ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
Grover Brown
Posts: 9
Joined: June 10th, 2013, 2:43 am

ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Grover Brown »

Hey guys,

Happy April Fools.

So South Mississippi continues not to disappoint. The weekend's weather was so nice, I got out turtling in a stream just south of town, and my roommate came as well with a fishing pole in tow.

After walking the stream for a bit, we did in fact find this slider (Trachemys scripta), twice. But we didn't see too much else.
Image

As we were about to get out of the stream I saw what looked like a log buried in the sand, then I thought it was a discarded/old shell, but I found this very much intact guy buried below. An absolutely incredible specimen of Macrochelys temminckii

Image
Image
Image

Have a good one,
Grover
User avatar
Berkeley Boone
Posts: 878
Joined: June 8th, 2010, 4:02 am

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Berkeley Boone »

Are you for real? I hope so- that is awesome.
Great photos, and magnificent creature! It is a beast!
--Berkeley
User avatar
mtratcliffe
Posts: 533
Joined: January 19th, 2014, 4:34 pm
Location: Mt Laurel, NJ

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by mtratcliffe »

Now that's something you don't see every day! Congrats on the find - that thing is a beast!
Tamara D. McConnell
Posts: 2248
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 11:42 am

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Tamara D. McConnell »

Wow! Congratulations on a great find!
Jim Godwin
Posts: 88
Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Jim Godwin »

Nice male Macrochelys; looks like a male based on the thickness of the base of tail (1st photo). In the second photo you can see the diagnostic supramarginals.

Yesterday floated ca. 10 miles of Brushy Creek in the Bankhead Nationl Forest and the Graptemys pulchra were out in good numbers.
User avatar
Noah M
Posts: 2293
Joined: November 3rd, 2012, 7:00 pm
Location: Gainesville, FL
Contact:

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Noah M »

Well hot dang that is cool! Good thing you found it with your eyes and not your feet. I always wonder if one of those things would snap at your toes....or snap them off....
User avatar
BillMcGighan
Posts: 2362
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:23 am
Location: Unicoi, TN

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by BillMcGighan »

Good dinosaur catch!!

Big Congrats.
Carl D. May
Posts: 362
Joined: June 2nd, 2011, 4:17 am

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Carl D. May »

Awesome find Grover! Agree with Jim about the sex being male...the tail and also size give him away. Females almost never--if ever, grow that big.
Jim Godwin
Posts: 88
Joined: June 3rd, 2011, 9:44 am

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Jim Godwin »

This snapper is an old individual. The carapace is worn, he's developing that yellowish coloration on the head, he's lost tubercles on the head and neck. Most alligator snappers that I've caught have had numerous small tubercles on the head and neck and a fringe around the eyes. I think these adornments aid in crypsis for the turtles. I wonder about the health of this turtle. His right forelimb is puffy as is the area around the eye. Any indication of poor water quality in this stream?

Marking these guys is easy. Because of the thickness of the shell you can place #8 stainless steel screws in the marginals in a unique combination. A portable drill with a 1/8" drill bit is needed to start a hole then the screw can go in. One individual I captured and marked in 2004 was recaptured in 2012 - http://www.outdooralabama.com/angler-ho ... c-surprise
Grover Brown
Posts: 9
Joined: June 10th, 2013, 2:43 am

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Grover Brown »

I'll attach a few more photos, Jim, regarding the leg. It looked just like jelly rolls to me when I found it. I think in the picture it's just the angle I'm holding it making it bulge, but maybe not. It's apparently common practice to toss deer and turkey carcasses off of bridges down here. This guy wasn't too far upstream, I imagine at the right time of year, he is very well fed.

As for the eye, that was something I noticed immediately, but the eye itself didn't seem cloudy or otherwise infected, just the area around it was puffy. I thought maybe this would be characteristic of old individuals? The water quality in this stream is seemingly really nice. It basically comes out De Soto National Forest, has a fantastic buffer, and great fish diversity. There is a railroad bridge a bit further down that wreaks of creosote. I've found 2 dead fish in this stream. 1 bass, an 1 Etheostoma of some sort, and some sickly minnow-esque fish I caught barehanded. It is kind of weird to see that all in one small section of stream.

We are trying to find this individual again to mark and get genetics on, but we've been out twice more and not seen it. We did see what looked like a drag up to the bank from another large individual a few hundred meters downstream (not typical behavior, I know, but I can't think of anything else that would leave a trail like this).

Here are a few more pictures. Let me know what you think regarding the health of this animal.

Image

Image

Image

Image
User avatar
Mike VanValen
Posts: 2074
Joined: June 7th, 2010, 4:41 pm
Location: Connecticut
Contact:

Re: ID Help? I think it's a slider...

Post by Mike VanValen »

That's something I've wanted to see since I was reading field guides as a kid.

...the Alligator Snapper is cool, too! :lol:
Post Reply