Snapping turtles, updated

It seems this year is a banner year for turtles. I mentioned in an earlier post about the two painted turtles that sadly ended up as roadkill. I have seen several snapping turtles as well trying to cross the highway so I have had to stop a couple of times to help them across the road before they became roadkill. The snappers I have seen have all been about a foot in diameter and they are ornery buggers when you pick them up to help out. I have been told and that they have really long necks and can still bite you even if you are holding them at the side of their shell. This is not true. The couple that I have picked up could never come close to biting my hands at the side of their shell. You have to watch out for the claws but overall there is little risk to picking one up.
That being said the snapper I saw yesterday at the side of the road didn't need any help. When I saw her she was about 5 feet away from the road edge where the road shoulder is starting to fall away. I knew it was a she because when I stopped for a closer look I saw the most amazing thing. She had dug a hole about 8 inches deep and when I took a peek in I could see a bunch of eggs at the bottom. They were about  3/4 of an inch in diameter and translucent white in colour. Apparently it is fairly common for snappers to bury their eggs in the shoulder of the road because the mixture of gravel and sand is perfect for the eggs. I watched from a distance for 1/2 an hour and she was still laying so I moved on hoping that she wouldn't try to venture across the road when she was done. Let's hope the babies know which way to go when they hatch. All in all it was a pretty amazing thing to see. I'll have to start bring my camera to work.

The update: So today I bring my camera to work and I am driving down a sideroad near Elora when believe it or not I see a snapping turtle on the shoulder of the road and it looks like it's laying eggs. The first thing that came into my mind was....Friggin turtles are getting way more action than I am. The second thing was to take a picture of the blessed event. So I did although today you cannot see the eggs in the hole so I am not sure if she had laid any or if they were being blocked from my sight by her leg. Amazing though, two days in a row and two turtles laying eggs. What are the odds? Obviously better than me getting.....?

She's a looker

Digging the hole