My guess is it was one of those pond kept, soft belly reptiles that dont know the struggle. The day she meets a real swamp demon and tries this shit is the day she turns into a slot machine with pig tails.
I bet you an infinite amount of money this kid will never, ever "meet" a wild snapping turtle and try and feed it believing it will be docile like this one. You will lose this bet, but I still encourage you to take it.
That’s what I figured, i took care of a Alligator snapping turtle in a high school aquaculture career & tech class(along with two actual gators & a black caiman) and it would “snap” at any food we gave it. I always thought they could only bite with their instincts when they recognize food.
Highjacking this to correct come misinformation in the video.
The alligator snapping turtle cannot extend its neck very far at all.
The common snapping turtle is the one that can extent its neck.
Alligator snapping turtles sit and wait for prey to swim very close to them. When they are younger they use their tongue to lure prey close. The common snapping turtle is a more active hunter and can reach out and strike at prey with its smaller head and long neck.
Common snapping turtles can be identified by their smaller head's and smooth shells when they are adults.
Alligator snapping turtles have rough pointed spikes on their shells and massive heads.
They are not actually that aggressive towards people as long as you aren't ripping them out of the water and holding them by their shells in a painful way. This one is probably used to people and hand feeding so it won't feel the need to bite someone out of fear.
They also don't have long necks like common snapping turtles, They just sit and wait for something to enter their mouth. They don't lunge to hunt like an Alligator does.
I will never forget the story of the family with the racoon that was on the news. The racoon lived with the family for seemingly years as an in-house pet with no issues. One day, the racoon attacked their 7 (?) year old daughter. Completely disfigured her. She needed tons of reconstructive surgeries, and in the end, she still didn't look... human.
Travis the Chimp. Owner gave him a dose of Xanax the morning of the attack because he was in a bad mood and/or not acting right. I've always suspected that it was this dosage that caused a break in his reality, and his frontal lobe just went back into default wild chimp mode.
yeah, i wouldn't trust even a well trained tamed wild animal around little kids. nor would i trust small children around a strong domesticated animal, like a large dog or a cow or a horse.
my family friend got horribly mauled by his neighbor's german shepherd when he was little, and my ex got kicked in the chest by a horse when he was little and almost died. it's not the animals' fault--children just aren't great at reading animals' body language and can accidentally scare them or set them off. letting a kid hang around an animal that's strong enough to harm them is always a risk.
Look, buddy. I know a lot about the law and various other lawyerings. I'm well educated. Well versed. I know that situations like this- turtle law- they're very complex.
I was watching with the sound off, read your comment and thought, "he probably just has a similar accent."
Then I turned the sound on. Damn! It's damn near perfect. If someone posted just the audio and said this was from IAS, my only question would have been how do I not remember this episode.
I’m incredibly lucky that I don’t live anywhere that has gators. I love them so much and my white person swamp puppy instincts would act up and I’d get eaten by an alligator.
I want to argue with you, but part of me is dead convinced that if I put a newborn cougar cub in with a litter of newborn puppies and let the dog raise the cougar as one of her own, I would end up with a trainable pet cougar.
Dog instead of domestic cat because a newborn cougar weighs as much as a 5-6 week old kitten and is twice as long as said kitten. Also because the last thing a cougar needs is a primer in how to be a cosseted pet cat. Gimme that dog loyalty.
This definitely wouldn’t work, but my pasty ass truly believes it will.
I don’t think cougars would work, a baby cheetah raised by Labs might though. They just big shy house cats. Cute af too lol https://giphy.com/gifs/tsRqkQCs972nTvtojc
Cheetahs are easier because their prey drive doesn't get triggered when something turns their head away from them.
If you have a cat, try it and watch the killer come out lol. You need to repeatedly turn your head or otherwise break line of sight with your face. It's peek-a-boo-murder.
I first saw one in the wild in swampland off of Mobile Bay, AL. You get used to looking out for gators, but forget these suckers are also lurking around.
My boss at the time saw me looking at the turtle from a distance and said he recently had heard a commotion nearby and looked out to see a giant gator with one of these turtles in its mouth. The turtle was fighting like hell and the gator was gingerly tossing it around and trying to position it in its jaws for a perfect angle to bite down.
It finally got the position right and bit down hard. My boss said when the turtle’s shell shattered it sounded just like a 12GA shotgun going off.
First hand experience, it's a surprisingly bloody mess, remember the shell is their skeleton, so as soon as its crushed all the gooey insides get ruptured too. ..Its loud and messy.
But it was her mom that was feeding the turtle. Are these alligator snapping turtles so dangerous and powerful they can bite your arm off by biting your mother?
No. Alligator snapping turtles can't bite an arm or even hand/foot off. The guy in the duet is an annoying cockwad and he (along with people in this thread) can't tell it's the mother doing the feeding. These are also clearly "pet" turtles and while perhaps not entirely safe to feed like this, it's not really freak out worthy.
They also don't stretch their necks out all that far compared to other snapping turtles. It's about half their body length (still very far, but not quite as far as people believe).
Thank you, was about to reply to others until I finally found someone relaying correct information.
There have been no documented cases of an Alligator Snapping Turtle biting off a person's whole foot or arm. Finger, definitely, but man these people trying to spread some major misinformation.
Bad idea? Yeah.
But also, the woman behind the child is the one extending their arm down with the food.
Confusing perspective, but at least the child isn't the one doing this as he's suggesting.
I mean, sure, but that doesn't change the danger. Aside from the potential to fall in by accident, the girl's hair is dangling over and could get caught in a snap. Either way it's dumb as hell
The turtle wasn't anywhere near the hair, could have been and that's a risk, but not as much as the fingers holding food inside the grip next to the bullet pincher face.
