2 weeks ago I was watching the fish, and suddenly saw a rather funny head
appear at the waterline. You know when the mind goes "wait a minute,
something wrong with this picture" and then slowly you understand what
happened... one of the smaller turtles had managed to escape from the turtle
pond (don't ask me how !) and wander over to the big pond.

Tried to catch it, but couldn't, and after that I hadn't seen it for a while


Today I suddenly saw it basking at the edge of the big pond:

http://www.wide-o.net/summerpond2003/escaped_turtle.jpg

My question: should I try to catch him (and ruin his summer) or should I
just leave him alone.

Things that speak for taking him back:

.. he has been naughty !
.. it's not possible to feed him with turtle food, as the koi would eat it
before it hits the water
.. they have been known to take a bite out of a fish
.. his friends might miss him ;-)

But :

.. the little guy managed to get there all on his own, and that deserves
respect
.. I know a few ponds where koi & turtles live happily together
.. he might take part in the fry control
.. I don't think I can catch him anyway
.. he will be scared for months probably when I do manage to catch him
.. it's quick enough to stay clear of cats (and me)

Should he stay or should he go ? Your votes please :-)

Theo

Return the runaway Turtle back to where he is supposed to be. You wouldn't
want him to starve to death would you?

--
_______________________________________
"The difference between 'involvement' and 'commitment' is
like an eggs-and-ham breakfast:
The chicken was 'involved' - the pig was 'committed'."

http://community.webshots.com/user/godwino

"Theo van Daele" wrote in message
...
2 weeks ago I was watching the fish, and suddenly saw a rather funny head
appear at the waterline. You know when the mind goes "wait a minute,
something wrong with this picture" and then slowly you understand what
happened... one of the smaller turtles had managed to escape from the
turtle
pond (don't ask me how !) and wander over to the big pond.

Tried to catch it, but couldn't, and after that I hadn't seen it for a
while


Today I suddenly saw it basking at the edge of the big pond:

http://www.wide-o.net/summerpond2003/escaped_turtle.jpg

My question: should I try to catch him (and ruin his summer) or should I
just leave him alone.

Things that speak for taking him back:

. he has been naughty !
. it's not possible to feed him with turtle food, as the koi would eat it
before it hits the water
. they have been known to take a bite out of a fish
. his friends might miss him ;-)

But :

. the little guy managed to get there all on his own, and that deserves
respect
. I know a few ponds where koi & turtles live happily together
. he might take part in the fry control
. I don't think I can catch him anyway
. he will be scared for months probably when I do manage to catch him
. it's quick enough to stay clear of cats (and me)

Should he stay or should he go ? Your votes please :-)

Theo

If he took the time to seek out the pond the odds are he found something
about it that he liked. If you move him back, he will probably be back
where he wants within the week.

As for food, there is something there that he likes better that he was
eating in the old pond

Theo van Daele wrote:
2 weeks ago I was watching the fish, and suddenly saw a rather funny head
appear at the waterline. You know when the mind goes "wait a minute,
something wrong with this picture" and then slowly you understand what
happened... one of the smaller turtles had managed to escape from the turtle
pond (don't ask me how !) and wander over to the big pond.

Tried to catch it, but couldn't, and after that I hadn't seen it for a while


Today I suddenly saw it basking at the edge of the big pond:

http://www.wide-o.net/summerpond2003/escaped_turtle.jpg

My question: should I try to catch him (and ruin his summer) or should I
just leave him alone.

Things that speak for taking him back:

. he has been naughty !
. it's not possible to feed him with turtle food, as the koi would eat it
before it hits the water
. they have been known to take a bite out of a fish
. his friends might miss him ;-)

But :

. the little guy managed to get there all on his own, and that deserves
respect
. I know a few ponds where koi & turtles live happily together
. he might take part in the fry control
. I don't think I can catch him anyway
. he will be scared for months probably when I do manage to catch him
. it's quick enough to stay clear of cats (and me)

Should he stay or should he go ? Your votes please :-)

Theo

I vote for letting him stay in the big pond. I've read that turtles don't
need another turtle for company..... they are not pack animals, so maybe he
wanted to get away and have a place of his own. (I doubt that was going
through his head, but it's a cute thought anyway.) His determination
and efforts should be rewarded by letting him make his own decisions, and if
he WANTS to go back to where he came from, he can get there himself, right?
Sue

Turtles don't take hints very well, he'll probably come back. And if he doesn't
find what he needs in the one pond he'll probably head back to the other pond.


k30a

Godwino (sorry if that is a wrong name), no of course I don't want the
critter to starve ! I do feel a serious responsibility for all the
creatures in my garden (some people close to me recommend counselling LOL),
and I would not want it hurt in any way.

