Common Snapping Turtle is not all that common

By Jack Elliott
Correspondent

The Common Snapping Turtle, Chelydra Serpentine, is not all that common a site. Widely distributed across eastern North America, it is found across the Rainy River District in lakes and streams. Sometimes you can see them basking on logs or stream banks, but more often they will be laying in shallow water with only their snorkel nostrils above the surface.
When they do surface they are often covered with slime and mud, resembling some ancient monster. They can be quite large as illustrated by this one photographed near Rainy River (some are twice as big) and can live in excess of 40 years.
The turtles reputation for moving slow doesn’t apply to this member of the family. It can spin and lunge with its long neck with an accuracy and power that could cost the unwary a finger or two in the blink of an eye. There really is no need to handle a snapper and no safe way for both you and the snapper, to do it, so leave them alone.
Snappers eat just about anything vegetable or animal and are important scavengers for keeping our waterways clean. Sometimes they will be seen a considerable distance from water during egg laying and migration. Males are territorial and can sometimes be seen battling each other for a choice location. Egg laying takes place usually in June and July, but can occur at anytime from May through October. Egg hatch is generally from 9 to 18 weeks and eggs may over winter in the nest before the young emerge. Like alligators and crocodiles, the sex of the offspring is determined by the temperature the eggs incubate at. Hence the location of the nest, location of the egg in the nest, and the weather during incubation will all effect the mix of male to female.
The location of the nest site varies considerably, (generally sand and gravel banks) including false nests to deter predators. There are several reports of snappers trying to nest in places as strange as hockey rinks and this individual near Rainy River decided to excavate a nest and lay eggs on the shoulder of #11 highway near Miller’s Creek. About 40 ping-pong ball sized eggs are normally placed in the nest. The female lays eggs, lowers them into the nest and covers them with soil.
So if you see this relic from the Age of Dinosaurs, stand back, enjoy, and say thank you to a great janitor of our environment.