While the Blanding’s continue to nest, we had the opportunity to get some more experiences with Painted and Common Snapping turtles.
Usually, when it comes to snappers, Surina shies away but this week, with the encouragement of Nick and Bill, not only did she handle a snapping turtle, but was able to process one from start to finish from getting it free from the trap to sampling to releasing. Through this season, Nick was typically the primary when sampling snapping turtles but that may change in the future. We got to have quite a bit of opportunities to sample snappers and practice techniques we do not usually do, such as, rope restraining to help make handling safer and drawing blood from the tail.
Here, Surina is swabbing the mouth of a small snapping turtle. Note the blue cord that is wrapped around the body to restrain the mouth so he cannot bite her.
It’s safe to say that Surina’s fear of snapping turtles has turned into excitement.
Now, Surina didn’t hog all of the snappers, Nick got to sample a few too, one of which being one that we had previously seen. You can see a pic of them together below. How cute, they are both smiling.
Now for our weekly tallies.
WEEK 6
Total Turtles Sampled: 15
Surina’s Fall Count: 7
Whats Thanos’ favorite animals?
A Snapping Turtle
