Woman Goes To Help Stuck Turtle And Gets Quite A Shock When She Lifts Him Up

Erin Rodriguez was walking back into her yard after taking her son for a walk in his stroller when she noticed a turtle stuck in the fence. She’d seen and helped the same turtle before, and decided to stop and help him get around the fence safely. 

“I walked up to it and saw that its head and front legs were stuck in the fence,” Rodriguez told The Dodo. “I'm pretty sure the turtle could have backed out, so I didn't think it was really stuck. I just wanted to help it get to the other side since I have seen it trying to go through before. It did not seem too concerned that I was there.” 

The turtle seemed to trust Rodriguez since she’d helped him out before. She took a picture first to show her husband the turtle she was about to help, then got down to business. She went to lift up the turtle and get him unstuck from the fence … but when she started to pick him up, she quickly realized he wasn’t alone. 

Underneath the turtle, just hanging out, was a very large snake. 

When she’d first approached the turtle, Rodriguez hadn’t been able to see the snake at all. The turtle was very casually hanging out right on top of the snake — who appeared to be a venomous copperhead snake. 

“I set the turtle back down and backed away,” Rodriguez said. “I was pretty shocked, and my heart probably stopped for a second. All of a sudden I felt adrenaline and like I had to save the turtle.”

The snake didn’t seem to be paying much attention to either of them, and the turtle seemed to be totally fine, but still. Rodriguez figured it was better to be safe than sorry, and decided to continue with her plan of getting the turtle out of the fence and away from his unlikely friend. 

Rodriguez went and grabbed a shovel, then gently tried to lift the turtle up and away from the fence without hurting or disturbing the snake. Once the shovel appeared, though, the snake decided she’d had enough and slowly slithered back down into a nearby hole. Rodriguez was finally able to free the turtle and get him to a safe, fenceless, snakeless area. 

"I put the turtle down and it seemed to be completely unharmed, although a little scared by the commotion,” Rodriguez said. 

The turtle then headed on his way, and Rodriguez was finally able to process what had just happened. She’d helped a turtle and met a snake all at once, and it definitely wasn’t what she’d expected from a simple turtle rescue. She hasn’t seen either the turtle or the snake since — but if she ever does see the turtle again, she’ll definitely be checking to see who’s underneath him.