That's a very oddly shaped turtle.
She's a wild snapping turtle.
Looks like she wandered into this family's backyard.
"Daddy, I don't understand!"
"We could just let it stay there."
"How did you get back here?"
The family decided to give her a name: Snippy!
What's Snippy doing?
She's rocking back and forth,
and burrowing down into the mulch.
"Oh my goodness!"
After a while, Snippy decided it was time to go.
Nice having you, Snippy! Come back and visit!
But wait! That's not the end of the story....
After Snippy left, the dad went into the backyard.
"Had a really heavy rain last night, and all this debris came down."
"And then, I came up the stairs a little bit, and I saw these, what appeared to be...."
Are those golf balls? Hm, what are those?
"It is what I imagine is a turtle egg from Snippy."
Of course!
She was laying eggs!
But turtle eggs are supposed to be underground.
The family couldn't put the eggs back into the soil because they might wash away again.
So, they carefully put the eggs in a tray full of dirt.
"We have so many!"
And put the tray under a heat lamp,
to keep the eggs warm until they could hatch.
And then, they waited.
When're those eggs gonna hatch?
They might not hatch....
But then....
Look! The baby turtles are breaking out of their shells!
Baby turtles are cute!
There's Charlie,
Snappy,
Lil Baggins,
Sunshine,
and last, but not least, Detective Snipowicz.
Baby turtles have a yolk sack on their bellies when they're born.
That's what feeds them for the first couple of days,
until they're ready to crawl on their own four feet.
It's a little gift from their mama.
But now that the babies were out of their eggs,
there was a big question to answer:
What do you do with a fish tank full of snapping turtles?
The family called an animal sanctuary, who told them it was time to set the turtles free.
So, they came up with a plan.
Load the little turtles into a big flower pot,
and take them down to the local pond.
"You're just gonna put him down on the ground, okay?" "Okay!"
Just follow their instinct and go to the pond.
They went straight towards the water together.
Goodbye, little guys! See you next time we visit the pond!
Mama Snippy is so proud. And so is the family!
They never thought they'd have to take care of baby snapping turtles.
But Mama Snippy needed their help.
And these rescuers would do anything for a turtle.