Look who visited us?

A snapping turtle! We were pulling into our driveway after church yesterday and Paul was just about to ask if I had bought a stone turtle for a decoration when it moved it's head. It was in the mulch between the air conditioner and driveway.
I have never seen a snapping turtle before and at first had no idea what kind of turtle it was. I've seen plenty of box turtles and knew it wasn't that, this one was huge and had a long tail. Well, it wasn't long before we realized what it was when Paul tried to move the thing and it snapped it's head back at him. Man they have some long necks! Every time Paul went to touch him he would hiss and snap.

Somehow Paul managed to get the turtle into a box and then we drove it down to the pond at the beginning of our development. At the time we had no idea if they liked water or not so we (well, actually Paul) dumped it near some bushes that were close to the pond.

It wasn't until later when I searched snapping turtles on the computer that I realized that they do live in/near water. At least he was close to the pond so hopefully he was smart enough to find it. But then again we found him by our house, far from the pond. Not sure how he got there. I'm really hoping he doesn't come back!