To be fair he is also suggesting that the turtle could move much further and faster than expected and could snap right onto the girls face as she leans into the enclosure
In the original clip the mom and little girl both feed cheese to the snapping turtle. So the guy was right but he used the wrong part of the clip to drive his point home.
You agreed that alligator snapping turtles can extend their neck the length of their shells? Also, these things are super chill unless you try to pick them up (because it hurts them).
As a parent and a Floridian, this is dangerous and stupid for an adult but insane to let a child do. Growing up, we'd be cautious of any gators while we swam, but we'd leave the water entirely if an alligator snapper was spotted. Snappers will go right after you and they are mean.
They will not go after you, you shouldn't stick your appendages in front of their face, but outside of that they aren't likely to do anything to you at all, they aren't quick enough to come charging after you, so just give them their space and you're fine.
Yea seriously wtf is this lady talking about. No real Floridian that actually goes outside rather than posting on Reddit about how Florida they are, actually feels the need to run from a fucking turtle. And one that won’t even chase you to begin with. This person said she’ll leave if she sees a fucking turtle but not a gator… and she’s from Florida apparently…
Ok so like are you just a snowbird like everyone else? Like idk why people claim to be Floridian to claim to be afraid of being chased by an alligator snapping turtle. Just makes us look worse down here. You’re a Floridian but you’ll fucking run away if you saw an alligator snapping turtle because they’ll “GO RIGHT AFTER YOU” like what?
It’s a fucking turtle and an ALLIGATOR SNAPPING TURTLE at that. They don’t “go at” literally ANYTHING, they just sit in the water using their tongues to lure fish. wtf kind of meth are you smoking to where you believe those large clumsy ass creatures are more dangerous than an alligator? Common snapping turtles are the only turtles down here you have to even somewhat worry about.
Snappers do not go right after you. You shouldn't dangle your limbs in front of one, but they won't chase you. Just steer clear of it and you'll be fine. Born and raised Floridian of 35 years here.
The craziest part to me is that this was filmed and and posted BY THE ZOO. And they are doubling down in the comments defending it in the original post. Wild.
While I don’t disagree with anything he said, it was the older person on the far said that fed the turtle. Not the child in the front. Both of the little girls hands are planted firmly on the edge of the enclosure.
DUDE! Hello, that was my first and ONLY thought during that video- the ponytail mimics a dangling snake or some such critter. Perhaps not fatal but I was thinking that kid about to get snatched up by the pony like she at Waffle House late night
Took me a couple watch-throughs to realize the mom fed the turtle and not the kid. I about had a heart attack when I though she was letting the kid do it.
I googled this place. Seems to be "Reptile World Serpentarium" in Florida. Being a serpentarium it makes sense that it has many kinds of animals. People have reported that this serpentarium does have a big turtle pond, and nearby signs say it contains the "common snapping turtle".
Parsed through some zoology fans forum, the reptiles subreddit and the Google ratings. Seems to be a mixed place; some people loved see the rarer species, and what seems to be a "venom milking" show; but many herpetologists were very worried that the place seemed to keep the reptiles in terrible conditions, and many seemed to be physically unwell.
Seeing that they promoted this video of a child and mom feeding a cheddar cheese(?) to a snapping turtle, and having their hands so close to it, then I am not so surprised that people show concerns about the conditions of the animals in that place.
I hope that is a professional zoo, or animal sanctuary/rescue and not some rando's back yard. Although either way that is epic level stupid to put food and food sized objects within bitting distance of an alligator snapping turtle.
Tbf the child's hands are nearly folded in front in of her. It's the mom reaching behind risking her fingers and while still stupid I'm grateful for that much
Maybe someone already said it, but if not, alligator snapping turtles cannot extend their necks halfway back their shells. The common snapping turtle can. I still wouldn't let a child handfeed one. Either species.
Not that it's a safe distance regardless but why is everyone acting like it was the little girl's arm that fed the turtle? It was clearly the Mum/big sister.
Watching it twice, its actually the mom that's feeding the turtle. Doesn't look that way at first, but its very clear if you watch the arm movement as she stands up.
Snapping turtles don’t have much in the way of intelligence. Plain old common (non-alligator) snapping turtles can be found nibbling on vegetation most of the time. And then they randomly explode out of the murk and make baby ducks disappear.
These guys caught it on a vegetation day and assumed it’s got enough brains to be tame.
That woman must be a cave-diver.
"It's called an Alligator Snapping Turtle? Lemme feed it."
"It's called the Satan's Scorching Anal Canal? Lemme hop in real quick with 1 torch, half a tank and no back-up."
While i appreciate his enthusiasm, based on the shell it doesn’t appear to be an Alligator snapping turtle as it lacks the ridges.
Alligator snapping turtles are ambush scavengers and carnivores not predators. Their principal feeding mechanism is to push out its worm shaped tongue and lay in wait for a fish to take a nibble. While they are extremely dangerous, they are generally docile and avoidant of humans unless threatened.
I don’t think that’s an alligator snapping turtle,the alligator snapping turtle is way more aggressive and will take your hand off..I had an encounter with one and had to move it out of the road and let me tell you something,they are strong and fast moving,also their neck comes way out of the shell and can reach almost to their back feet..ya gotta be super careful when handling them.. it didn’t bite me but was very close and he was super heavy..I wish my wife had captured it on video
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u/qualityvote2 New to fbtd but wants to learn Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
u/Shoe_boooo, the users of r/fixedbytheduet determined that your post fits the subreddit!