But is it possible he found a food source anyway ? Quite a few bugs in the
pond, and places where the bigger koi can't come.

Despite the smiley, I'm serious about "wondering what to do".

A bit more info: I believe it is a "Missisipi Roadmap" turtle (very liberal
translation from Dutch), and they are quite shy. The read eared slider and
his yellow friend have learned to swim towards me when I'm there with food
(or without...) but the two smaller ones just panic and try to hide where
ever they can. Maybe it didn't feel it could hide well enough and feels
safer in the bigger pond (including the area under the deck) ?

Theo

Return the runaway Turtle back to where he is supposed to be. You
wouldn't
want him to starve to death would you?

As for food, there is something there that he likes better that he was
eating in the old pond

That's what I was wondering about too, good point.

You & Sue A. seem to be on the same wavelength about this... yes, it can
easily go back to the turtle pond, it's about 30 feet away. I don't know
how well their orientation works, but he could just go there by hearing
(splashing from filter return etc...). But he's still in the bigger pond
for 2 weeks now.

Turtles don't take hints very well, he'll probably come back. And if he
doesn't
find what he needs in the one pond he'll probably head back to the other
pond.

His determination
and efforts should be rewarded by letting him make his own decisions, and
if
he WANTS to go back to where he came from, he can get there himself,
right?

Yes, he can get back, and indeed, his efforts (he must have climbed
vertically on some pretty slippery rocks) are well respected :-)

The other ones don't seem to want to get away (yet ?), he/she did.

Of course, I could just play hardball ("Oi, I'm the boss here !") but I just
don't want to do that.

The only reason I am considering taking it back (if I can catch it) is the
food thing. But as said in another post, maybe it's found its own stash ?
We have seen him come up when we feed the koi yesterday BTW, and maybe he
can catch the sinking pellets we feed to the sturgeon ?

These animals have survived quite a few years now, and although I know they
are not exactly in their natural habitat, I'm wondering about letting their
"instinct" (bad word) lead them.

Theo

In , on 06/14/03
at 01:01 PM, "Theo van Daele" said:

Should he stay or should he go ? Your votes please :-)

Stay.


Alan

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Theo, I suggest you return the little bugger to his own pond and look for
the escape route. I have 3 RES. in a 60 gallon preformed with the water
level down 1.5 - 2 " to prevent escapes from happening. RES. can be
omnivorous, but generally are carnivorous as juveniles and become
herbivorous as they grow older. Ours live by themselves because the female
who was by herself in the big pond created "turtle hell" this spring. She
bit-off all of the water poppy's leaves, dipped potted plants over. And all
the turtle poo she made... (didn't find out just how much till she was
housed by herself.) She moved rocks at the base of the waterfalls digging.
She got out twice. One time she managed to get into the swimming pool (its a
salt pool.) The other time we don't know how long she was out but don't
think it was more than a couple of hours she was found tucked into some
verbena that grows under this tree beside the now two ponds. Luckily for
her the weather was only around 95'F but as we are in Phoenix, Arizona we
put in the other pond for her and then.... I ended up with two male RES.
from the pet store/nursery when I went in to buy more turtle food and see if
he had any water celery (and no he doesn't has never carried it.) I asked
about them casually with no thought of buying any more turtles, but the
owner offered me the one turtle for $10 USD, and I said no...( they wanted
$15 for them on the sign.) He then said that they were going to stop
carrying turtles for the season as they didn't seem to be selling well. We
talked about the incident with the female that I had and he jokingly said
that if I had gone to that much work for one it would be cool with three....
(see where this is going) So I bought the food and some other plants for
the garden and was standing at the checkout. The owner walks up with one of
the turtles in hand... he said " are sure you don't want a new turtle, for
only $10...???" With that he placed the turtle on the counter.... I looked
it over and didn't see any parasites or diseases that were obvious, so I
said "OK" That turtle was taken behind the counter by the owner to go and
placed in a box.... ( I should have gotten suspicious....) I paid for the
food and the "new" turtle and left for home... I stopped at a convenience
store for a soda. As I was sitting at the store taking that first sip of
the soda, I opened the box like a little kid.... There were two turtles in
the box!!! I laughed... taking my new pond pals home to their piece of the
planet. I put the two males in with the female and they now all do their
turtle thing together... (boy they poo a lot... lol lol) But the research
that I did on turtles and their diets is that it might be alright in the
pond.... but more than likely the turtle will be lacking in a good healthy
diet for a captive animal to remain healthy and disease free. Being in the
pond also makes it impossible to inspect them for any parasites and/or
cracks or damage to the shells. With the turtles in their own pond and to
keep your pond free of the possibility of salmonella poisoning.


btw... is that a male RES.?


