Late this morning I happened upon a tiny little baby snapping turtle on my driveway. I had moved some flower pots, emptying the now mushy stubs of summer flowers. I think the little turtle may have been hiding among them and was left out in the open when I moved the pots into the garage.
I picked him (her?) up, put him in a container and took him to the park where there are several ponds in the wildlife area. Kate, of course, went along for the ride. No one gets to go to the park without her! And of course she needed to supervise the release.
I put him down gently on the soft grass right next to the water.
Katie was very happy that we had saved the tiny turtle!
Since we were at the park we decided to go for a walk through the beautiful fields of drying grass. Today it is going to get up to 70 degrees, the first day in a long time that we’ve had anything that warm. So we enjoyed the sunshine as we wandered.
On our way back to the car we stopped by the turtle release site to see if he had moved. He wasn’t on the bank where we left him, so I was glad that he had moved on. Then I realized that there was a big dark Northern Water Snake, about 3 feet long, coiled in the shallow water right off the grassy spot I had left the turtle! OH NOOOOO!!!!! I felt TERRIBLE! I hadn’t saved the little guy just to have him end up as lunch immediately! I felt so SAD, and glared at the snake, who I assumed was resting after his big meal. Katie didn’t notice the snake at all. I guess she’s more of a princess than a nature dog. Then the snake moved his head side to side slightly and I realized my little turtle was just below the surface of the water, up next to the grass. And the snake was beginning to make his move!
“NOOOOO!” I shouted, and the snake, startled, swam back out into the pond. I swooped MY little turtle back up in my hand, put him back in the container, and Katie and I drove him home.
Once there I walked my little guy across the street to the neighborhood pond, where I should have put him in the first place. It’s the pond his mother likely lives in. I had thought he’d like the nature preserve pond better. Right. I thought the poor thing would be totally traumatized, but he was now moving around the container more than he did at any other time. Across the street at the pond I gently placed him in the water near a shallow spot where he could climb out of the pond if he wanted to. He seemed happy, sunk a little in the water and stuck his snout out, looking around.
Can you see him? I wished him luck, and went back home. I don’t know if he’ll make it or if our neighborhood blue heron will have him for lunch. But I hope he thrives. I hope when I see turtles sunning as I drive by, one of them will be him. I like to think about him exploring his new home. I know the snake needed food, but I don’t think it needed lunch delivered. At least not by me.
Meanwhile, Katie is checking out behind all the pots just in case there’s a sister or brother waiting to be heroically saved by a Sheltie.
Here’s most likely his Mom:
She was over by the pond earlier this summer. Amazing, isn’t she!
Katie wasn’t interested in her either…though I didn’t take her over there to see her up close. She’s a snapper, and a big one. Katie needs a nap now. I have to go to work.
I’ve been promising Katie for what seems like days, and probably seems like weeks to her, a trip to her favorite soccer field/park. Today I wasn’t scheduled to work, it wasn’t raining, and even more motivating was the fact that there were contractors in the basement sawing a window well and a crawl space door into the wall. After hours of listening to the screaming, grinding saw Katie and I ran away to the park for the afternoon.
We’re just home from a wonderful meal at Janelle’s Place, a family restaurant in the tiny rural town of Byron Michigan, population 562. Their slogan is; “Janelle’s Place, a little slice of heaven.”
Change Is Hard 