Mr. Snapper has outlived his welcome

[JohnMcGrew]

I first noticed him about 3 years ago, with a frog leg (still attached to a
not-happy frog) in his mouth. Sightings were then occasional, perhaps a dozen
a year, as he was quite shy. As soon as he sees you approach the pond, he'd
disappear under the foliage. He's grown quite a bit since then, and is now 8
inches head to end of tail. His most obnoxious habits had been limiting the
frog population (needed for bug control) and snipping free the lily pads. I
also suspect he's responsible for some of the fish.

Last week, I found a blue jay in the pond with him making a meal of it.
Strange. Then earlier this week, I was looking out my window, and saw him out
of the pond, proceeding towards the lawn. I ran out and found him hiding in
the grass. I suspect he was hunting for birds, where he'd surprise them and
drag them back to the pond. As you can imagine, he wasn't particularly happy
when I picked him up. After taking a couple of pictures of his hissing and
snapping, I replaced him in the pond.

I now think that was a mistake. I should have kept him out when I had him.
He's a bit less shy now. The other day while feeding the fish, I watched as
he'd try to grab them as I fed them. Needless to say, he's not contributing to
the happy environ that I'd like to have in my backyard. I'd like to capture
him and find him a more suitable home. Any suggestions the best way to capture
him? The odds of finding him on walk-about again are not very likely.

John.

John

[Ka30P]

Hi John,

You've been remarkedly patient with a rather unloveable pond visitor ;-)

Most folks drain the pond and catch them that way. You can do pond cleaning at
the same time. Of course you are also inviting an algae bloom this time of year
refilling the pond.

I found this page once and hung onto it
http://www.chelydra.org/t07.html
An excellent page with tips on how to catch snappers.

Good luck and let us know what happens!

kathy :-)

[joe]

On 6/17/04 9:38 AM, "JohnMcGrew" wrote:

> I first noticed him about 3 years ago, with a frog leg (still attached to a
> not-happy frog) in his mouth. Sightings were then occasional, perhaps a dozen
> a year, as he was quite shy. As soon as he sees you approach the pond, he'd
> disappear under the foliage. He's grown quite a bit since then, and is now 8
> inches head to end of tail. His most obnoxious habits had been limiting the
> frog population (needed for bug control) and snipping free the lily pads. I
> also suspect he's responsible for some of the fish.
>
> Last week, I found a blue jay in the pond with him making a meal of it.
> Strange. Then earlier this week, I was looking out my window, and saw him out
> of the pond, proceeding towards the lawn. I ran out and found him hiding in
> the grass. I suspect he was hunting for birds, where he'd surprise them and
> drag them back to the pond. As you can imagine, he wasn't particularly happy
> when I picked him up. After taking a couple of pictures of his hissing and
> snapping, I replaced him in the pond.
>
> I now think that was a mistake. I should have kept him out when I had him.
> He's a bit less shy now. The other day while feeding the fish, I watched as
> he'd try to grab them as I fed them. Needless to say, he's not contributing
> to
> the happy environ that I'd like to have in my backyard. I'd like to capture
> him and find him a more suitable home. Any suggestions the best way to
> capture
> him? The odds of finding him on walk-about again are not very likely.
>
> John.
>

Can you net him while feeding the fish? How big a pond are we talking?

Joe



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[Linda Barsalou]

We had about a 5-6 inch snapper eating pieces out of the
tails of our goldfish a couple years ago. They can be
caught with a fishnet fairly easily, but make sure after you
have him that you take him a couple of miles away. The
first time we took ours about a quarter mile to a large
creek and the next day he was back. After we caught him
again, we took him about 2 miles down the creek and he
stayed gone that time.

