Originally Posted by
indyfabz
He got a large piece of tree branch and started pushing the thing out of the road. My God! What a fight. It was thrashing around like a damn alligator. The motorist was worried that they guy might hurt it. He said "You can't hurt these things." He finally got it into the grass after a couple of minutes.
I like helping animals, but I also like my fingers. I will never try to pick up a grown snapper again.
A grown snapper will do a number on you for sure.
Yes decapitated snappers heads can bite and their hearts beat for hours !!
The safest way to move a snapper is with a shovel or by dropping a towel/blanket over their heads and picking them up just above the rear legs. They can't scratch or bite you from there but they are very powerful and quite fast. It waaaay wasier said than done. Unfortunately pushing them along a road can scrape their legs and undersides pretty badly (think road rash on a turtle) and they can then suffer from infection and even die. Most people don't know that.
The threat of snappers to goslings and baby ducks is there but way over stated. Most turtles lay on the bottom. Snappers tho mean and nasty on land attempt to flee when in the water. Grabbing them by the tail can injure there tail and vertebrae. They can live to be over 100 years old.
Obviously I like turtles. Had a snapper as a pet when I was a boy. When he got big enough to be scary he was released. Never really warmed up to people !!