Good Turtle Karma

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Can they stretch their necks far enough to reach their rear?

Almost, but they can't quite reach their own tails, so if you are quick and grab the base of their tails before they can turn towards you, it's safe. Then just drag them off the road if they are heavy. I'm a long time snapper catcher. I've even leaped into a pond and grabbed them by their tails! Also have caught them by hand while swimming.

[rij73]

I will always stop to help any animal. I'll try to move it to safety. If it's something I'm scared of being bitten by, I'll use some object to coax it. Once when I was a kid, my mom refused to let me rescue a turtle on the side of the road. When I got back from school, I found it completely smushed. I was traumatized by that!

[tulip]

When I almost got to Big Meadow on Skyline Drive (Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia--all day climbing), I stopped and helped a box turtle across. I was only going about 4 mph at that point, so it was easy to convince myself to take a little helpful break.

My mom tried to move a big snapper with a snowshovel once and it whipped around and snapped the snowshovel and cracked it (plastic, not metal). Gotta be careful with those guys.

[KSH]

OH, I would save it and put it in a safe spot.

A few years back I was driving to school one day and I saw a turtle on a busy road. I didn't know where to drop him off so I took him to my classes with me (in a box).

Once I was done, I went out to try to figure out where to take him. I went to the aquarium, but they said he wasn't a sea water turtle. So I took him to the botanical gardens. They said there are tons of turtles out there and he would have friends.

[7rider]

I've moved snappers. Hadn't had the opportunity to move a box (although I have spotted them in my yard).
DH one time spotted a big snake in the road. He turned around to go move it off the road, and while we were riding back to it, a big SUV passed us. And in moving out wider to avoid us (the cyclists), the SUV hit the snake! I'll never forget seeing the snake's body bounce up in the air like that. DH was a basket case! He was sooooo upset! I don't think he forgives himself to this day. (Personally, I think the snake was dead before we saw it, but he swears it wasn't.)

[Andrea]

^ I always shoo snakes off of the trail if I'm out running & they aren't already retreating to the bushes. If it's Spring or Fall, sometimes they get chilly & don't want to go. In that state, they're likely to get stepped on or run over by a MTB!
Either that or someone will stop & kill them on purpose

[Zen]

I've even leaped into a pond and grabbed them by their tails! Also have caught them by hand while swimming.

Next thing we know you're gonna be catfish noodling

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Next thing we know you're gonna be catfish noodling

Here's a +/- 18 year old photo of me with two big LIVE snappers that I caught by jumping into our pond and grabbing them both at once by the tails. My daughters were very impressed. It's hard to see, but the one on the right is still trying to bite me and has his jaws open. It was really hard to hold them both up for the picture, they were plenty heavy.
I drove them across the river, many miles away and put them in a nice swamp. (and away from my ducks!)

[bluebug32]

It's so nice to see that you're turtle lovers for the most part. Though I love all things fury, turtles have always been one of my favorite animals and I've had a Chinese box turtle for the past 16 years (she's supposed to live to be 80-100!).

My boyfriend and I have an unspoken system where, if we see a turtle in the road, one of us slows down and the other hops out to help it across. Luckily, it's been mainly painted and wood turtles-- no snappers yet!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Once i came across a 6" painted turtle in the road. There was no body of water around, and the location was not 'turtle friendly'. I just put it right in my saddlebag and buckled it up. When I passed a pond a few miles later, I saw other painted turtles sunning themselves so I let the little feller loose into the water and he swam away.

[Pax]

I've never seen a turtle in the road around here, mostly I see suicidal squirrels and bunnies on my commute...and the occasional GINORMOUS crow munching on the aforementioned suicidal squirrels and bunnies.

[SlowButSteady]

A round of applause for the reptile friendly! And good picture Bleecher St.

I'm also a long time catcher of turtles and snakes. I'll even help out the venomous snakes.

The last snapper I rescued had been straddled by a car. The turtle was so tall that the undercarriage of the car scraped some of the carapace scales off. Needless to say, it was one po'd turtle.

I threw him in the back of my Honda Element and went on about my business. When he started to come over the back seats at me, I scrounged a box from a pal. I took him back to my office for some topical treatment (I'm a vet) before releasing him.

Oh, yeah, I weighed him: 24 lbs.

People, if you've never handled snapping turtles, be careful! You're not going to be bitten on your hand if you're quick in grabbing the tail, but they can strike as quickly as a snake (and are twice as ill-tempered) so hold them as far away from your body as possible. It is somewhat difficult to hold a >20lbs turtle at armslength for more than a short time.

They are quite capable of taking off fingers or parts of your hand.

The tail technique also works well for oppossums. Sometimes you have to shake them a little bit to keep them from climbing back up their own tail to bite you. And they stink waaay worse than turtles.