Snapping Turtles are All Gums!

We are now in Snapping Turtle Advanced Class.  And we have a News Flash.  They don't have teeth!

All these horror stories I've heard about how they will absolutely amputate your fingers if you get too close are now simply puzzling.  I've seen the lightening fast attack with that hooked beak, seen those jaws close like a vise...but there are no teeth!  So, how do they bite off your fingers???  Are their lips like a guillotine?

This is a close-up of yet another Snapping Turtle out of our pond, and look at that mouth.  Scary looking, but no teeth.  But we know they have eaten all the red meat we could throw at them.  Do they just clamp those jaws shut and Voila! cut the meat off?  Snap!  Zzzzttt!  Done.

Here's a shot of the enlarged team -  young son arrived to help out on this particular day.  He and Husband are teasing the above teenage turtle out of the pond...

I'm rather weary of seeing these prehistoric creatures in our yard...I read somewhere that the females lay about 20 eggs a year.  If these are the kids of the Original Pair, we are in for a long war.

I'm praying for cold weather and hibernation time.