lilie leaves being snapped off.

[Marie Fisher]

So far, only on the lower end of my big pond, all of a sudden lilie leaves are being snapped
off on tropicals; hardies not being bothered!!!  Not eaten, just left floating in water.
Young leaves, old leaves too.  Other parts of  the pond so far not bothered.  Do I
have a turtle?   I know turtle will snap leaves off for the heck of it.  Saw a victoria
just wrecked by turtle few years ago, so know it happens. IF is turtle, how can I trap
the dude?  The shelf there is about 16 inches deep, the pit part of pond is about 30
inches. I don't mind getting in pond if need be.   Need input from others who have had
problem like this. I see other people with turtles, well mannered, not bothering lilies. I
get jaws in mine!!!

Marie Fisher

[Esther]

Hoo boy. I guess I'd just watch to see him snoozing in the sun. But they will zip into the pond so quickly, it'll be hard to catch him I bet. Maybe you'll get lucky and he'll leave. I've had a couple that I brought to my pond and they left in a few weeks.

Wonder if your local Humane Society will loan you a live trap. Ours does. What if you baited it and left it beside the pond?? But maybe a cat would get in it...I don't know.

[Marie Fisher]

Will contact Humane Society, see if they'll loan me a trap.  Meanwhile,I think I might
go "fishing" for it.  Those are MY lilies,not the turtle's.   Lorenzo had sent me a
beautiful Rachell Presnell, it has one leaf left. Am hoping plant will come back, no
tuber under it.   That is long and short of what is happening to those lilies. And you
should have seen me hustling my Aussies out of that pond!!!  They're all out of there!!
I don't have the space to relocate all those lilies, must be 200 in that pond..   Thanks
Esther.

Marie

[Vickie]

Marie I hope you catch it FAST.

[Julles]

One of my small (6") turtles somehow got out of the turtle pen and into the koi / lily pond.  Luckily, I saw him sitting on top of the water, amidst some lily pads, and simply reached over and picked him up.

I think, in your case (your pond must be huge, to contain 200 lilies!), you might do well to try to tame the turtle, and tame him to come to eat at the same spot and time every day.  Once he gets used to eating from you, and is not scared of you, perhaps you will be able to nab him with a net. 

I can't think of any other way to catch a turtle in a large pond.

If you use a live trap, be sure part of it is above water, so he can breathe. 

[Jerry]

i get it too Marie, but there is plenty to go around, true, I don't have real exotics, so it's easier to bear. :'(

[Marie Fisher]

TRied baiting hook with fried chicken, all I did was give Mr. Turtle a tasty
snack.  He ate it!  So tomorrow unless so hot I can't stand it, going to drain the
pond, put lilies somewhere, God only knows where.  Stack on top of one another
I guess!!!   Maybe when I drain can see it. 

Marie

[water_sprite]

Let us know how it goes!

[matherfish]

Marie, that will be a big job. Can you just lower the water level enough to see him, folding the lily pads over the crowns so as to reveal him? Good luck!

[turtlemike]

   Marie don't panic !

  Get some fish food and feed your turtles.

  If my turtles start to pick on a particular lily all I do is throw some fish pellets in the pond and the leaf eating stops.  I have snappers and LOTS of sliders and some times they will just decide that they want to eat a lot of a particular plant one day and then the desire will pass even if I don't feed them. If I feed them then it allways stops. They may have just layed egges and have a craving and an empty stomach to fill
  I assume you have lots of lilies in this pond and the turtles are just picking on that one.

[Julles]

Soooo.... This morning I go out to feed the fish, and I swear I see a little face peering up at me, looking a whole lot like a stinkpot turtle.  As in, the baby I released into the adult pond and haven't seen for several days now.

This was in the lily / fantail "corral" so it's enclosed and fairly shallow.  I was able to put my hand in there and scrunge around until - voilà!  Jouvenile Red Ear turtle!  I put him back in the adult pond, and if he climbs back over the wall and into my koi / lily pond, it's to the bayou he goes!  (It's OK, because he's a native species.)

