# Could a snapping turtle have done this much damage?



## BethW (May 3, 2007)

I went out to check on the ducks this evening and found one with a horribly mangled leg. The leg was broken, the skin was split and torn down the leg and all of the webbing and one of the toes was completely gone. It was dripping blood.

The ducks spend most of their time on our half acre pond and we've had snapping turtles in the past. But could one have done this much damage? Or could it have been the result of a duck's pulling away from another predator? This was a full size heavy Pekin duck.

Also, in trying to time the attack, I'm wondering how long an injury like that would bleed so freely?


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## katy (Feb 15, 2010)

My guess is, yes on the damage. I know a guy that shoots those snappers, he says they will clear a pond of all fish, then mosey along another one to continue the carnage.


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## katy (Feb 15, 2010)

My guess is, yes on the damage. I know a guy that shoots those snappers, he says they will clear a pond of all fish, then mosey along to another pond to continue the carnage.


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## Energy Rebel (Jan 22, 2011)

If you've ever encountered one up close, you'd be surprised at how quick and strong they are. One not much bigger than a baby can take off your finger.....so yes a duck leg is not a problem.
Hard to say about the bleeding. Hours, I'd imagine.


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## HillRunner (Jun 28, 2010)

Best advice use a fishimg pole and liver to catch e then toss them in a tub of water for a week or so to let them pass and clear out. Then butcher and enjoy some good eatting!


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## KSALguy (Feb 14, 2006)

yes, a good sized snapper could actually kill and eat a duck, that duck got away lucky, i have seen lots of one legged ducks or ducks with parts missing from turtle attacks


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98ako31Qwss[/ame]

http://www.duckrescuenetwork.org/DRNBoard/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=32&t=383

Snapping turtles and waterfowl don't mix well. Best to remove the turtles from your private pond. Maybe try some turtle soup.


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## mommamae (May 19, 2011)

Snapping turtles are definitely dangerous to duck and other water fowl. They can decimate a fish pond population fairly quickly too. They are VERY strong, quick and extremely aggressive.

As suggested, turtle soup is excellent (one of my all-time favorite dishes), but be careful about killing them because they're endangered in some areas and if you were to get caught somehow, you could get in trouble.


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

Thanks, all. The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced it was a turtle. We've had issues in years past and cleared the pond of them, but obviously at least one has moved back in. We dropped the trap in the pond a few hours ago, baited with a turkey neck.

My primary concern was confirming this was likely snapper damage rather than from another predator. I think if it was something else, they wouldn't have stopped with one leg. And I can't think of any other predator that would've started with duck toes.

We ended up putting the duck down. She was a mess.


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## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

Oh I'm so sorry your duck died. Sounds horrible! ((((lots of huggs!))))


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

Thanks, Min It was a really sad day and the first time we've had to put an animal down.

The satisfying thing is that we caught not one, but TWO big snappers in the trap this morning. We'll be holding court and declaring their...ahem...sentence...shortly.


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## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

bethw said:


> thanks, min it was a really sad day and the first time we've had to put an animal down.
> 
> The satisfying thing is that we caught not one, but two big snappers in the trap this morning. We'll be holding court and declaring their...ahem...sentence...shortly.


soup!


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## Energy Rebel (Jan 22, 2011)

Since they are incarcerated now, put a stick in front of their mouth bigger than one of your wrist and observe.
Make that a looong stick.


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## OJ Rallye (Aug 4, 2005)

BethW said:


> The satisfying thing is that we caught not one, but TWO big snappers in the trap this morning. We'll be holding court and declaring their...ahem...sentence...shortly.


I've seen snappers go after wild goslings on the drainage canal and get several.

If you got 2 big snappers, cook the meat in a roasting pan first and then use the leftovers for soup or stew.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Sorry about your duck.

Dh and I once watched a snapping turtle eat an adult Canadian goose! The turtle was as big as dh's back! I would have loved to invite it to dinner but we were in a wildlife sanctuary and I'm not saying which one.


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## berrley (Apr 7, 2010)

I'm so sorry you had to put your duck down.
I read this thread yesterday and wondered if the giant turtle we saw in our pond was a snapper. Today 3 of our 4 ducks are missing. Our pond is really shallow right now (maybe up to our knees if we walked through it) but there is a lot of sludge on top. I would expect to see some sort of remnant of the ducks, but am I wrong? Would the turtle eat the whole duck?? (or ducks rather)


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

Definately a snaper could do it. My mum has a lake on her property and they have huge snappers we have a female in ther we call Methusala, she is about3.5 feet long as far as we can tell. One guy managed to trap one of the snappers and it was huge and he told my parents from the size and everything it was about 100 years old.


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## HOTW (Jul 3, 2007)

BethW said:


> Thanks, Min It was a really sad day and the first time we've had to put an animal down.
> 
> The satisfying thing is that we caught not one, but TWO big snappers in the trap this morning. We'll be holding court and declaring their...ahem...sentence...shortly.


Keep trapping, you probably have more....


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## homebody (Jan 24, 2005)

What kind of a trap do you use for turtles? I've already seen 2 little ones in one pond, sure there is more. 

