Big Bertha, the gigantic snapping turtle came back yesterday to find a spot to lay her eggs. This picture really doesn't do her justice - she's huge. And prehistoric-looking. Her tail looks like a dinosaur tail with the spikes going down the center and those claws are ridiculously long. Here's a shot with my shoe next to her for scale. It was raining when I took the shot and my camera wasn't cooperating so it's kinda blurry.
That's a size-8 Teva there, so I'm guessing that from tail to nose, she was about 24-inches long. She lumbered around the whole yard until she found the sandiest spot to dig a hole for her nest. She picked the same spot as last year when we caught her in mid-lay. Here's what she looked like then.
At least we think that's her. I can't imagine (and don't really want to imagine) a whole clan of these giant snappers living behind the house, so let's just say it's her. She looks bigger this year. Yeah, she could have snapped my leg off if she really wanted to, but she had better things to do.
Molly was really ticked that I got to play with the turtle and she didn't. She barked at her through the window every time Bertha made a turtle sprint across the yard but we wouldn't let her out to investigate - we like Molly with all four of her legs.
1 comment:
whoa, that's a bit scary. just found your blog link through your etsy page. you seem to have an interesting life! love your jewelry! -phinney
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