Lost: one small yet potentially ferocious snapping turtle. Having staged a reckless escape and fallen—not to his death, clearly—from the top of a 3 ½ foot bookshelf, he is missing.
Also lost: Mom’s peace of mind. Somewhere in her house there is a reptile on the loose. Ew!
Found: one very cute and much missed little “Snappy”. His younger owners, having postponed the search long enough to go to piano lessons, returned 2 hours later to find him hanging out in the dining room. Pretty impressive, Mom says! Snappy made it a good 30 yards before he was caught.
Also found: a new admiration on the part of Mom and a fresh resolve to talk Dad into keeping our pint-sized snapper. (In a cage with a lid, obviously.)
Call me crazy but I like his spunk.
PS. Am I crazy?
No you’re not crazy – I like him too. I have some nice pictures of him striding across the dining room table towards freedom! 😉
No, you’re a good mommy who knows how much her kids love their animals. 🙂
Our frog escaped two days ago and we still havent found him. It gives me the heebie jeebies!
Spunk is good.
🙂
Here’s a link to read: http://www.turtlehomes.org/usa/snappingturtles.shtml
“Snapping turtles are fascinating animals, and captives are relatively hardy with proper care. However, the large size, long life, and aggressive nature of this species deserve serious consideration.”
And then there’s another key word further down in the article: SMELLY.
Just some thoughts. Sorry to be that rain cloud on the picnic!
Have you all read “Minn of the Mississippi” by Holling C. Holling? It is about the life of a little snapping turtle just like Snappy. It starts in Minnesota and ends in Louisiana. It is excellent and would go perfectly with your spunky new pet.
We are doing the turtle thing, too. Currently we have two Midland Painted Turtles and if DS gets his way we’ll have a Blandings Turtle soon. I bet the snapper is much easier to care for, but not quite as cuddly.