I'm in the design stage for my first pond. I intend to have a few fish, the
usual array of plants and whatever else shows up. I'd also like to have a
resident turtle.

If I find a local turtle and bring it to my pond, is it likely to stay
around?

Would it be more ethical to purchase a turtle from a pet store?
Occasionally I see them along the roads where I ride bike. I'm sure some of
those that wonder onto the road meet an untimely demise.

As I understand it I'd need to provide an area where it can get easily get
out of the water. Are there any other special considerations for turtles?

Thanks.

Maybe you will have more luck then I did with turtles. I live in
Massachusetts and in my first pond I tried several times to put painted
turtles in. The longest they ever stayed was 2 or 3 days. Most left in a
few hours. I'm not sure why; I guess they just didn't like my pond.

Mike
"10Sguy" wrote in message
...
I'm in the design stage for my first pond. I intend to have a few fish,
the
usual array of plants and whatever else shows up. I'd also like to have a
resident turtle.

If I find a local turtle and bring it to my pond, is it likely to stay
around?

Would it be more ethical to purchase a turtle from a pet store?
Occasionally I see them along the roads where I ride bike. I'm sure some
of
those that wonder onto the road meet an untimely demise.

As I understand it I'd need to provide an area where it can get easily get
out of the water. Are there any other special considerations for turtles?

Thanks.

Turtles will come and they will go.
You just never know. I had one who was with me for three years until he was
injured in a fish weeding.
Better to have a rescued native in case
of introduced critters. Ask your vet if there are any turtle rehabbers around.
They need a safe place to get out and bask in
the sun. You can leave some turtle chow there unless you have dogs. Then you
can construct and island and place any turtle food there.
You need a good filter for turtle poo and enough plants to put up with turtle
munching. Water hyacinths are good for that.

Other turtle keepers here who can also answer questions. :-)


k30a

10Sguy
writes:

I'm in the design stage for my first pond. I intend to have a few fish, the
usual array of plants and whatever else shows up.

Try to insure that good size bio-filter shows up.

I'd also like to have a
resident turtle.

I assume you mean a typical aquatic turtle like a slider or painted turtle.
Those would be the best choices.

If I find a local turtle and bring it to my pond, is it likely to stay
around?

I think if it's a very large at all, it's only going to stay if you've created
a fairly balanced ecosystem with food sources and some places to hide, both on
shore and down in the water.

Would it be more ethical to purchase a turtle from a pet store?

Somewhat, but it would be best if you buy a turtle species that's native to
your area in case it escapes. If you can find a hatching turtle in the wild
there's nothing wrong with taking that to your pond, as about 98% of hatchlings
are eaten in the first few months of life anyway. A hatchling that grows up in
your pond is far more likely to stay. Once it figures out fish food, it will
tame down quickly.

Occasionally I see them along the roads where I ride bike. I'm sure some of
those that wonder onto the road meet an untimely demise.

Cars kill a phenomenal amount of wildlife, often because of worthless imbeciles
who won't just slow down or drive around them. Turtles killed on the road are
almost all females who've left the water to travel to a spot to lay eggs. This
has caused the decline of a number of species like the beautiful little spotted
turtle (all black with yellow spots). If you can see which way a turtle is
headed you can often help it "get to the other side."

As I understand it I'd need to provide an area where it can get easily get
easily get
out of the water. Are there any other special considerations for turtles?

A log or stone that is at the shore level and goes out over the water is ideal,
because turtles love to be able to dive in the water if they are spooked while
sunning. They need to get in the sun each day for several reasons: they get
vitamin D, it kills moss on the shell, and it warms them up. Best of all is a
rock coming up out of the like a small island.

The other consideration is that they need some soft material to dig into on the
pond bottom to hibernate in winter. Since "muck" on the pond bottom (in a
garden pond) is a huge threat to fish health, you've got to come up with
something special along these lines, like a shallow pan filled with thick clay
put on the bottom in the late fall.

