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To: Clappy who wrote (81803)	9/10/2011 12:27:40 PM
From: Crocodile	Respond to of 104167

clappy~ A turtle that large is likely to be a Snapping Turtle. Although it is a bit late in the season, I suppose it could be going off to lay eggs. The season may be a bit different in your area. Here, I would say the season is more like June-July. Snapping turtles like to lay their eggs in sandy or gravel soil. For example, snapping turtle nests are often found dug into the gravel shoulder of a paved road near swamps, rivers, etc... Sometimes turtles will just migrate to a different place to over winter. A friend who has been seeing the same big snapping turtle in a pond near his house, sees it leave each autumn and return in the spring. Turtles tend to be a lot more mobile than we think. That is why it is too simplistic to think that a new road passing by a swamp will not impact the turtles. In fact, the turtles may have a traditional nest spot and will try to get to it in spite of the road, leading to a high number of roadkill deaths. In the case of some species, they take so long to mature to egg-laying age (over 15 years of age for Blandings), any increase in mortality can wipe out a population. This is all the kind of stuff that city planners and developers tend not to (want to) take into account, and why we are seeing sharp declines in populations of wetland animals such as frogs and turtles. Hope your turtle returns in the spring and perhaps you will find young turtles in your pond sometime too. -croc