• Thursday-What'sUP May 13 - 07:28 pm

The master of the up close and personal animal photos, comes through for us once again, with an eye to eye shot with Mr. Tortoise. I certainly hope Z-Man protected his nose capturing this one, because his subject doesn't look all too pleased with being the center of attention. Since some turtles live to be 100, it's no wonder this guy is all wrinkled and hard looking, after all he's probably a senior citizen! If I'm not mistaken, this is the time of year in the U.P., when turtles come onto dry land to lay their eggs. Could be this Painted Turtle was on its way to get the nest ready for the big day, when Jamie Harter caught her in motion. Sort of a different kind of parenthood in the turtle kingdom, since once mom digs the shallow hole, lays her clutch of eggs and covers them back up with sand, she then abandons them, leaving the hatchlings to fend for themselves. Makes me want to adopt a baby turtle! :->

Good morning all.

Thanks for the cool pictures of the turtles! First you need to adopt the baby turtle eggs! We have a mama or two that lays their eggs in our yard by the lake - and every year the critters {coons?} dig them up and eat the eggs. Have never seen one of the little guys hatch!

Hope you had a nice birthday dinner Mary!

Wonderful shot, Z-Man. Love the eye color matching the skin. Also the shot from above, Jamie. What a great example of natural adaptation.

Thats an awesome turtle picture Zman. Wondering how you got that close up though. Reading all the postings for the last few days is sure making me homesick for the UP. Didn't realize smelt weren't running anymore. I remmeber going smelting with my dad when he attended da Tech. He would bring them home and keep them in the bathtub, irritating my mother. 3 months to go and I can visit heaven on earth. Does anybody have any information on the Wheal Kate mine that was located near South Range?

The turtles from the local ponds usually lay eggs in late June . If they were unsucessfull in laying their fertilized eggs last year they can carry them over for spring planting. Snappers should be handled with care. Do not pick them up from the side shell. They can reach around and bite you. Pick them up above the neck and by the tail.

Z-man! You were in my classroom yesterday and I didn't even see you. I have a kid I call turtle because his beanie cap comes down to almost the top of his nose. He likes it that way--and most people don't even know he has a voice. Thanks for the close up. I now know what's under the cap.

julie b., couldn't you cover the nesting area with some kind of screening or chicken wire til it's time to hatch? One year we camped with 4 of our kids' and their families up by Minoqua, Wis.by the Willow Flowage. What a wonderful sight one morning when we discovered a turtle laying her eggs just outside of a daughters' tent!

Turtle Lover, It would be a whole lot safer to tell someone "NEAR" the tail. Your statement can be miss understood and serious harm can be done to a turtle if picked up by the tail. We love turtles also and amazing as it may seem, they are smart and do respond by name as many other pets. Thanks, another Turtle Lover and misplaced michigander.

A few summers back a man stopped his truck, backed down our street against traffic, almost caused a couple close ones just to grab a snapper that was sunning in our driveway enterance. Knocked my socks off! He wanted that thing really bad! It was fine with me too!

Hello from Mishawaka IN. I love turtles. Great pictures. Didn't I see a picture of a big turtle climbing a wall in one of the guest shot galleries or have I lost my mind?

I haven't seen any out here this year, but it may yet come... it
was good to see this one!

One sure way to pick up a snapper is to find a fairly fat sturdy stick and when he bites it, you can pick him up stick and all. Their bite can remove fingers!

Cool turtle pics! I've certainly seen these in inland waters but I presume that the big lake is too cold for them. By the way, it looks like smoke over Copper Harbor in the VIEW FROM THE FIELD web camera. Anyone know what's up with that?

Janie,IA: The truck driver probably wanted to eat it. Many ethnic groups consider a snapper a delicacy. I knew a Toot who took me home to a German club in Toledo. They went out on the Mamee(sp) river and captured many snappers. They would then have a big father and son banquet. This would be considered a passage in life.

I was away last week and just saw Old Ish from Saturday. Here in Cincinnati (Saylor Park, specifically) there's another Old Ish (named something else, of course). I'm sure it's not revered as much as Old Ish. The company made and sold a number of these statues to small towns.

We had a turtle at work recovering from a mishap with a truck tire at the edge of I-94 several years ago. Lucky for him the tire only pinched the edge of his shell and sent him flying like a grapefruit seed from between your pinched fingers. As reported by his rescuer,"He reached warp 4 and almost made it across the other set of lanes on the freeway." No doubt he was very close to the all time high speed record for turtles. Anyway,he recovered and was set free in safer environs. He was dubbed "Yurtle" while he was with us.

how do you tell a snapping turtle from a non-snaping?

maija,

You place your index finger in it's face.

Doug-

Thats funny!!!
I went swimming as a kid in Cananda and my Auntie said "Oh, watch out for the snapping turtles, eh? They like toes." That was the last time I swam at thier house, EVER!!!

I used to love swimming in my aunts large pond in southern Ohio. Of course, you'd have to wade out in the mud from shore before it became deep enough to swim.

One winter my uncle shot the snappers through the ice, when they'd come up to breathe under an ice bubble. Somehow or another, he got them out on on shore. I came along to see the decapitated heads chomp through a finger sized limbs - six hours later.

I never swam there again.

maija,
A Snapper looks like a big mean turtle with a little alligator in his ancestral family tree. They are more of a brown color than other turtles. You'll know one when you see one, believe me. Most turtles just pull their head in and try and protect themselve when disturbed, or try and escape. Snappers will bite anything you put in front of them, and can sever a finger with ease. I've seen a big one bite halfway through a broom stick. If you type "snapping turtle" into you browser you'll get a couple dozen web sites with photos.

Roudy, Too funny about the Warp 4 speed turtle...definately needed a chuckle like that today...thank you :) I will now think about that turtle hurling across I-94 each time I start my lawn mower, becuase on the auto drive, it has a pic of a turtle (for slow gear) and a pic of a rabbit (fast gear). "Hey hon let's put this lawn mower in Warp 4 gear, eh."

Steve: thanks.

Doug: yeah, hey, thanks a lot.

Joe Finn: How interesting about ethnic groups and their menu! This guy was visulizing this snapper on his plate alright! He showed me his leg where a huge chunk of flesh was bit off by a snapper.

Hi, my name is Dallas Hart. I'm 10 years old. I Looooove turtles and frogs. I was just thinking out loud to my Aren't turtles azazing!? God really got creative when he thought up a turtle! One time at the river down at Eagle River, I found a tiny little snapper which I kept and fed for a few weeks. Those guys on your pastycam reminded me of my old friends! Hi, Aunt Lowie! Are you reading this?