2018 First Strike found in the wild

LJenkins11

Now that I am finally snow and ice free up here in Maine I decided to go for a stroll into the forest. As I ventured about I came across this little guy, still in mint state! He was about 50 feet from the waters edge and eargerly on his way to joining natures 2018 circulation. Considering that it just recently hatched, certainly within the last 30 days, it should qualify for a First Strike label. The only thing I had to show scale was the quarter and thus tying nature to the coin forum.

JBK

Yikes - is that a snapping turtle?

I found a deceased one on my front lawn last year - perfectly formed but tiny, like yours.

LJenkins11

No, just a common painters turtle.

JBK

Ok, then. I used to catch those when I was a kid.

Azurescens

@JBK said:
Yikes - is that a snapping turtle?

I found a deceased one on my front lawn last year - perfectly formed but tiny, like yours.

Awww

JBK

I still have it. I was hoping it would mummify so I could put it in a tiny display case.

Paradisefound

Aawww....so cute! Thank you for your thoughtful post
@LJenkins11

ricko

That is cool... such a tiny baby turtle...looks smaller than the quarter.... There should have been a 'hatch' area nearby....Cheers, RickO

RogerB

Didn't know that quarters could crawl/walk. Maybe the turtle was looking for change?

Kkathyl

Adorable little snapper. thanks for the share I love nature. Of course if I tried to venture in the woods out here might end up gator bait. I do like to stroll the beaches.

JBK

Combining this thread with the one asking who bends over to pick up coins, I wonder if that turtle is trying to figure out how to snag that quarter. Or maybe he is checking out the edge to see if it is silver.

LJenkins11

That time of year again when hatchlings make a run for the water. I am always amazed at just how far they move, this guy was 200 feet from the water, uphill, and in a pretty dense forest. Unforntialey I did not have a 2022 quarter on me.

LanceNewmanOCC

cute little one.

for those of you wondering about snapper babies, believe you men, even when they are very little, you can tell them apart. they have a long spiky tail, a spiky shell and a very discernible predatory head/beak.

kinda reminds me of the predator head/helmet from the movies.

i'm pretty sure they can't break skin at the size of the turtles in this thread, courtesy of youtube vids but i still don't take the chance. too much risk for infection for my taste. i did carry a 10 pounder a couple years ago a few hundred yards back to a river away from the disaster that it was certainly heading for, concrete and tires.