Rose Cottage Ltd

If you happened to read my post a few days ago, you’ll know that large snapping turtles are in the lake on my property. If they hadn’t proven to be deadly to the little goslings that also live here, I’d probably not have paid them much attention at all. Instead, I’ve managed to trap and relocate 3 of them so far, but as you’ll see from the images below, there is work remaining to be done.

I noticed some strange splashing going on at the far end of the lake on Tuesday and went, camera in hand, to investigate. The sight of these two male turtles fighting was something to see. The goal or the “win” seems to be to get your opponent upside down underwater and hold him there until he drowns.

Look at the size of those claws!

I should have taken my Flip video with me to record the rather horrible sounds of this fight – which did seem prehistoric. Hissing and snapping of their jaws, and if turtles can scream – these did. This was not “play.” Each of these turtles weighs somewhere near 30 pounds.

This shot reminds me of the last scene of one of the “Friday the 13th” movies where good old “Jason” comes up from under the water on that lake and grabs the heroine of the movie out of the boat! The one turtle getting ready to pounce on the other in this image was definitely the aggressor of this battle.

I was in the boat by this last shot and having watched this battle for nearly 15 minutes decided to break it up. I hit the water around them with the paddle until one finally broke free of the other and headed for deeper water. I’m guessing there is a large female turtle also on this lake – that is probably the cause of this skirmish.

Looks like more chicken legs in the turtle trap for the next several weeks…

+ More on snapping turtles

+ Some interesting turtle research in South Florida

+ Good info about trapping and relocating turtles and, how to build your own turtle trap

I normally try to let the wildlife that exists on my property do its own thing. Other than chasing squirrels out of my bird feeders, I figure Mother Nature knows best. But there is one instance where I do interfere – when it comes to the showdown between goslings and the (at least) one monster snapping turtle I have in my lake.

Here are the potential victims:

And here is the aggressor:

Two turtles were captured, moved, and released in 2010. No sightings were made in 2011, but I saw one floating on top of the water in the sun about a month ago – right off the shoreline from a goose nest. If I can humanely catch it and remove it – off it will go. These turtles have an amazing life span, and the ability to survive in a hostile world that one still has to admire. I’m guessing the weight of the individuals already removed from the lake at somewhere around 60 pounds – each.

However, there is a huge state lake nearby that should provide them plenty of better feeding opportunities than to feast on the little goslings. One goose soul of the initial 2012 six goslings has already gone missing and their lives are filled with enough natural and human predators already. Wish me, and the goslings luck. I’ve had the trap in the lake for over a week and so far, have not lured the turtle inside the trap. Every time I see the 2012 goose family head down to the deeper end of the lake, I cringe.

More on my turtle-trapping episode of 2010 in my post entitled, “Monster Turtles.” The 2010 turtles, which were moved to a huge lake about 15 miles from here, had been caught – using a chicken thigh as bait, in the turtle trap. You can find info on where I bought the trap and a picture of it out of the water here.