You are not alone! Every spring and summer I receive several inquiries from people in my area asking if I can relocate a Snapping Turtle out of a swimming pond, usually from parents concerned about their children.
So, are Snapping Turtles dangerous? And what should you do if you find a Snapping Turtle in your pond? Thankfully, in the water, both Common and Alligator Snapping Turtles are very docile and will go to great lengths to avoid humans. On land, especially when females are nesting, they will defend themselves when someone or something tries to bother them and are capable of delivering very powerful bites, but again, leaving them alone is the best course of action.
So, long story short, Snapping Turtles are only dangerous to people when people are messing with the turtles! Snapping Turtles are slow on land and cannot outrun predators or dive into the water to hide, and unlike most other turtles, their bodies are too large to fit fully within their protective shell, so instead they rely on their large size and scary demeanor to hold their ground and defend their position when approached. If approached, they just swim in the opposite direction and hide.
In truth, it is not very common for adult Snapping Turtles to move to a new location. Turtles are creatures of habit and once they reach adulthood tend to stick to the same habitat for the rest of their lives unless that habitat is disturbed. When in the water, a snapping turtle is extremely unlikely to attack a human. They have thin flaps of skin covering internal ear bones. Their bites are pretty miserable and can make the victim bleed. However, a common snapping turtle does not cause this much damage.
The common snapping turtles are smaller in size. Still, they are able to hold a powerful grip with their jaws and give a lifetime scar. This means that they cannot pull their head and legs into their shell for protection against predators, as most other turtles can. Snapping turtles make up for this lack of body armor with an aggressive temperament.
However, like other turtles, snapping turtles are actually afraid of humans on land and only snap in defense when they feel threatenedthey would prefer to retreat or for you to retreat out of their way. Snapping turtles are a protected species. While these turtles can be aggressive on land when approached by people, they usually choose to swim away from people when encountered in the water. Therefore, they are not considered to be a threat to swimmers in ponds and lakes. Still, the best thing to do if you have been bitten by a snapping turtle is to stay calm.
This will limit the damage to your skin and also help to keep the snapping turtle calm. Remember: they bite when they are scared. The more you struggle and fight, the harder they will clamp down with their jaws, making the situation much worse than it needs to be. Take a deep breath and try to think rationally. Part of remaining calm is not making erratic and sudden movements.
Move slowly and deliberately as you progress to Step 2. Scaring the turtle further can cause them to clamp down more which will make the bite worse.
Staying calm will also allow you to think and progress through the next steps without forgetting anything important.
Now that the turtle has snapped onto your finger or toe, for example, you need to remove the turtle to be able to assess the damage and perform first aid treatment on the wound.
Never try to forcibly remove the snapping turtle. Any of these actions will make the actual wound much, much worse. Additionally, if you grab or pull the turtle by the tail, you risk inflicting harm to them. Now both you and the turtle are extremely unhappy. Picking up a turtle by the tail or pulling on its tail can dislocate its vertebrae causing irreversible damage. Also, be warned that if you grab the snapping turtle by the tail alone, they can easily turn around and bite you or the person trying to help you again.
If this happens, start again at Step 1. Although the pain may be rough, never kill a snapping turtle that has bitten you. Before it dies it will grip you even harder causing even more pain and enlarging the wound. Once the snapping turtle has bitten you, you have two options to remove it. You can simply wait and stay calm and the turtle will usually release you from its grip in a short period of time naturally. Stay very still and the turtle should let go.
But if the snapper that has bitten you is a pet, you could perform the same trick in a bathtub or sink. As soon as you have removed the turtle from yourself, get it away from you, or yourself away from it! The last thing you need is another bite which is likely since the snapping turtle will be agitated already. A snapping turtle bite can vary in size and severity depending on the size and health of the turtle, the area of the bite and many other factors.
This would be most common with smaller turtles. If the skin is not pierced you may end up with only a small red area or a bruise depending on the location of the bite. To treat this small bruise or reddening, you need to clean the area with antiseptic gel or ointment and soap and water just to be safe.
For the more serious injuries, when the turtle has broken the skin, there is more to do.
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