snapping turtles primarily eat fish & things like crayfish. they will
in fact sit on the bottom, mouth wide open, and wiggle the tongue to
mimic some small tempting invertebrate, then snap up the fish that comes
to feed on the "invertebrate." feeding on young water birds is also
common. and while the whole animal is a bit slow, that head and jaws
can move like lightening. owned a 5 lb. turtle for a while as a kid, it
was fun to watch. w/r jck
WEalding@xxxxxxx wrote:
I've received several e-mails including this eye-witness report indicating that snappers aren't so strictly vegetarian after all! I have to wonder if that is what happened to our goose.
*/Wendy Ealding/*
*/Chesterfield County/*
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Subject:
Re: [va-bird] Canada Goose and Snapping Turtle
From:
"Jay Keller" <azure.jay@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date:
Fri, 8 Sep 2006 18:58:42 -0400
To:
<WEalding@xxxxxxx>
To:
<WEalding@xxxxxxx>
Wendy,
A few weeks ago at Huntley, I witnessed a large snapping turtle move more quickly than I thought they were able toward a young Canada Goose, jump on top of it, bite it in the face, and drag it under the water while it fought like crazy. It was amazing to see the spectacle unfold, and eliminate one of the great destroyers of the environment (summer geese).
Jay
----- Original Message -----
*From:* WEalding@xxxxxxx <mailto:WEalding@xxxxxxx>
*To:* va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:va-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
*Sent:* Friday, September 08, 2006 9:59 AM
*Subject:* [va-bird] Canada Goose and Snapping Turtle
Thanks to all of you who responded to my post about the Snapping
Turtle feeding on the Canada Goose carcass. We rechecked the area
this morning and saw no sign of the remnants; they could have
drifted off in the current from the feeder stream or just sunk.
The majority opinion was that the turtle was scavenging, and that
snappers are primarily vegetarian. Interestingly, we met a neighbor this morning who told us that her
husband had seen a snapper attempting to drown an adult duck in
the same location. He beat on the turtle with an oar and the duck
managed to get away, although she didn't know the outcome.
*/Wendy Ealding/*
*/Chesterfield County/*