Regards, Jon Nyhus


"Theo van Daele" wrote in message
...
2 weeks ago I was watching the fish, and suddenly saw a rather funny head
appear at the waterline. You know when the mind goes "wait a minute,
something wrong with this picture" and then slowly you understand what
happened... one of the smaller turtles had managed to escape from the
turtle
pond (don't ask me how !) and wander over to the big pond.

Tried to catch it, but couldn't, and after that I hadn't seen it for a
while


Today I suddenly saw it basking at the edge of the big pond:

http://www.wide-o.net/summerpond2003/escaped_turtle.jpg

My question: should I try to catch him (and ruin his summer) or should I
just leave him alone.

Things that speak for taking him back:

. he has been naughty !
. it's not possible to feed him with turtle food, as the koi would eat it
before it hits the water
. they have been known to take a bite out of a fish
. his friends might miss him ;-)

But :

. the little guy managed to get there all on his own, and that deserves
respect
. I know a few ponds where koi & turtles live happily together
. he might take part in the fry control
. I don't think I can catch him anyway
. he will be scared for months probably when I do manage to catch him
. it's quick enough to stay clear of cats (and me)

Should he stay or should he go ? Your votes please :-)

Theo

As a follow up ...

We found it tonight floating and ... rather dead :-(

On closer investigation, its shell was crushed. Poor thing.

I'm wondering if cats are strong enough to do such damage, or if it have may
been a heron or another creature. Hedgehogs ? (we found some HH poo
around the garden lately). It looks like someone dropped a large stone on
it (yuck). No apparent damage on head or legs.

Not a pleasant discovery at all ... darn. I feel like a dork now for
putting up a "vote" :-(

Theo

"Theo van Daele" schreef in bericht
...
2 weeks ago I was watching the fish, and suddenly saw a rather funny head
appear at the waterline. You know when the mind goes "wait a minute,
something wrong with this picture" and then slowly you understand what
happened... one of the smaller turtles had managed to escape from the
turtle
pond (don't ask me how !) and wander over to the big pond.

Tried to catch it, but couldn't, and after that I hadn't seen it for a
while


Today I suddenly saw it basking at the edge of the big pond:

http://www.wide-o.net/summerpond2003/escaped_turtle.jpg

My question: should I try to catch him (and ruin his summer) or should I
just leave him alone.

Things that speak for taking him back:

. he has been naughty !
. it's not possible to feed him with turtle food, as the koi would eat it
before it hits the water
. they have been known to take a bite out of a fish
. his friends might miss him ;-)

But :

. the little guy managed to get there all on his own, and that deserves
respect
. I know a few ponds where koi & turtles live happily together
. he might take part in the fry control
. I don't think I can catch him anyway
. he will be scared for months probably when I do manage to catch him
. it's quick enough to stay clear of cats (and me)

Should he stay or should he go ? Your votes please :-)

Theo

Theo, don't worry about us. We love to talk ponds and critters no matter what
the case and cause.

Poor turtle. Shell crushed.... it has got to be a lot of force applied to do
that. Maybe he climbed up some place and fell backwards onto his shell? Some
birds will pick up things and drop them from a height to crack them open, crows
and ravens come to mind.




k30a

On Fri, 20 Jun 2003 22:09:03 GMT, "Theo van Daele"
wrote:


We found it tonight floating and ... rather dead :-(

so sorry

Yeah, I know K, just feel responsible for those animals (sounds stupid
probably) and feel a bit (well, a lot) guilty.

There are quite a few crows in the next door garden (they have very high
trees where they nest), so maybe that's what happened. Probably wondered
off again and then got caught... Still weird that the little fellow made it
back to the pond before giving in though.

The shell was only damaged in one spot (near the rear legs), almost a clean
"cut" across the shell. Wondering about it possibly being caused by a
mouse trap now as well.

Theo, don't worry about us. We love to talk ponds and critters no matter
what
the case and cause.

Poor turtle. Shell crushed.... it has got to be a lot of force applied to
do
that. Maybe he climbed up some place and fell backwards onto his shell?
Some
birds will pick up things and drop them from a height to crack them open,
crows
and ravens come to mind.