Is it possible for a snapping turtle in MI to have gotten into someone's pool from a swamp?

Question

I know it's an odd question, but I have a childhood memory (that my dad thinks he remembers as well) of my dad's side of the family gathering at my uncle's house for a summer holiday. All of us cousins were kids and swimming in the pool. Then I remember the adults suddenly rushing us out of the pool and making us go into the house and upstairs. I remember us cousins watching from the large kitchen window as all the adults tried, for a long time, to get what I remember to be an extremely large turtle out of the pool. They eventually succeeded. I remember them all calling it a snapping turtle.

They live in a sort of country town in Michigan with a decent amount of land. They have a picket fence that surrounds their large yard, and behind that they own some more of the land and it eventually turns into a tall grassland swamp. It is at least 200 feet from the pool. There was also a lake perhaps a mile away.

It seems very crazy looking back. Did the turtle crawl under their fence to get there? And why would it decide to leave its swamp and hop in a chlorine-filled body of water where many people were gathered? And is it possible for it to have been a snapping turtle? I am talking about the lower peninsula of Michigan.

Answer 1

Yes,very, but pool chemicals would be bad for turtles, the chlorine would be toxic.

Answer 2

Certainly. However, it may or may not have been a snapper. A lot of people tend to call almost any turtle a snapper. A similar situation occurs with snakes. When I was being sent out (from the Tulane Zoology Department) to pick up snakes that had been flooded up to where people were, I knew what we were going to get. If the people said it was a water moccasin, it was a non-venomous water snake. "Rattlesnakes" were Dekay's (brown) snakes. "Coral snakes" were one of their mimics, like some of the milk snakes. However, if the turtle really was as large as you remember it, it could well have been a snapper.



However, back to your question. Female snappers travel up to 100 yards or so to find the right place to lay their eggs. Either sex might leave a drying pond to relocate to a more permanent body of water. Or one might leave to find a place where food was more available, if it couldn't drive its competitors out instead. Once the turtle had passed the watershed into another drainage, it would tend to travel downhill to find a body of water. That body might well be a swimming pool that had been installed in-ground.



The adults over-reacted. Snappers in water are usually fairly docile, unless they mistake you for food. And they tend to flee or hide when you go after them. I've caught some by out-swimming them or feeling for them in the mud with my bare feet.

Answer 3

Anything is possible, however, what does this have to do with Pets>Dogs, try asking in the reptile category.

Answer 4

I saw one on the road almost 2 miles from the river. Yes, in spring and middle of summer they leave the rivers/lakes and try to find a gravel type area to lay eggs in. So they can travel quite a distance for that.



The one I saw I picked up and put on the seat of the car and drove her/him/it back to the river and let it go there. It was almost a foot across and didn't bite me. Seemed to know I was helping it. It was only later I found out their necks are long enough to nail you wherever you hold on to them. I'm over here in Wisconsin. It's entirely possible the turtle was in your area and pool, they can dig somewhat and can get under fences or even go around them via the road.

Answer 5

Certainly turtles are very able to walk and dig,,, Why would it leave its Swamp?.... To go walkabout just like you do when you leave home on occasion.

Answer 6

Yes.



Overland treks are common enough that there's even a children's book about it, "The Little Cow and the Turtle" by Meindert de Jong.

Answer 7

Yes.

Answer 8

Yes very possible, people catch them and move them, they also get away. They bite but are not really dangerous. They are not really aggressive. It's likely it was someones pet or mating season.



During the final days of May and into the month of June, these algae-coated giants of the turtle world emerge from wetlands and set off on terrestrial treks wrought with danger. They are often seen lumbering along on suburban lawns near wetlands or crossing highways. It’s nesting season for the snappers and their powerful sharp jaws are a reminder to give them a wide-berth when on dry land.



Except for breeding, they rarely leave the water and tend to bask just under the water’s surface with only their head exposed. If habitat conditions are favorable, snapping turtles can reach 50 pounds in size and survive for decades on the wilder side of Oakland County.



https://oaklandcountyblog.com/2015/05/29/snapping-turtles-dont-mess-with-me-its-nesting-season/

Answer 9

That was a Russian turtlebot.

Answer 10

No, but that probably wasn't a turtle, it probably was a liberal