Turteliscious
Jun. 15th, 2004 08:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miekecAn interesting commute today.
Along the Muddy River bikepath I noticed a snapping turtle on the "higher ground", out of the water, across the bikepath, and into the grassy stretch between the path and the T line. That alone was not too surprising, considering the turtle that was near the Longwood T stop yesterday, digging a hole and then covering it back up. According to the people clustered near it, it hadn't actually laid [lain? layed?] any eggs in it. It was, however, a snapping turtle, so people kept their distance.
So, today's turtle was not that big of a surprise. The second one, a hundred yards or so later, in a similar location, was more of a surprise. I had never seen turtles in or near the muddy river before, so this was a plethora :)
And then, as I was about to cross the street at the end of the bikepath, I noticed a car, stopped in the curve, blinkers on, and 3 women starign at something on the ground. Yes, another turtle. This time, a not-so-smart one. It was apparently trying to get into the street, and one of the women had tried to move it back, but then got startled when it snapped at her. So, they were standing there, dithering. Eep-eep-babble-babble-eep-OhMyGodIBrokeSomethingOff-HeHeNo,ItWasJustAPoop--Yak-Yak.
I parked my bicycle, asked them to keep an eye on my daughter in the trailer, and started to pick up the turtle. Carefully.
Yes, indeed, it was a snapping turtle too. Good thing I had anticipated that, and had touched away from the head. But I was surprised at the speed and strength. So, I did some rough math.
Shell = 1 foot.
Neck = less than 1 foot.
Solution = grab turtle at shell at distance farther than beak can reach.
That worked. It didn't like it much, and tried to flail paws and head for a few seconds. When that didn't work, it started peeing like crazy. Good thing I was holding it away from me anyway, keeping all my bodyparts away from its beak, strong paws and (as I heard later) also very strong tail. I moved it away from the busy intersection some 10, 20 yards, and put it down near the water. Much better.
And then it was back to the boringly normal task of navigating the Boston streets during rush hour on a bicycle with a trailer with toddler in it :)
Along the Muddy River bikepath I noticed a snapping turtle on the "higher ground", out of the water, across the bikepath, and into the grassy stretch between the path and the T line. That alone was not too surprising, considering the turtle that was near the Longwood T stop yesterday, digging a hole and then covering it back up. According to the people clustered near it, it hadn't actually laid [lain? layed?] any eggs in it. It was, however, a snapping turtle, so people kept their distance.
So, today's turtle was not that big of a surprise. The second one, a hundred yards or so later, in a similar location, was more of a surprise. I had never seen turtles in or near the muddy river before, so this was a plethora :)
And then, as I was about to cross the street at the end of the bikepath, I noticed a car, stopped in the curve, blinkers on, and 3 women starign at something on the ground. Yes, another turtle. This time, a not-so-smart one. It was apparently trying to get into the street, and one of the women had tried to move it back, but then got startled when it snapped at her. So, they were standing there, dithering. Eep-eep-babble-babble-eep-OhMyGodIBrokeSomethingOff-HeHeNo,ItWasJustAPoop--Yak-Yak.
I parked my bicycle, asked them to keep an eye on my daughter in the trailer, and started to pick up the turtle. Carefully.
Yes, indeed, it was a snapping turtle too. Good thing I had anticipated that, and had touched away from the head. But I was surprised at the speed and strength. So, I did some rough math.
Shell = 1 foot.
Neck = less than 1 foot.
Solution = grab turtle at shell at distance farther than beak can reach.
That worked. It didn't like it much, and tried to flail paws and head for a few seconds. When that didn't work, it started peeing like crazy. Good thing I was holding it away from me anyway, keeping all my bodyparts away from its beak, strong paws and (as I heard later) also very strong tail. I moved it away from the busy intersection some 10, 20 yards, and put it down near the water. Much better.
And then it was back to the boringly normal task of navigating the Boston streets during rush hour on a bicycle with a trailer with toddler in it :)
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no subject
Date: 2004-06-16 10:56 am (UTC)