By Susan Sprout

A surprising find, in the truck room of our local volunteer fire company – a baby snapping turtle! Coming back from a midnight fire call, my Safety Officer husband and the Assistant Chief saw a small dark shadow moving from the back wall of the station house toward the front doors. A lucky rescue for this silver-dollar-size hatchling that undoubtedly had been fending for itself from the minute it struggled out of its leathery, ping pong ball-shaped egg and began digging upward.

In the spring, female snapping turtles looking for suitable places to dig holes and lay twenty to eighty eggs, have been found up to a mile away from the water sources that were their homes. Nine to eighteen weeks later (depending on the temperature), the sand pile over the eggs erupts as hatchlings make a run for it toward the nearest stream, swamp, pond. They do not stick together, but go singly to learn about the world, instinctively heading for water. The firehouse snapper may have sensed wetness and entered to check it out. That got it a free ride to a local stream the next day where it crawled right in and swam away.

It did not have to learn hard lessons on the way to water: nest predators (minks, weasels, skunks, raccoons) nor wayside predators (dogs, crows, motor vehicles). In the water, other predators (bigger turtles, fish, and snakes, herons from above) will provide much needed life lessons.

Snapping turtles spend most of their lives underwater – a nice muddy bottom to overwinter and lots of dense vegetation for hiding and eating. At least a third of their diet is made up of green plants. Since they are omnivores, they will start hunting smaller animals first (aquatic insects, spiders, worms, tadpoles, tiny fish) and work their way up to larger animals as they grow – grow into excellent ambush predators (birds, small mammals, other reptiles, faster amphibians) using the patience for waiting in stillness and lightning quick reflexes for grabbing their prey.

Our little firehouse snapper could grow up to two feet in length, weighing twenty-five to thirty-five pounds on average. In my mind, I try to picture a fully grown turtle with algae or moss growing on its carapace, or shell, hanging relaxed in a pond with only the nostrils on the tip of its snout protruding. The three small bumps on the top of its shell when younger, flattened by growth. And definitely not being the kind of turtle that retreats into a shell when frightened or maltreated. Heavens, no! It will snap and bite at the slightest excuse, make hissing noises and, perhaps, release a musty odor. With claws as sharp as bears’, strong hooked jaws, a large head with a longer neck, and powerfully-muscled legs of a body that just won’t all fit in the comparatively small shell, this turtle will do damage. Here, the only things snapping turtles have to fear are pollution, habitat destruction, food scarcity, and road mortality. 

Snapping turtles are native to the North American Continent from Nova Scotia to Florida and west to the edge of the Rocky Mountains. They are the largest of our freshwater turtles. If taken for food, their flesh may contain concentrations of toxic environmental pollutants. If found on a roadway, picking one up by the tail can severely injure its spinal column and pulling one could abrade its flesh possibly causing infection. Coaxed onto a blanket, tarp or sheet before dragging is a healthier (for it) and safer (for you) way to save a snapping turtle from road mortality.

By Susan Sprout

I have been looking for this plant. It can bloom from July to October, depending on where it grows. And depending on where I look since it is a native in North America all the way from Labrador to Georgia and Louisiana. According to a Pennsylvania native plant site on-line, it has been found growing in every county in our state. I finally found mine in disturbed soil under a shady Spruce tree in Lycoming County!

Indian Tobacco is definitely not showy like its two-to-four-foot-tall bright red relative Cardinal Flower (Lobelia cardinalis) that decorates stream banks and wetlands. Or its three-to-four-foot-tall bright blue relative Great Lobelia (Lobelia siphilitica), a plant I wrote about in a previous post. All three are members of the Bellflower Family and have tube-type flowers with five thin, pointed lobes – two at the top resembling ears extending upward and three on the bottom edge sticking out like lower lips.

Indian Tobacco is a thinner and much less robust-looking plant at three feet tall with ½ inch pale lavender to white flowers. Each flower tube is cupped at the bottom by a green leafy calyx with five thin green points that extend out beyond the lobes of the flower. Here is the totally cool thing about the cup on the bottom of the flower tube – it is where the seeds develop after pollination has taken place AND it is where the species name, inflata, comes from. As the fruits grow and swell, they morph or inflate into round capsules measuring about 3/8^th inch and look like tiny balloons tied on the stems. When mature and dried, the balloons will burst and give seeds to the wind!

The simple leaves of Indian Tobacco can be hairy on both sides. They grow alternately on the plant stem that can be hairy, too. They are oval and range from 1 to 2 1/2 inches in length. Another feature that may catch your eye is the leaves’ toothed edges that have white dots on them. Surprise! I do not know, maybe it is the plant’s milky sap oozing out the tips.

The common name, Indian Tobacco, comes from native populations’ documented use of the leaves for smoking as a tobacco, by itself or mixed with other dried plants. Chewed leaves were also used for internal cleansing as an emetic, a practice that gave the plant another common name – Puke Plant! This plant and others in the same genus contain moderately poisonous alkaloids like lobeline. Nausea, vomiting, sweating, heart palpitations can result from its use. Beware!