Snapping Turtles

 

This big girl showed up on June 10.  She is quite large, with her shell being easily over a foot long.  I watched her move around the back of the meadow where she must have come up from the river.  She finally settled in one spot and on closer inspection I realized she was laying eggs!  In the above pic she has one leg digging in the dirt to bury the eggs as she laid them.

 

The next day one of her relatives showed up and this time I had the idea to get out a yardstick.  These are big turtles!  If this second one laid a nest I didn't see it happen.

After doing some Google research it looks like the eggs should be hatching by late August or early September.  I've marked the site so that we don't run it over with the lawn tractor and pack the dirt down any more than it already is.  Some folks will make a cage to cover and protect a turtle nest but my concern was if they hatch and I'm not around to set them free, would they cook under the sun?  So I am just letting nature take its course.  Nothing has disturbed the nest so far.  Of course if I'm lucky enough to see when they hatch I will help relocate them down to the river if they don't move that way on their own.  And I've covered a nearby drain grate with a screen so they don't drop down there and get trapped.  Now all I can do is watch and wait.