Look what I found tonight!

[Pareeeee]

I was very lucky this evening, I found a newly-hatched Common Snapping Turtle on the road while on a walk. I think there had been water in that ditch in the spring, but it has since dried up. He looked like he didn't know where to go. He stank like carrion, what with the egg/mud soup caked onto his shell. He was very dry and I think some of his skin cracked a bit because there was a little bit of blood where the shell attaches to the skin. I took him home, cleaned him up and then released him at the local conservation area in a huge pond.

Anyway, this little guy had eggshell stuck to him, his egg tooth had not fallen off yet, and his shell was soft. Glad I could make his new life a little easier.