Reptiles 103 Chapter 3
The Turtles
Turtles are one of the oldest and most successful animals on the planet. Testudines were here when dinosaurs ruled the earth 220 million years ago, they barely noticed when the dinos all disappeared 65 million years ago, and they’re still going strong today, with 300 species across the globe, 50 or so of which can be found in North America. Scientifically classified as animals with a shell and a backbone, very few creatures on earth are better equipped survivors than these armor-plated tanks, found in just about every natural body of water on the continent. A testament to their popularity, most people will recognize many of the freshwater aquatic species by name, including Common Snapping Turtle, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Red-eared Slider, Yellow-bellied Slider, Softshell Turtle, Diamondback Terrapin, Eastern Painted Turtle, Eastern Mud Turtle, not to mention Teenage Mutant Ninja varieties.
By D. Gordon E. Robertson (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
Turtles are great environmental indicators and will not typically reside in a pond with poor water quality. That’s probably for the good, since even a relatively small turtle can wreak havoc within the confines of a constructed ornamental water feature. Turtles like to dig and forage for things to eat, upsetting potted plants and in rare cases even damaging the pond liner. Their worst attribute by far is that they will actively and incessantly go after all of your pond fish. Different species prefer different diets but all turtles will eat a fish if they can get a hold of it.
Turtles can be relatively easy to keep in a backyard pond. They grow rather slowly, so you can keep small turtles with much larger fish for quite a while before the turtles grow large enough to become a problem. You will have to keep the water pristine and the turtles well-fed, or they will simply leave to find better digs.
If, on the other hand, you don’t want a two-foot wide Alligator Snapping Turtle with a beak that can bite a broomstick in two tearing your Koi apart, you have a few options. You can try to net the turtle out if it’s small enough. If the turtle decides to eat the net or otherwise refuses to cooperate, adding pond salt a little at a time to a maximum of 10 pounds per thousand gallons will encourage most turtles to move on. Some recent studies assert that ion generating systems create uncomfortable conditions for turtles. Turtles are very sensitive to water quality and will not stay if conditions are not to their liking. They are also cold-blooded, so they need to be able to get out of the water to bask in the sun, to thermo-regulate periodically. Removing a turtle’s easy access into and out of your pond should make your pond much less inviting.
Turtles are one of the oldest and most successful animals on the planet. Testudines were here when dinosaurs ruled the earth 220 million years ago, they barely noticed when the dinos all disappeared 65 million years ago, and they’re still going strong today, with 300 species across the globe, 50 or so of which can be found in North America. Scientifically classified as animals with a shell and a backbone, very few creatures on earth are better equipped survivors than these armor-plated tanks, found in just about every natural body of water on the continent. A testament to their popularity, most people will recognize many of the freshwater aquatic species by name, including Common Snapping Turtle, Alligator Snapping Turtle, Red-eared Slider, Yellow-bellied Slider, Softshell Turtle, Diamondback Terrapin, Eastern Painted Turtle, Eastern Mud Turtle, not to mention Teenage Mutant Ninja varieties.
By D. Gordon E. Robertson (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
Turtles are great environmental indicators and will not typically reside in a pond with poor water quality. That’s probably for the good, since even a relatively small turtle can wreak havoc within the confines of a constructed ornamental water feature. Turtles like to dig and forage for things to eat, upsetting potted plants and in rare cases even damaging the pond liner. Their worst attribute by far is that they will actively and incessantly go after all of your pond fish. Different species prefer different diets but all turtles will eat a fish if they can get a hold of it.
Turtles can be relatively easy to keep in a backyard pond. They grow rather slowly, so you can keep small turtles with much larger fish for quite a while before the turtles grow large enough to become a problem. You will have to keep the water pristine and the turtles well-fed, or they will simply leave to find better digs.
If, on the other hand, you don’t want a two-foot wide Alligator Snapping Turtle with a beak that can bite a broomstick in two tearing your Koi apart, you have a few options. You can try to net the turtle out if it’s small enough. If the turtle decides to eat the net or otherwise refuses to cooperate, adding pond salt a little at a time to a maximum of 10 pounds per thousand gallons will encourage most turtles to move on. Some recent studies assert that ion generating systems create uncomfortable conditions for turtles. Turtles are very sensitive to water quality and will not stay if conditions are not to their liking. They are also cold-blooded, so they need to be able to get out of the water to bask in the sun, to thermo-regulate periodically. Removing a turtle’s easy access into and out of your pond should make your pond much less inviting.
