Speaking of snapper heads

Saw this on the "Pond Boss" website.

Posted without further comment
catching Snappers

One thing is for sure, he's awful mean to them, hope he gets bit a few more times, he deserves it.
30-50 lbs and he handles em by the tail which is painful and causes injury to the animal. Funny how he thinks they don't like each other and encourages them to snap at each other when they hate being handled, theyr'e fighting for their life, they're actually smarter than people think and are actually pretty docile when hand raised.

I've raised these from hatchlings and caught plenty of them too, they were fun to raise and observe, definitely not a tree hugger here either, just respect the wildlife, even when going for the kill. Kill em humanely and quickly or leave em alone, I always ask how'd you like to trade places with em ?

I assume he has to keep em alive awhile before killing em for consumption, let the innards clean out but is he just too afraid to hold em by the shell when handling them ? You don't have to hold em by the tail. He will stink to high heaven as those glands on the sides of them release their fluid. I've had the soup plenty of times, I've got a 20 acre pond chock full of them too, but not impressive enough to kill em for that.

I always stick up for the underdog, what I hate is the mistreatment of wildlife by fools, there's no need for it and kids should NOT learn by what they see in that video. Enough said LOL !

When I was young my buddy and I would go to the Muskegon river right where it empties in Muskegon Lake. There are a lot of turtles there and they seem to cover any tree limb and item protruding from the water as they sun themselves. We never had any bad experiences with them but sometimes when they are moved they get upset and hiss but never had one bite. We took some home and made a pen with water and sand and they laid eggs in the sand and we eventually had baby turtles. They do smell though. They are an amazing creature.

Yes they are different, I still harbor a few every year, couple of us have never stopped since we were kids, I have learned a lot about them, some are very common, like the snapper, I had fun raising those, all of the ones I've raised from hatchlings were easy to handle, friendly and very gentle when taking food from your hand. When I let them go, as they need to be free due to their size, it was cool to think about how they'll probably outlive me !

I like the young hatchlings, both painted and snapping turtles lay eggs on our land, residents of our big pond, you know those snappers seem to all come out at once and not uncommon to find a dozen of them laying eggs, digging holes. Skunks like to eat the eggs so if it does not rain, most if not all the nests get wiped out, if it rains they can't pick up the scent to find the fresh eggs, so some years lots will hatch, other years not, so we take some and make nests in sunny areas on the lawn, 90 days later, fresh hatchlings, friends kids seem to really enjoy observing them as do we. They're cute, don't do a heck of a lot but swim, eat and sun, really not much work to provide what they need to live.

Ones I keep I just use a fish tank, set up for them, way overfiltered, keep the excess food cleaned up and the tank/filters cleaned as needed, not a whole lot of work to keep little ones, the shells on painted turtles are very colorful if you can set em up outside for the summer, direct sunlight is the best thing for em, though you can use UV B lighting indoors, when I seem em basking on their pad, it reminds one a little of summertime, after a year or so, I let em go and get new ones, been a hobby for years. I find they are not much for being handled, best left to be observed.