Linda


JohnMcGrew wrote:
>
> I first noticed him about 3 years ago, with a frog leg (still attached to a
> not-happy frog) in his mouth. Sightings were then occasional, perhaps a dozen
> a year, as he was quite shy. As soon as he sees you approach the pond, he'd
> disappear under the foliage. He's grown quite a bit since then, and is now 8
> inches head to end of tail. His most obnoxious habits had been limiting the
> frog population (needed for bug control) and snipping free the lily pads. I
> also suspect he's responsible for some of the fish.
>
> Last week, I found a blue jay in the pond with him making a meal of it.
> Strange. Then earlier this week, I was looking out my window, and saw him out
> of the pond, proceeding towards the lawn. I ran out and found him hiding in
> the grass. I suspect he was hunting for birds, where he'd surprise them and
> drag them back to the pond. As you can imagine, he wasn't particularly happy
> when I picked him up. After taking a couple of pictures of his hissing and
> snapping, I replaced him in the pond.
>
> I now think that was a mistake. I should have kept him out when I had him.
> He's a bit less shy now. The other day while feeding the fish, I watched as
> he'd try to grab them as I fed them. Needless to say, he's not contributing to
> the happy environ that I'd like to have in my backyard. I'd like to capture
> him and find him a more suitable home. Any suggestions the best way to capture
> him? The odds of finding him on walk-about again are not very likely.
>
> John.
>
> John

[GrannyGrump]

>I now think that was a mistake. I should have kept him out when I had him.
>He's a bit less shy now. The other day while feeding the fish, I watched as
>he'd try to grab them as I fed them. Needless to say, he's not contributing to
>the happy environ that I'd like to have in my backyard. I'd like to capture
>him and find him a more suitable home. Any suggestions the best way to capture
>him? The odds of finding him on walk-about again are not very likely.

Oh, the walk-about will come again next year...she goes to a hill of
dirt elsewhere to lay eggs.

When you capture it, eat it!

[Mark Bannister]

Also males go walk-about to find new ponds, discover girlie turtles with
looser morals, and for all those other lusty snapping turtle reasons.
Mark B.
<Snip>


>
> Oh, the walk-about will come again next year...she goes to a hill of
> dirt elsewhere to lay eggs.
>
> When you capture it, eat it!
>

[JohnMcGrew]

Thanks for the suggestions. Still not sure how I'm going to get him again. I
do need to drain and clean the pond anyway (neglected to do so early in spring
as I usually do) except that probably won't work, as he's managed to hide
somewhere within the foliage on previous drains.

I may try the bait-n-net approach on a day when sitting out doing nothing else
seems appropriate.

John

[adavisus]

Hi John,

No, it's not easy winkling a snapping turtle out of a decent sized
pond. They are well able to hear you, before you get to the pond to
see them, a snapping turtle will dawdle gently into deep water and
invisible depths to listen to the sound of your footsteps come, and
go...

On a string of a dozen ponds here I was taking all sorts of damage to
waterlilies in particular, never a sight of the guilty party...

It took a year to figure out a solution, a turtle trap

A roll of chicken wire and considerable snipping a joining, voila...
turtles peck and tug a bait, a cage door closes behind them...

Within a few weeks I fished out five snapping turtles with 6" to 12"
shell lengths, a nine inch yellow belly turtle and several mud turtles
(returned to the ponds as innocent bystanders)

No turtle troubles for a year now, a turtle trap is always at the
ready, come the day lilypads and buds start to drift again...

Regards, andy
Don't forget to check out the plantlist below, with links to photo's
and descriptions of aquatic plants at webshots
http://www.members.aol.com/abdavisnc/swglist.html

> the happy environ that I'd like to have in my backyard. I'd like to capture
> him and find him a more suitable home. Any suggestions the best way to capture
> him? The odds of finding him on walk-about again are not very likely.
>
> John.

[[email protected]]

baited with squab I would think. Ingrid

(adavisus) wrote:
>No, it's not easy winkling a snapping turtle out of a decent sized
>pond. They are well able to hear you, before you get to the pond to
>see them, a snapping turtle will dawdle gently into deep water and
>invisible depths to listen to the sound of your footsteps come, and
>go...
>
>On a string of a dozen ponds here I was taking all sorts of damage to
>waterlilies in particular, never a sight of the guilty party...
>
>It took a year to figure out a solution, a turtle trap
>
>A roll of chicken wire and considerable snipping a joining, voila...
>turtles peck and tug a bait, a cage door closes behind them...
>
>Within a few weeks I fished out five snapping turtles with 6" to 12"
>shell lengths, a nine inch yellow belly turtle and several mud turtles
>(returned to the ponds as innocent bystanders)



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