But - I could swear that I had seen the face of a stinkpot.  So I went back and scrounged around some more, and, sure enough, there was the jouvenile stinkpot musk turtle I had released into the adult pond at the same time as the Red Ear.  So back to the adult pond he went, and if he continues to escape, I don't know what I'll do with him.  He's native, too, so I could release him.  But I really like the musk and mud turtles, and they usually aren't escape artists, so hopefully he'll settle down and stay in his pond.

I did notice a few lily pads floating loose from their stems.  Also, not all my fantails came up for feeding.  I hope that's because they were hiding, and not because they were eaten. 

Turtles are cool, but only in their appropriate place!

[Marie Fisher]

This is a discrimating turtle, likes any of the varigated leaves the best; seems to leave
the green leaves alone. For instance, a pink leopardess and queen of Siam, they are
down to nubs now, but each has tubers under them, so hoping will come back. I've
moved all the plants with that type leaf, and all the newly sprouted ones out of that
pond. Nothing in there but mature plants with green leaves.  I do feed my fish every
day, at same spot in pond.  They are tame, come up to me.  Would that count maybe
on feeding the turtle?  Last night after two chicken nugget snacks maybe helped too.
I'd let him live here, if he'd leave my lilies alone!!!  Fish food is gobbled up within 5
minutes out there tho.

Esther, I went to humane society today. What a joke!! No cages except to capture
larger dog; that won't work.  My daughter bought a trap recommended by her feed
store to catch raccoons here that were bothering her chickens.  Somebody -- what do
you think  -- will that trap work?

I needd everybody's thoughts on this, I have no experience with turtles as to what
would work and what wouldn't work.

Marie

[Julles]

Even if that turtle leaves your lilies alone, you won't want him around.... He WON'T leave your FISH alone. 

I doubt that a turtle will enter a live trap designed for a mammal, and if it does, it may not trigger the locking mechanism.  And I don't know of any way to catch one in the water, other than hook and line.   

I think that training him to come for food, and then netting him, would be the best option.  Either that or draining the pond.  It may come down to that, to save your lilies and fish.

Sorry you have to deal with this. 

[matherfish]

Marie. I hate to hear of the problem you are having. Have you been able to catch the turtle? Have you been able to see it, as to type and size.

[Marie Fisher]

No, Frank, not caught the blasted turtle. And very little damage out there today. I'm
also scared with his needle sharp claws will put hole in my liner, and that size liner ain't
cheap!!!  When I got all the lilies with varigated leaves and my real young lilies out,
the chomping seemed to really slow down a lot.  It is too blasted hot to get out there and
drain the pond, do what I have to do. Plus would take literal act of Congress to corral
all those fish. Lots of gambusia in that pond too, and  I would most likely lose all of them
if drained.  I wouldn't think it would compare to Andrew's turtle tho.  That thing is huge!!!

Marie

[Indiana Karen]

A few years ago we had a snapping turtle in our pond.  I hope yours isn't a snapper. 
It finally left on its own but had already killed my two largest butterfly koi.........one of which I never found.  :'(

A friend of ours loaned us a home made trap he uses to catch them.  I think its still around here somewhere.  If you want, I can take a picture so you can make one.  He catches them all the time.

Karen

[Marie Fisher]

Havce finally come to realization I can't catch that turtle on a hook and line, nor have
I seen it when I feed fish. But he snaps enough lilies stems to let me know he's still
out there.   Have broke down and ordered a turtle trap, should be here by end of week.
Cross fingers I can catch him as I need that space in the pond badly.

Marie Fisher

[Julles]

When it arrives, take a photo and post it.  I'd love to see this contraption.

Meanwhile, I saw mine yesterday, could not catch it, but have not seen it today.  I have promised it to a little kid in the neighbhood, so, as much as I want it to NOT be in my pond, I hope that it still is, so I can catch it and give it to this little boy.  I hope it hasn't left the pond and escaped the yard and headed for the hills.  Which, in my case, is a busy city street and lots of fast, heavy cars.