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Salt water snapping turtle?

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joe0306

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I've seen them in the back bays and marshes, especially near river mouths and herring runs in water that was definitely brackish or fully salt. That said, I've never seen one on the beach like that. Maybe he's lost? :headscratch:

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1 hour ago, Jonesy02719 said:

Snappers can live in brackish water and estuaries, but obviously do not favor salt water.  Since they can live in estuarine environments, what you see there is something that got too far downstream.

 

I’ve seen snappers in New Bedford harbor, and know other people who have seen the same.

Exactly this. Snappers lack the Lachrymal gland that marine turtles have that helps them secrete excess salt, and therefore cannot tolerate fully saline environments for very long. They can survive in estuaries and marshes, yes - but fun fact -  it has been observed that turtles that do so tend to limit their time in environments of over 40% salinity and often travel back and forth to freshwater in order to manually regulate their salt intake.

 

It's possible that the turtle in this photo is out wandering looking for a nesting site, but more likely I would guess it ended up here by accident and is trying to find it's way back to more favorable habitat.

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I would see them in both red brook harbour and upper back river in bourne........we would also catch the small turtles sleeping around the spring holes in the middle of winter as well......interesting how they cannot take sw for long...I always learn good stuff from you guys........:)

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31 mins ago, Intrepid95 said:

Exactly this. Snappers lack the Lachrymal gland that marine turtles have that helps them secrete excess salt, and therefore cannot tolerate fully saline environments for very long. They can survive in estuaries and marshes, yes - but fun fact -  it has been observed that turtles that do so tend to limit their time in environments of over 40% salinity and often travel back and forth to freshwater in order to manually regulate their salt intake.

 

It's possible that the turtle in this photo is out wandering looking for a nesting site, but more likely I would guess it ended up here by accident and is trying to find it's way back to more favorable habitat.

Yeah, that has my vote. I once rescued a big Red Eared Slider from a beach in the Hamptons. There was a pond near there that drains to the beach periodically, it must have gotten caught when the dam blew.  Also, snappers don't really have the ability to float the way most water turtles do. That why they have such long necks, to sit on the bottom of shallow spots and reach up for a breath.  I used to see a lot of terrapins in the Peconics, they are salt dwellers.

 

One fall years ago when my kids were small we rescued a newly hatched snapper that was floating in a lake above a well known bass hole. He didn't have long! Apparently it was some kind of gastric malfunction that made him float. We kept him till the next summer, dumbest pet we've ever had, and we've had lots of reptiles. Most fun was dropping crickets in when we had some for the bearded dragon, he'd go nuts!

 

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I relocated one last summer in Rye NH. I called the seacoast science center and they said sometimes the snapping turtles travel too far down river and end up in the salt. They didn't plan on sending anyone out to relocate him. The one we rescued was struggling and getting knocked around in the waves. The wife and I put it in a box and dropped it off at a pond. 

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I was fishing at the canal at MMA,  swimming my way, he got on the little beach, he was very tired, I got a box out of my truck and put him in it, then I brought him to the little pond next to town hall I put him in the water and off he went

 

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