Turtle time

Watch out! Slow down! It’s turtle time, the time of year when female turtles are on a quest to lay their eggs.  

This often involves crossing roads and parking lots — and turtles do not abide by traffic signals and stop signs. Far too often they are hit by cars.

Most of the time this can be avoided by added awareness and sensitivity.

It shocks and amazes me that some people admit they hit turtles for sport, leaving them to die a slow and agonizing death.

Most of the turtles found on our roads are either painted turtles (Chrysemys picta)or common snapping turtles (Chelydra serpentina) and are primarily females. Though painted turtles don’t go far from water to lay eggs (900 to 1,000 feet or so), snapping turtles or snappers have been known to travel up to several miles to their traditional nesting areas to lay their eggs.

To quote from David M. Carroll’s book, “The Year of the Turtle: A natural historyâ€:   “Snapping turtles, embodiment of turtles who shared the earth with the dinosaurs for a time and are now obliged to share it with the human species, might well report that the former companions were far less stressful.† 

Today’s snapping turtle has not changed much from when Proganochelys, the most primitive turtle known, lived 215 million years ago.

Ok, so here are the facts. The common snapping turtle is the largest freshwater turtle found in the Northeast. Its shell can measure up to 20 inches in length and a big one can weigh 30 pounds or more (compare that to the alligator snapping turtle of the south, which can weigh 130 pounds).

Common snappers can live 30 to 40 years in the wild. Females will lay up to two dozen eggs in sandy soil. Depending on the temperature of the soil, the eggs will hatch somewhere between August and October if predators have not dug them up already.  Of those 24 young, most will be eaten by predators or die before reaching water.

Though the eyes of snappers are comparatively small, they have very good vision. Snapping turtles can go for up to two weeks without water, which enables them to make long overland migrations, or even to swim in the ocean for short periods of time. And yes, they are aggressive, particularly on land.  

Unlike other turtles, snappers don’t have a shell that covers their body, so they defend themselves somewhat as snakes do — by striking at their enemies.  Remember their Latin name: Chelydra serpentina.  

They can extend their neck back quite far and deliver a powerful bite.  However, research has shown that only if you violate a very tight zone around a snapping turtle’s head with a small object, while the turtle is annoyed, will it sometimes strike, bite and hold on. Generally its “bark†is bigger than its bite; but don’t test that theory.

In water, the snapper is highly unlikely to ever bother a human without being intentionally and significantly provoked.

So what do you do if you see a turtle in the road? If it is safe to do so, move it off the road in the direction it was traveling, otherwise it might just turn around and try to cross the road again.

If it is a painted turtle, it can be picked up and moved.  

When it comes to snapping turtles, I never recommend picking them up. It can be safely done by grabbing the back of the shell near the tail, but only by an experienced handler. Never pick a turtle up by the tail!  

The best way to move a snapper is to hold a sturdy stick upright and push its shell (not the fleshy part of its body). A better way is to gently scoop it up with a snow shovel; it’s not a bad idea to have one in the trunk of your car even at this time of year.

Scott Heth is the director of Audubon Sharon and can be reached at sheth@audubon.org, (subject line: Nature Notes).