Mark Ervin

Local or not, the turtles main goal in life will be too escape from your
pond. Good luck building it to be "turtle proof"..... I've been trying for
years. Finally ended up building a turtle pond this spring, and one even
got out of THERE, so it was back to the drawing board for me. I think I
finally have it now, and I'm gonna go mess up the layout. My daughter
brought me an Eastern Painted that she rescued from the middle of the road,
and as luck would have it, it's a female. The one I already had in there
was a male, so I'm thinking I should now re-design the turtle pond so that
they have a basking area OUT of the pond on the adjoining yard so she can
lay eggs if the spirit moves her. So that means actually building them a
ramp to help them get out of the pond I spent so much time making
unescapable. Now I have to think about burying fence, etc. Why is it we
do this to ourselves??????
Sue

"10Sguy" wrote in message
...
I'm in the design stage for my first pond. I intend to have a few fish,
the
usual array of plants and whatever else shows up. I'd also like to have a
resident turtle.

If I find a local turtle and bring it to my pond, is it likely to stay
around?

Would it be more ethical to purchase a turtle from a pet store?
Occasionally I see them along the roads where I ride bike. I'm sure some
of
those that wonder onto the road meet an untimely demise.

As I understand it I'd need to provide an area where it can get easily get
out of the water. Are there any other special considerations for turtles?

Thanks.

Local or not, the turtles main goal in life will be too escape from your
pond. Good luck building it to be "turtle proof"..... I've been trying for
years. Finally ended up building a turtle pond this spring, and one even
got out of THERE, so it was back to the drawing board for me. I think I
finally have it now, and I'm gonna go mess up the layout. My daughter
brought me an Eastern Painted that she rescued from the middle of the road,
and as luck would have it, it's a female. The one I already had in there
was a male, so I'm thinking I should now re-design the turtle pond so that
they have a basking area OUT of the pond on the adjoining yard so she can
lay eggs if the spirit moves her. So that means actually building them a
ramp to help them get out of the pond I spent so much time making
unescapable. Now I have to think about burying fence, etc. Why is it we
do this to ourselves??????
Sue

"10Sguy" wrote in message
...
I'm in the design stage for my first pond. I intend to have a few fish,
the
usual array of plants and whatever else shows up. I'd also like to have a
resident turtle.

If I find a local turtle and bring it to my pond, is it likely to stay
around?

Would it be more ethical to purchase a turtle from a pet store?
Occasionally I see them along the roads where I ride bike. I'm sure some
of
those that wonder onto the road meet an untimely demise.

As I understand it I'd need to provide an area where it can get easily get
out of the water. Are there any other special considerations for turtles?

Thanks.

On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 01:36:26 -0400, "Sue Alexandre"
wrote:

Why is it we
do this to ourselves??????
Sue

Because we love the little critters so much I have been designing my
current and future pond to be more toad friendly, both young and old.
Even a rat probably wouldn't get the babies the way i have it now. Of
course it is too little too late, but i am really gearing up for next
year. I want lots of baby toads!!!!! I miss the tads and babies so
much! For whatever reason that the kiddie pool was a flop, I will have
a top netted tad tank next year and when they begin to want out, i
will supply the escape route.


I hope.

Man I got turtles in my pond and I cant get rid of them. =)

Maybe I can shed some light on things. I own a large rec pond and the
turtles can always be seen swimming and looking at me from the opposite side
of the pond - a few hundred feet away.

Turtles seem to move from ponds they feel threatened in and ones where they
can't get as far away from danger (us) as they feel safe. So unless a turtle
can get a few hundred feet away from you they most likely wont stay.

Sam



"10Sguy" wrote in message
...
I'm in the design stage for my first pond. I intend to have a few fish,
the
usual array of plants and whatever else shows up. I'd also like to have a
resident turtle.

If I find a local turtle and bring it to my pond, is it likely to stay
around?

Would it be more ethical to purchase a turtle from a pet store?
Occasionally I see them along the roads where I ride bike. I'm sure some
of
those that wonder onto the road meet an untimely demise.

