraska winter in my front yard pond. My modern day dinosaur. I might have to catch him and take him down to the river on the back of the ULY and let him go(had to work the ULY in here somewhere). Last year the raccoons some how caught him/her(?) and I didn't see him for a few days. Wound up in my garage so apparently the raccoons couldn't handle him. Likes to sun bathe even though I've read that they never leave the water except for the females when they go to lay eggs. Mine loves to leave the water daily. That photo time stamp is wrong because I just took that photo a few minutes ago.  | ||
| Teeps |
Mmmmm, turtle soup? | ||
| Thelumox |
if he/she sees his/her shadow, it's riding season in nebraska. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
Snapping turtles are cool. You ought to see this creature chow down. He has quite the appetite. (Message edited by electraglider_1997 on March 30, 2007) | ||
| Lorazepam |
Keep it around, I bet the muskrats wont want to play with that critter. | ||
| Luvthemtorts |
Both sexes will come out of the water to bask in the warm rays of the sun early in the Spring and into the beginning of Summer. Being ectothermic they gotta take advantage of exposed rocks, logs, pond edges or wherever the sun warms the surface. Once the hot days of Summer rolls around they usually stay in the water except on cooler days or as you mentioned, to nest. Keep him around. Kinda neat to have a bit of nature in the ole' backyard. My family has an American Toad named Jeffrey that has lived in the rain spout beside our front porch for 4 years. On Summer nights he hops onto the porch and eats the bugs that swarm to the porch light. On a good night of bug hunting he ends up looking like a little fat Buddha that can barely move. Then he just sits there and flops out the tongue of death when a cricket or beetle strolls by. Sometimes I'll sit out there late at night and have a pinch of snuff while watching him do his thing. I just plop down right beside him and marvel at all the little things people tend to overlook. Fun stuff!! Course' then again maybe I'm just a dork with too much time on my hands. | ||
| Jmhinkle |
He's pretty cool looking. I'd keep him around. My good friend at work has had a turtle for 3 years now that is just like a dog. It uses the doggy door and everything. He is pretty awesome. My dad used to pick up turtles on the road and bring them home until one $hit all over the trunk of his car. He never did that again. | ||
| Buelet |
Good thread with timely info on yet another use of the Uly!  We also have frogs that regularly dine on bugs in our driveway... 'cept that they tend to gravitate towards the security of the little cubby of the garage door rails.  | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I've raised frogs (spring peepers and leopards) in my pond but the Gardner snakes always end up eating them up. I originally found snappy tom on the local bicycle trail and he apparently just had hatched because he was not in water and only the size of a silver dollar. I placed him in the pond and never saw him again for 2 years. He had grown quite a bit and must have been eating anything and everything that was edible. I do know that he was chowing on my tadpoles and frogs. He is educational to watch and is very temperature dependent. I don't typically see him unless the outside temp goes into the 80's. Then he is hungry. At least as long as he is in the pond he is safe from fishermen. It's just a small yard pond with a rubberized liner (10 by 4 by 2' at its deepest) with lots of plants. Looks natural. |
