{"id":13250,"date":"2013-05-29T17:22:40","date_gmt":"2013-05-29T22:22:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=13250"},"modified":"2013-05-29T17:22:40","modified_gmt":"2013-05-29T22:22:40","slug":"from-tiny-eggs-giant-snappers-grow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=13250","title":{"rendered":"From Tiny Eggs, Giant Snappers Grow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-egg-001-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13252\" title=\"post snapper egg 001 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-egg-001-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"305\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-egg-001-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-egg-001-480-300x190.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>From Tiny Eggs, Giant Snappers Grow<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Might oaks from little acorns grow, and from tiny eggs giant snapper spring.\u00c2\u00a0 At the oozy bottom of every lake and pond in New England lies a 70 pound snapping turtle that began life decades ago as a miniature ping-pong sized egg.\u00c2\u00a0 That long process began today for a new generation of snappers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-zero-001-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13262\" title=\"post snapper zero 001 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-zero-001-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"351\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-zero-001-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-zero-001-480-300x219.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Rufus Discovers Good Sized Female Snapper<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Rainy, humid and murky quiet; these elements comprise the trifecta of ingredients for snapper nesting.\u00c2\u00a0 Soil moist and soft for digging, and conditions so miserable that humans and other mammalian predators will eschew wetland bogs.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, Rufus and Sue Wieber Nourse were on hand to find three nesting snappers and to recover 58 eggs for the turtle garden.\u00c2\u00a0 The first good sized female snapper was found by Rufus; she (the snapper) decided the better part of valor would be to wait another day for nesting.\u00c2\u00a0 (And, no; it&#8217;s only an optical illusion in the photo above.\u00c2\u00a0 Despite these snapper encounters, Rufus still has four legs.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-001-24-eggs-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13254\" title=\"post snapper one 001 24 eggs 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-001-24-eggs-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"463\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-001-24-eggs-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-001-24-eggs-480-300x289.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Youngish Female Snapper Laying Nest<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Around the corner from the first snapper, Sue and Rufus discovered a youngish, ten-pound snapper that had climbed a muddy log pile to deposit her eggs.\u00c2\u00a0 A bit bashful, this young lady took nearly two hours to complete the nesting process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-002-24-eggs.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13257\" title=\"post snapper one 002 24 eggs 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-002-24-eggs-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"804\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-002-24-eggs-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-one-002-24-eggs-480-179x300.jpg 179w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong>Rufus Guards Snapper and Her 24 Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Her nest contained a total of 24 ping-pong sized eggs that were harvested for a protected nest in the turtle garden.\u00c2\u00a0 As is her duty, Rufus kept a watchful eye on the eggs and \u00c2\u00a0the departing mother turtle to ensure their safety.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-001-34-eggs-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13260\" title=\"post snapper two 001 34 eggs 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-001-34-eggs-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"421\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-001-34-eggs-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-001-34-eggs-480-300x263.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Young Snapper Female Laying Nest<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">About five hundred feet down the path, Sue and Rufus encountered a young, but slightly larger female snapper, slowly and calmly carving her nest into the muddy substrate.\u00c2\u00a0 Arteries pulsing with the reptilian equivalent of oxytocin, this moment is the one time\u00c2\u00a0you can safely approach a snapping turtle as\u00c2\u00a0she\u00c2\u00a0labors away in a zombie-like nesting trance.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/snapper-two-002-34-eggs-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13269\" title=\"snapper two 002 34 eggs 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/snapper-two-002-34-eggs-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/snapper-two-002-34-eggs-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/snapper-two-002-34-eggs-480-300x241.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Enormous Dinosaur-Like Tail and Powerhouse Legs<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Without being able to see what she&#8217;s doing, the female snapper secures her &#8220;footing&#8221; by driving her dinosaur-like tail into the ground like a spike, as she delicately maneuvers her powerful legs, first to sculpt the egg chamber and then to lovingly tuck each fragile egg into its appropriate\u00c2\u00a0place in the nest.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-000-34-eggs-960.jpg\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-13258\" title=\"post snapper two 000 34 eggs 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-000-34-eggs-480.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"480\" height=\"475\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-000-34-eggs-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/post-snapper-two-000-34-eggs-480-300x296.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><em><strong>Thirty-Four Ping-Pong Size Snapping Turtle Eggs<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This lady deposited 34 eggs into her nest.\u00c2\u00a0 They, too, were carefully harvested for a protected nest in the turtle garden.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From Tiny Eggs, Giant Snappers Grow Might oaks from little acorns grow, and from tiny eggs giant snapper spring.\u00c2\u00a0 At the oozy bottom of every lake and pond in New England lies a 70 pound snapping turtle that began life decades ago as a miniature ping-pong sized egg.\u00c2\u00a0 That long process began today for a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13250"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13250"}],"version-history":[{"count":20,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13284,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13250\/revisions\/13284"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}