>>1046789You're definitely right to be worried about moving snappers with your bare hands- the only safe way to do so is the aforementioned back of the shell trick. They've all got freakishly long necks even without mutation- pic very much related.
Semi- relevant story- while common snappers are primarily scavengers and opportunity carnivores, the older they get the less they hunt and the more they scavenge. There's a pair in the family irrigation farm that live off of windfall apples for most of the summer and early fall. When my father noticed the trails up from the water, he started throwing apples into the pond. After a couple years of doing this he got to the point where one or both turtles will surface and swim around if you throw anything heavy enough to make a splash into the water- but only when apples are in season. They'll even do so if the thrower close to the water, which is pretty cool to see because under most circumstances they're shy as hell.
