Hi everyone,
Was heading home for lunch out of the industrial park and there was a dinner plate size snapping turtle getting ready to walk into heavy traffic. So I stop.
I always saw people grab them by the base of the tail and make sure the head is turned away. I know how bad they can be . I have only handled the little guys so this was my first larger snapper.
So, the pond the turtle crawled out of was maybe 40 feet away. So I had a bag in my car and distracted the head while I got a grip on the tail and made it half way to the pond. Then put the turtle down cause I could feel the tail , I guess you would put it as maybe being adjusted by me holding the animal that way . So I was afraid I was hurting the turtle. Plus I needed to get my courage back cause this turtle was pist LOL. But I was right there so did the same thing and got a good grip and ran to the pond and put the turtle in lol.
My question is. The holding by the tail is this really ok. The way the bones were creaking just made me feel like I could do damage that way.But I knew a car would be much worse.
So any advice or thoughts so that way the next time I am better prepaired .
Thanks
Christine

p.s. very small tail too