Earl the Pearl!

Everybody say hi to Earl!

This post is a week late, but this picture is actually from when we released Earl this evening (4/12)

As you can see, he is a pretty good sized male snapping turtle and was definitely the most chill snapper I have ever had the pleasure of rehabbing.

A little background on our friend here. Last week (4/5) we got a call in the evening from a woman in Apex who got our number from her local fire department. She said she had a large turtle in her yard that had been there a few days and wasn't sure if it was injured or not. The neighborhood kids weren't being too kind to it either. We loaded up and went to see what we had, suspecting it had to be a snapper, and we found Earl. The kid who showed us where he was at the edge of their yard wanted to name him, so Earl he was.

Earl is a male american snapper who is around 25-30lbs and could easily be in his late 30's at this size.

He protested a little when we collected him, but calmed down quickly. Once we got him home and in the light we could really examine him. We found that he did have a few smaller injuries to his carapace that appeared to be from the kids throwing rocks at him or hitting him with items. Otherwise, he just seemed sad and confused. I cleaned and treated his injuries and tucked him into a dry box for the night.

Earl came with some extra pine needles. In the bottom corner you can see his biggest injury, which we wanted to keep dry for at least 24 hours, if not longer, to help let it seal up on its own and prevent the growth of harmful bacteria or infections. A turtle's shell is not only his home, but a part of his body that he cannot be separated from. Their spine is fused to the inside of the shell and the shell itself acts like ribs to support and protect the turtle's body. Any damage or infection to that shell poses a huge risk to the turtle's health.

The next day I moved Earl into my bath tub, after vigorously cleaning it of all possible chemical hazards, of course. While snapping turtles are semi-aquatic turtles, they feel much safer and calmer when in water. I only filled the tub up enough to cover his face and legs, but not up to the level of his wounds. He stretched out immediately and drank a lot of water. Since we don't know how long he had been out of his own pond, it's safe to assume he was probably dehydrated. I gave him some strips of fresh salmon later which he happily gobbled down. After a day or so, he seemed much more alert and responsive. He was also just as friendly as most of my non-snapper turtles. He didn't snap or hiss when I had to move him to use the bath and happily ate anything I gave him.

As the week went on Earl seemed to really recover and his wounds closed over and began to heal. I almost felt bad releasing him tonight, I'm sure he'll miss the salmon and I'll miss the bathroom conversation!

Earl is a good example of why we should educate our kids about turtles and how to treat them. Earl is a large and old turtle that will hopefully be able to get both bigger and older now that he is in a safe place. He may look intimidating, but snappers are just misunderstood dinosaurs.

Good luck out there Earl!