As I understand it I'd need to provide an area where it can get easily get
out of the water. Are there any other special considerations for turtles?

Thanks.

In , on 06/30/03
at 01:20 AM, "10Sguy" said:


Would it be more ethical to purchase a turtle from a pet store?
Occasionally I see them along the roads where I ride bike. I'm sure some
of those that wonder onto the road meet an untimely demise.

A pet store turtle may not be a native species, and may carry diseases
that could affect native turtles. Catching a turtle on the road will get
you a native species, but probably not a water turtle that will live in a
pond. You're probably seeing box turtles along the road.

Try calling or emailing a local reptile rescue group. They can provide
you with a rehabbed native water turtle, and, if it decides not to stay
(which happens), it won't negatively impact the local turtle population.


Alan

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In v%PLa.29201$G6.27422@lakeread04, on 06/30/03
at 01:36 AM, "Sue Alexandre" said:

Local or not, the turtles main goal in life will be too escape from your
pond. Good luck building it to be "turtle proof"..... I've been trying

I got my eastern painted from a local reptile rescue group. My pond is
far from escape proof, but she seems to like it, so she stays (over two
years, so far.) If she decides to escape to the woods and stream, so be
it. I'd miss her, but she'll be where she wants to be.



Alan

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In , on 06/30/03
at 04:00 AM, ESPMER (K30a) said:


Turtles will come and they will go.
You just never know. I had one who was with me for three years until he
was injured in a fish weeding.
Better to have a rescued native in case
of introduced critters. Ask your vet if there are any turtle rehabbers
around. They need a safe place to get out and bask in
the sun. You can leave some turtle chow there unless you have dogs. Then
you can construct and island and place any turtle food there.
You need a good filter for turtle poo and enough plants to put up with
turtle munching. Water hyacinths are good for that.

Painted turtles must be fed in the water. This may be true of other
species of aquatic turtle as well.


Alan

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Alan wrote Painted turtles must be fed in the water.

Someone forgot to tell my painted turtle. He would 'climb' up iris stalks to
nab snails that I tossed on his island. They sure looked delicious when he
crunched them up...
k30a

In , on 07/01/03
at 12:16 AM, ESPMER (K30a) said:

Alan wrote Painted turtles must be fed in the water.

Someone forgot to tell my painted turtle. He would 'climb' up iris
stalks to nab snails that I tossed on his island. They sure looked
delicious when he crunched them up...

Interesting. All the literature says painteds must eat in water. You
found the exception.


Alan

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Alan wrote
Interesting. All the literature says painteds must eat in water. You
found the exception.

I was thinking on that later on.... the island is either soggy or has an inch
of water on it. I wondered if when he snagged his snail off the plant stalk, he
dropped him on the soggy island and ate him that way, so he had his water with
his meal. Probably needs the water to get his meal down.
This same turtle, when we tossed land snails onto lily pads, would swim around
the lily pad like Jaws the Shark, waiting for the snail to look out over the
edge and then, wham, he'd grab the snail and pull him into the water.
(Wonder who ever called Mother Nature gentle??)


k30a

On Mon, 30 Jun 2003 10:27:26 -0400, "Sam Hopkins"
wrote:

Man I got turtles in my pond and I cant get rid of them. =)

Maybe I can shed some light on things. I own a large rec pond and the
turtles can always be seen swimming and looking at me from the opposite side
of the pond - a few hundred feet away.

Turtles seem to move from ponds they feel threatened in and ones where they
can't get as far away from danger (us) as they feel safe. So unless a turtle
can get a few hundred feet away from you they most likely wont stay.

In the deep south, red ear turtles are a pestilence. They quickly over
populate, and the only way I know to get relief is a .22 magnum rifle and a
scope. I like turtles, but enough is enough. Same thing with water snakes.
When you catch a fish, you often have 2 or 3 that follow your catch out of
the water. Since the lakes weren't mine, I could not kill them, but I sure
slung them so far out in the lake they didn't come back that day.

Bob