Huge snapper in pond

[lindaky]

My Granddaughter and I went out to feed the fish this afternoon and found this guy in the pond. I think it had only got in the pond today. He wouldn't fit in a five gallon bucket. All the big fish are accounted for. There may be a couple small fish missing. My son came and removed it. He now lives in a creek about a mile down the road.

[LeeAnne151]

Wow

I'm glad we don't have those here....

[water_sprite]

Good thing you got him out!  Yikes!

Brenda

[miguynmkoi]

W :oW!  Weren't you serving buffet? 

[Rick]

Did you do the "stick bite" test?

[lindaky]

Rick, Yes we did the stick bite test. Several times.  And the shovel too.

[Rick]

 

[Kittyzee]

They are quite dinosaur look-alikes aren't they?  I quite respect them but don't want one in my pond, relocation is best by far!!  Did it hiss too?  I had a 35 pound one in a pond where I lived many years ago.  Ducks were found floating and upon inspecting them, their heads were bit off.    Gross to be sure.  When they went dipping down for food the snapping turtle would strike.  I was afraid to leave my toes or fingers trailing in the water from the dock!

[Ky Kim]

That's a big'n alright. 

We've had a couple of those here over the years, before we had the ponds.  Our dogs would find them.  We haven't had one in many years, thank goodness.

Like yours, one of the ones we had wouldn't fit in a 5 gallon bucket either.  DH, didn't know it was even a snapper, right when he went to grab it I and my neighbor hollared stop.  But by then the turtle had already turned its head and dh had jumped.  He learned real quick what they looked like...

[bunny56lbc]

That's one Big Turtle  .
He must've seen a sign saying " all ya can eat buffet"....

bonnie

[joeyb5980]

Eek!! Glad you got him out... They are so prehistoric looking, and man what a nasty quick bite they are armed with!  Had a small one wander it's way into our pond last year- maybe 6" in size...  Even he had a gruesome little snap.  Don't know how he got through the chain link fence...  After that, I always look really carefully before sticking my hand in the pond very far!     Glad your big fish escaped his jaws!

[Rick]

You should tame it and tech it to do flips

[Sandye]

Man, that's huge.  How did your son get him out of the pond?  I removed a small one from my pond once, but he fit on my little hand gardening shovel.  I hope I don't ever have a bigger one in my pond. 

I'm glad you found him before he did much damage.   

[Ruthie]

Whoa.  He's a big fellow.  Glad you found him quick!

[frogman3]

I have caught them before on hook and line by accident when I was a teenager. I would imagine they could do considerable damage to a liner since they dig their dens in the banks of ponds and have huge claws. Always thought people were out of their mind sticking their hands in the snappers dens to pull them out by the tail. I visited the aquarium in Chicago years ago and they had a alligator snapper on display that was a monster. I think he was around 80 years old.

Fm3

[kitfoxdrvr]

They have a tendency to migrate from pond to pond; I saw one last week crossing a 5 lane highway.  If my grandpa had been with me, he would have made me stop and we would have had turtle soup the next day! Had it many times growing up-it is pretty good!  Lot of meat in one of those shells!  I used to scuba dive for golf balls at several local courses, and these I feared more than snakes!

Steve

[Blondieskatz]

  That's one surprise I hope I never find in my pond!

[Indiana Karen]

Sure glad you caught him before he got your fish.  We had one last summer that got our two biggest butterfly koi.  We have had a lot of rain the last few days and have seen several on the move.

Karen