Baby snapper!

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On June 3rd this mama snapping turtle crawled out of the Rock River, crossed my yard and then the road, and climbed a pretty steep hill to my neighbors house.

She used her powerful legs to dig through the landscaping rocks and laid her eggs next to the garage.

https://ecency.com/hive-14396/@melinda010100/common-snapping-turtle

Although there may have been over 30 eggs, 3 months later we only saw this one. Hopefully more of them hatched and made their way back across the road to the river.

When my neighbor went out for an early morning walk this little guy was on her sidewalk.

She scooped it up into a small box, stopped by so that I could see it, and then took it down to be released close to a quiet backwater of the river.
It was so tiny!

It has some growing to do!

An adult's carapace can reach 8-14 inches (20-36 cm) in length, and adults can weigh up to about 45 pounds (16 kg).

hive-127788 turtle snappingturtle nature wildlife archon pob neoxian cent
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Although there may have been over 30 eggs, 3 months later we only saw this one. Hopefully more of them hatched and made their way back across the road to the river.

Probably not many of them.

At least according to the Veterinary Medicine at Illinois, "studies show only 5% of snapping turtle eggs laid will hatch and approximately only 1% of those hatchlings will survive until reproductive age".

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Aww.. that's quite a beautiful baby snapper. I hope more babies came out of that batch.

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The success rate of egg to adult is very low. I hope this little guy grows up!

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SOOOO CUTE AND SOOOO SMALL!!!!
I've always loved turtles ^^ but are bites from snapping turtles ouchy?

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We were not sure if they could bite when they were this small, but we didn't take the risk and didn't touch it!

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ohh so you're not sure but dang is it cute 🥹🥹 didn't know snapping turtles had long tails like that though

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Good afternoon and peace be upon us all. I have seen the picture of the turtle that my friend showed and in my area there are also many turtles.

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She’s so small and beautiful
I actually wish to have a tortoise but I don’t know if they can be dangerous

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Aww this is soooo cute!!! ❤️ It’s amazing to be a witness of the nature’s miracles like this.

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Awesome! I remember your earlier post. So cool to see a baby 🙂

mama snapping turtle

I laughed at this term. I think mama snapping turtle should be right up there with mama bear, you want to give them a wide berth lol

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I was thrilled to get to see this baby! We have been anticipating the hatch all summer and it would have been so disappointing to miss it.

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What a cute little turtle! It sure got a break as it was delivered to the river rather than having to find it's own way there. Hopefully some of the others made it!
!BBH
!LOL

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Wow! So cute and so tiny but very intelligent. Beautiful photos of the turtle.

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