ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE

Braxton and I were on our way to our neighborhood park when I look down and see this little turtle on the side of the road. I was looking at and I thought man that is a weird looking turtle I have never seen a turtle with a long tail. So I called Braxton over to show him and he was so excited he wanted to take him home. I decided that would be okay, so we took the turtle home and made him a little house. Then I googled what kind of turtle has a spiky shell and a long tail. Then I find out it is a ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE! Then I go on read about how aggressive these turtles are and how they can take a finger off once they get bigger. However they are docile when they are babies which this one was luckily. These turtle can triple in size in three months. Ya we are defiantly not keeping that little guy around. I did let Braxton keep it until dad got home so he could show him. Then I had Kevin go release it back to the wild but I wanted him to take it to a pond farther away but he put it back in the neighborhood pond so beware in a few months there may be some Alligator snapping turtles trying to take off peoples fingers! It was pretty funny when they let the turtle go it swam off then came right back to were Braxton was telling him goodbye then poked its little head out and just stared at him for a while then swam away it was pretty cute!

Braxton wants a pet so bad but I really don't want to take care of anything I don't know what to get him! Now he keeps asking "mom can I have a nice turtle that won't bite me?"

Braxton liked to refer to him as the "crocodile snapping turtle"

This turtle looks prehistoric, I think it said they can live up to 150 years!

It was really fast too when we were trying to take this picture he was about running off the counter top! I was not expecting that from a turtle!