Can you identify this ninja turtle?

[papa_smurf73]

So... Let me paint this picture for you... My girlfriend and I were coming home from work. Was a nice day outside. Because I'm too lazy to get out of my car and check the mail, I usually pull up to my mailbox and check it there. Aaaanyhow, as I'm getting my mail, something catches the corner of my eye, and I look down to see a GI-GUN-DIS(TM (I made that word up hahaha)) turtle chilling at the base of my mail box. I said a couple of superlatives out of sheer fear the thing would eat me. To give you an idea of how big this turtle is, my shoe size is 12", and he was both longer and wider than my shoe. I live in the country, so I've seen my share of interesting insects, and an occasional squirrel or deer, but I've never seen anything like this.

Have a look for yourself :)

http://picasaweb.google.com/muhstuff/MyMailboxTurtle?feat=directlink

So what turtle is he? Maybe Slash? Should we give him a new turtle name? Maybe he could be a mascot of some nature? Maybe I should name him after my mail box manufacture? I dunno.. I got nothing. Open to suggestions. :) (GASP) Maybe he is SHE! Could be Mona Lisa?

T U R T L E... POWER! (Watch the first movie's credits and get this later :) )
- papa_smurf73

[Roseangelo]

That's an alligator snapper, so it'd be Tokka. :)

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

That's an alligator snapper, so it'd be Tokka. :)

Tokka's a turtle, but not a "ninja"...

[Andrew NDB]

That's an alligator snapper

Incorrect. It's a common snapper... just a really big one.

[Buslady]

Chelryda Serpentina

Common Snapper, easily identified by it's smaller size, smoother carapace and less of a prehistoric look like the alligator snappers.

I hope you didn't try to catch him, snappers are becoming less and less as these knuckleheads who like to go out and kidnap them from their homes and taunt them, hang them by their tails (which is painful) just to kill them...they take too many.

Contrary to popular belief...if kept as a pet properly, they're pretty neat. There's a dude on turtleforum.com who keeps a female common in his house, in a huge stock tank in filtered crystal clear water, she is really pretty, has a lot of personality and doesnt have a horrid nasty attitude. He had her since she was a hatchling.

[Andrew NDB]

I have one myself. He was the size of a quarter when I got him, now is nearly a foot long.

[Candy Kappa]

aww i miss my turtles. I've moved to a new city so now their at my fathers farm.
luckly i know their in good hands, my stepmother takes good care of them


she even sings for them :D