Brian Snapping Turtle
As a child, I always looked forward to summertime when we visited our cousins who lived out of state. I loved it when my Uncle Jim and his family visited from St. Anthony, Idaho. My cousin Brian and I always had a great time together. One summer we went exploring and found a snapping turtle. Brian had never seen a turtle like this before. How do boys play with a snapping turtle? They poke a stick in the vicinity of the turtle’s open mouth trying to get it to bite the stick.
This turtle had powerful jaws and snapped onto the end of the stick. The turtle took the bait several times, snapping the end off the stick each time. When Brian tired of this game, he decided to pick up the turtle with his hands. That day Brian and I both learned a couple of very valuable lessons about snapping turtles.
We discovered that turtles’ necks are much longer than we thought. If the turtle is being poked with a stick, its neck extends out only as far as necessary to snap at the stick, but in reality, a turtle can stretch its neck almost halfway across its back. We also learned that turtles can strike with unexpected speed, like a snake. Brian gained all of this information first-hand, so to speak. When he picked up the turtle the long neck extended out, and the turtle’s powerful jaws clamped onto Brian’s finger like a vice.
He started yelling for me to get it off of him, but I had no idea how to do that. Brian raised his hand up in the air but the turtle gripped him even tighter. In severe pain, Brian tried a helicopter spin over his head and finally flung the turtle free. Bleeding and crying, Brian was, nevertheless a lucky boy; adult turtles have been known to bite off fingers and toes. Brian still has a scar on his finger.
At this point in the account I like to add the “moral of the story” for my children:
A lot of snapping turtles will tempt you to play with them throughout your life. I’m not talking about little snapping reptiles. I’m talking about alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, smokeless tobacco, pornography and immorality. You may think you can play with these kinds of things and not get hurt, but that is not true. Just when you begin to think you’re having fun with them, they will reach up and grab you. You cannot play with temptation without getting hurt.