Also, can anyone recommend exactly how to clean/butcher one of these things? LOL


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

berrly, snappers will eat the duck whole.


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## Rickydink (Dec 26, 2005)

We lost our Peking drake to a snapping turtle a few months ago. We did not know what had eaten up his back until we saw and captured the large snapper in the creek he had been swimming in.


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## BethW (May 3, 2007)

Homebody, we're using a trap similar to this:
http://http://www.thepondguy.com/product/2010?mr:trackingCode=A9E28871-AD13-E011-B31E-001B2163195C&mr:referralID=NA

It's very effective, baited with a turkey neck. Toss it in and leave it there for a day or two.

We found the trap in the barn on the place we bought. We were so inexperienced that we had no idea what it was...it reminded me of a crab trap. After our first encounter 5 years ago with a snapper I put 2 and 2 together and realized what that trap was for.

I'll keep tossing the trap in as long as I keep pulling them up. Grrrr.


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## HillRunner (Jun 28, 2010)

So Beth what was there sentence?


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## Tabitha (Apr 10, 2006)

Father in law cut them up and fried them like chicken.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Danaus29 said:


> berrly, snappers will eat the duck whole.


Not necessarily. They are quite good at grabbing with their mouth and tearing away flesh with their powerful front feet/claws. I've watched Charlie (my pet snapper that I've had inside for the past five years) do this countless times. Makes a horrible mess in a tank, but he is quite good at getting foodstuffs to be bitesize. Unless this is a HUGE ancient snapper, it wouldn't be able to swallow an adult duck. 

I'm really sorry about your duck. Alligator snappers are the ones who are protected. I don't think that common snappers are endangered anywhere. Not sure if you have Alligator snappers in VA but I'd bet money you have a common snapper problem- the right territory and Ally's tend to wiggle their tongues and wait not actively hunt food.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Our pet snapper would tear mice up enough to swallow them whole. Never left much more than a little fur floating around in the tank. Probably should have flipped my words though, snappers will eat a whole duck. How big was your snapper when you got it and how big is it now? We got ours when it was the size of a quarter and kept it for 7 years. It got to be bigger than my hand. At that size mice were easy pickings.


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Got charlie as a hatchling- his clutch/nest was found in the fall when someone was landscaping and gave the clutch to the local reptile expert who hatched and sold them. He hatched out October 31st (seriously) and we got him once his yolk sac was absobed. This was about 5 yrs ago. He weighs around 5-10 lbs, shell length is somewhere around 8 inches, is tame, begs horribly and could easily take off someone's finger if they were stupid and he actually snapped (he doesn't). He loves to get bathes under running water in the sink- when he was smaller I used a toothbrush to scrub his shell now I use one of the longhandled scrub brushes and he always leans into the brush and just loves it on his shell. Whenever I was stupid enough to give him mice that were too big he would take great joy in disembowling them and tearing them apart. He'd make a HUGE mess. Now he can swallow mice whole. He's killed two eheims and a fluval so now I just do total water changes twice a week and maintain algea in the tank. 

Charlie is a horrible beggar and DH always falls for it so Charlie is growing faster than he should. He should only be fed 1-2 times per week but gets fed every other dayish. He's always shedding a bit.


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## BjornBee (Jan 17, 2011)

I've seen three snappers in the past week crossing the highway. Big ones. Something I would not want to hit with my car. So they are moving. Either to better ponds of for mating.

I attend a snapper picnic every year. Snapper chowder, snapper soup, snapper deep fried nuggets.....and lots of beer. A highlight every year.

I had a pond last year with many gold fish the kids placed. None were left at the end of the summer. Seen the snapper several times. This year, no fish...no snapper....yet!


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## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

BjornBee said:


> I've seen three snappers in the past week crossing the highway. Big ones. Something I would not want to hit with my car. So they are moving. Either to better ponds of for mating.!


These are the females going off to lay their eggs.


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## Danaus29 (Sep 12, 2005)

Ours never was very tame. It did try to take a neighbors finger off. He was feeding it while we were on vacation and stuck his finger in the tank to see if it would bite. Duh! We always did the total water change as needed. Those turds are HUGE! 

I miss Chomper.  Had to find it another home, it was just too big and too mean to keep any longer.


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## NorCalChicks (Dec 7, 2007)

We run a reptile rescue here in Nevada (because we don't already have enough to do! ) and a few months ago someone turned a Florida Softshell turtle in. She is enormous! I'd guess about 16 inches across her carapace. My Grandaddy always used to talk about turtle soup, but I've never tried it myself.
Josie looks like this but a little bigger!


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## laughaha (Mar 4, 2008)

Gorgeous!!!!!

I've thought about getting a mata mata hatchling when Charlie moves outside (within the next couple months). We don't have room for a bigger aquarium and with a huge (300gal min) rubbermaid stock tank I can finally give him a decorated tank again (stones/logs).


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## HillRunner (Jun 28, 2010)

I think MataMata are one of the coolest looking turtles! If they wasn't for the huge tank they need I would love to have a Fly River Turtle!







But anuff of me Hijacking the thread. lol


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