Wildlife: Turtle in my Garden, 1 by CajuninKy

CajuninKy wrote:
Your "Texas" turtle actually looks more like the common snapping turtle rather than the alligator snapper. It is hard to tell but the one in your picture does not have the pronounced ridges along the top of it's shell. Alligator snappers were common in the swamps of Louisiana where I am from but sadly they are not common anymore. They taste great and have been overfished. They don't reproduce rapidly and it has really hurt the population. Many people I know who fished them will not eat them anymore as they don't want to lose them altogether. They grow to be very large and heavy. I have seen them weighing nearly 200lbs and measuring 3ft front to back. I haven't seen one of that size in many years now. The common snappers don't get anywhere near that big but they taste good too. We have a big one in our creek we have plans to harvest. It has been feasting on the baby ducks this season.

This female crawled up above the high water mark in our back yard to lay her eggs.