Stuck in a Peanut Butter Jar! Snapping Turtle is rescued by AF staff and volunteers

Yesterday, we received a troubling call from Carola, an Education & Outreach Volunteer at the Amphibian Foundation. She and her family found an adult Snapping Turtle (Chelydra serpentina) with its head stuck in a peanut butter jar.

Having a lot of experience with Snapping Turtles — this is something I had never heard of! What could possibly motivate an adult Snapper to jam its head in a peanut butter jar to the point where it couldn't get it out!? Did it want some peanut butter? Did some other tasty morsel crawl in there?

Nevertheless, Carola and her son's Patrick and Alan were concerned, so they contacted us. Anthony and I sprung into action. Though we had gone on many Snapping Turtle rescues, this was an unprecedented mission. What might we need to remove the Snapper's heard from the jar? I brought an oil filter wrench (maybe to grip the jar), and a small hammer (in case we needed to bust the jar). Turns out, we needed neither of those things.

Here is the poor Snapping Turtle with its head stuck in a peanut butter jar. Carola (AF Volunteer) courageously poked holes in the plastic jar to insure the animal could breathe.

I held the turtle, while Anthony gripped the jar. We gave the jar as much of a tug as we could without injuring the turtle. The jar wouldn't budge! At this point, I was hoping we wouldn't have to cut the jar off, as that would be a horrible experience for all turtles and people involved. Then, we thought lubing up the turtle might help. Carola grabbed some cooking oil, and poured it on the extended neck of the turtle.  A little massaging of the oil around the neck and fwiipppp, the turtle's head popped right out of the jar! Of course, I immediately pointed the business end of the turtle away from the helpers.

Patrick (left), me, Carola, and Alan down at the stream before releasing the Snapping Turtle that just had its head removed from a peanut butter jar. (Photo by A. Mandica)

The turtle appeared to be of good health and weight, so hopefully it wasn't stuck in there for very long. We decided the best thing to do was return it to the stream where it was found.

The Snapping Turtle moments after being placed back in the stream where it was found. Soon after, it disappeared under that log and back into the muck they love so well.

Snappers do not know how to cooperate with rescue missions or how to show their appreciation, but it felt good to help out this old turtle which at that size could have been 20 or so.