Full of Pee and Vinegar

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The meanest, ugliest-looking turtle found its way into our yard a few weekends ago.

Animals, insects and reptiles that meander their way into our backyard in the daylight have no chance of leaving unnoticed. Four very curious kids are constantly keeping their eyes peeled for something new to catch and investigate.

Thank goodness they had enough sense to come get Daddy's help with this one. Thank goodness they took my and Travis's advice in being cautious with turtles. We told them never to put their hands near a turtle's head and ONLY hold a turtle on the rear-part its shell because some turtles can stretch their necks completely back to the middle of their shell and strike.

The kids said they found the turtle by the trampoline and found some kind of container (Madalynn didn't elaborate) to try to put it in. Right away the kids realized this wasn't the average, laid-back kind of turtle that doesn't mind going for a ride in the wagon or being thrust into a bucket of water to see if it's a swimmer! Keeping their limbs and digits a safe distance from the turtles mouth, they tried a few more times to capture the turtle before summoning Daddy. They know not to count on me when it comes to scary-looking reptiles!

Travis came over and immediately knew this turtle was a fighter, so he carefully picked it up and held the VERY back of it's shell. One of the kids opened the door for him and he brought it in and showed it to me. I backed up when I saw how Travis was holding the back of the shell, its head pointed toward me. Yikes!

He and I confirmed neither of us had ever seen such a strange, prehistoric-looking turtle like this one. He then invited me to the backyard for the show. Boy did that turtle put on a show!

It would raise up on it's clumsy-looking legs (kind of like a cat raises it's back) and pull it's head back to warn us not to mess with him. Oh, but the fun we had messing with him!

Travis finally scooped him up in a flower pot and used a plant tag to pester him to demonstrate how quickly and aggressively he attacked. I'm glad it was that plant tag and not Travis's finger.

We then put him out on the lawn and let him perform. We had some more fun watching the mad turtle, then Travis (for the safety of the dogs and all of us) scooped it up and took it out behind the fence to go on its merry way.

I did some Internet searching and confirmed the turtle was a common snapping turtle (Snapping turtle. Duh, Jae). Besides the fact that the turtles head was long enough to reach clear over to the middle of its shell to strike, its LONG dinosaur-like tail, knots on its shell and most interesting pink and "knobby" skin made the turtle all the more ominous.