Snapping turtles

This one's for you Cheryl! You got me thinking about our turtle friends. I grew up just an hour north of Temagami but as far as I know we do not have snappers up there.

We are always entertained by these turtles when we go houseboating in Cross Lake. They seem to know the sound of the houseboat motor and that it could mean food for them. It usually doesn't take long for them to show up and make themselves right at home under our houseboat.

It's fascinating to watch them eat the leftovers from Mike cleaning our fish. Apparently snappers need to eat underwater because their tongues are fixed, making it difficult to swallow when they are

out of the water. It's amazing how long they can stay down there chewing and tearing away at the skins and carcasses.

Once again I read that they rarely bite when in the water so swimming should be safe while they are around. You'll have to decide for yourself how much you want to believe what you

read...especially on the internet :) I know that I have swam quite close to them before without realizing it and not come to any harm. However when they are on land it is quite a different story. The snapping turtle cannot fully pull its head, tail and limbs into its shell. That may be why they are so aggressive when they feel threatened on land. I've heard stories about a snapper getting so upset it stood on its back legs and rocked back and forth hissing. I don't recommend aggravating a snapper this much. Besides it being unkind they have very long necks and could surprise you by how far they can reach to bite you in self-defense.

This June a group of guys on one of our houseboats got to watch a female snapper digging holes in which to lay her eggs. Apparently she dug most of the campsite up trying to find an appropriate place to lay them. Snapping turtles normally lay 20-30 eggs that will hatch in 50-60 days. Many of these nests are discovered by predators and the little ones eaten before they ever reach the water. Interestingly enough the weather affects the sex of the baby turtles! If it's a cool spring most of the hatchlings will be male. If it's warm most of the little ones will be female. Who knew!

It takes snapping turtles 15-20 years to reach maturity. That is one of the reasons why these

turtles have been designated a special concern species by the Ontario Endangered Species Act, 2007. Many females are killed on the road as they search for an appropriate place to lay their eggs. As a result the females may only lay a few nests of eggs in their lives. Many nests are destroyed: we have seen little evidence over the last few years of baby turtles having hatched from the nests around our campsite on Cross Lake. There seem to be many creatures who enjoy a snack of turtle eggs.

If you have any turtle stories to share I'd love to hear them!Here's a video Mike took of our snapper swimming by...

I found my facts on the following websites:

http://www.kawarthaturtle.org/species.html

http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/stdprodconsume/groups/lr/@mnr/@species/documents/document/276686.pdf

www.borealforest.org/reptiles/snapping_turtle.html

Our week houseboating

July 3-8 was our week to enjoy some time on the lake. I don't think we've ever been out when it was so warm. In fact the weather was HOT: but the lake was great for swimming. Mike always likes to go to Cross Lake to 'his' campsite. It's a nice spot but in the past I've been cautious about swimming there because there are some big snapping turtles around. This week Mike didn't try to lure them in with fish remains until later in the week and we didn't see them (although I'm sure they were there) so I told myself it would be fine to swim. I still have all my toes and 'apparently' the turtles are not normally aggressive when in the water.

We went out with my parents and they parked just across the bay at their own special spot where it's deep enough to catch smallmouth bass off the back of the houseboat. We had a nice time, sharing suppers together, playing some games, fishing and even my parents went in the water.

The fishing was good although it was windy at times. We caught a little bit of everything: some lake trout, some smallmouth bass, some northern pike, some pickerel and a whitefish.

It was great weather for resting and reading. The bugs were not bad at all...until the sun went down that is! Then you had better hope you were inside because the mosquitos were hungry after not being able to eat most of the day ... poor little things.

On the way home we stopped at the opening to the Tetapaga River. Even though it was windy I really wanted to put my kayak to use and travel at least part way up the river. I've been up it by boat but there's something about travelling by kayak: you get to see so much more. I saw what could have been a black duck with six ducklings. They were a little way off as I was entering the Tetapaga so it's hard to be sure exactly what kind of duck they were. I followed a great blue heron for a while. I'm sure he thought I was chasing him but really he just kept flying a little way ahead of me. I also saw a muskrat minding his own business. I was downwind from him so I'm not sure he ever noticed me. He took a small 'stream' off the main course through the wild rice. I also saw the cutest little flowers. They looked like they were growing in a patch of grass on rocks that would have been covered by water last year at this time. They were yellow and probably less than a centimeter across. I wish I'd been able to take a camera with me but even though I've never tipped the kayak I didn't want to chance getting the camera waterlogged!

Low water on Lake Temagami

Several people have been asking about the water levels on the lake. The water is uncharacteristically low and the lack of precipitation this spring has not helped to bring it up.

We need gangplanks here at home to reach some of the boats because we can't get them close enough to the docks. And then there are some boats that we take a BIG step to get onto.

Mike measured the water levels Friday morning and says the lake is still down two feet. This will definitely create a need for careful boating this spring. We have yet to get out on the lake to see for ourselves just what this means for water travel, particularly for getting into Cross Lake.

Those of you who have favourite campsites will have to check them out carefully before trying to park your houseboat to make sure you can safely get to shore to tie up there. Those of you who are coming for the first time will have to pay extra close attention to the shoal map and give those areas marked in red a wide berth. Any time you choose to leave the main channels you will need someone on the lookout for rocks that are not marked on the maps because they were never an issue before.

We will continue to post comments on this entry as we keep an eye on the water levels and let you know how much it's come up!