No Garden of Eden …more like Jurassic Park!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Well, yesterday I laughed at Laurie's blog about snakes and missionaries.  But truth be told, I'm much less serene about my place which I've long called "The Wild Habitat" since Finn's encounter with a groundhog last summer which almost gave me a heart attack.  I'm happy to report that groundhogs must talk to each other because not one has come within 250 feet of the house this year.  But yesterday evening, I was taking a basket of flowers down my front walk to hang when I noticed what I thought was a big rock by the day lilies where no rock had ever been (to the left of the basket hook).

Lucky, Finn was in the house. Lucky, lucky, lucky!!! Because I crept around and came face to face with this ...

A good foot across and about 17" long.  I thought OMD somebody's tortoise has escaped.  Is there a tortoise rescue?  It wanted to be friends.  Not me, girlfriend!

 Lucky I've got google, and with one eye on the dinosaur and iPhone in hand, I discovered my mistake.  This was a common snapping turtle and she had selected my bed of lilies as a nursery.  Lucky she was tired from laying all those eggs but I felt no motherly sympathy.  Please leave and take those eggs with you!!

I hid in the house, and went back a little while later and she was gone.  Only to discover this morning that she only got about 50 feet and must have spent the night in the Rock Garden Hotel.  But she was slowly making her way back to the creek and Finn was on the leash not even noticing the moving rock.

OMD these things date back to the dinosaurs…and so so ugly.  So my question is this…what do I do about the eggs?  Do I dig them up and throw them away? (I know I sound like a terrible person).  Do I let them hatch and make their way to the sea? Did I mention I'm not fond of reptiles (well,except for little blue frogs that I saw in St. Louis Botanical Gardens) and the box turtle, Chrissy, that Ryan had as a kid.  Poor Chrissy met a bad end.  I'm SO ready for a condo! 

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Good point....how do we know this isn't a boy turtle?  Cheryl, Have you turned him over? LOL

[F, Calla & Luca]

Cheryl saw eggs I think. So unless Dad was babysitting, er egg sitting it's a female : ) I don,t think there are hermaphroditic turtles.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Oh brother!  If WE want to know, I invite you to my house LOL

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

You're not blind, she buried the eggs LOL  I love that you see a panda, but I'm not quite there.  Trying. LOL

[Emily, Bentley, & Maserati]

Oh my! Snapping turtles are creepy and mean! I would probably leave the nest alone too.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Yes, to the creepy and mean :)

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

Oh wow Cheryl, you do get your visitors! I sure wouldn't want this one either! A few years ago, our neighbors kids noticed a snapping turtle going through our front yard landscaping. The Mom called the police and we came home in time to see the police removing it. It was absolutely huge and thankfully no one got hurt. I have to remember to keep this in mind when I go poking around the bushes. I guess I would leave the eggs and let nature do it's thing, they'd probably head to the water when they hatch. Yikes!

[Janie, Jackson and Jilly]

BTW, your front yard looks lovely! : )

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Thanks Janie! Wow, you were lucky. I called the police for the groundhog and several weeks later called them again one night when at about 11 PM, Finn and I were out walking and I saw a red and a green light moving along the tree line.  I watched for about a minute (WTD - there's nothing back there) but when the lights reached the end and came straight towards us, Finn went ballistic (so I know I'm not crazy).  I ran pulling, no dragging, a barking doodle with all his hair standing on end, back to the house!  I've since come to believe it was my crazy neighbor out for a midnight jog with jogging lights --at least that's what I'm telling myself.  But safe to say, I don't think the police are coming anymore LOL  

[Sally S Miles]

Strange looking creature indeed - have not seen one in ages, tail like an armadillo -  but a Terapin is something to avoid, their bite is wicked painful and although they are slow - that head can move quickly when it needs to.   Thinking what it could do a a dogs face makes me cringe.

Can you call your local county extension service and ask about the momma and or moving the eggs? The only drawback to them is that in short order you will have either predators hunting eggs/babies and or a full run of turtles in your yard.   They do eat bugs, they do serve a purpose - other than giving us the heebie jeebies.

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

Great idea, thanks!  That's my only fear - what it could do to my silly doodle who wants to play.

[Gail and Bailey]

My husband will stop and move turtles out of the road if he sees them trying to cross.  One day we stopped and I jumped out to move a very large turtle (like yours) out of the road to keep it from being run over.  As I reached down to carefully lift it.....it  turned very quickly and stretched out its neck and snapped at me!  It was fast and nasty!  I gave up.....husband got out and tried but the same thing happened so we found a large stick and tried to push it off the road.  When returning home we saw it again... but it was squished!  That is the last time we will try to help a snapping turtle. They are nasty and can bite!  Get rid of it and keep Finn away from it!