Jerry---guestion about turtles

[aravenschild]

Jerry,
 I was showing the pics of the turtles in your pond to my 9 yr old granddaughter and she wanted to know if we could put turtles in our pond.........
We have a 900 gallon+ above ground pond with Ryukin and Telescope goldfish,
I guess my questions are.......Can I mix a turtle or two with these types of goldfish, and if so what kind of turtle would you recommend? How do you keep them from eatting the goldfish and how do you over winter them?

Thank you in advance,

Vicky and Tasiday

[aravenschild]

Oh, and it might help if I let you know we live in zone 6b

[Jerry]

Mmmmmmm Teresa is our turtle expert. Hopefully she will see this and respond.
I have never seen one of my red ear sliders eat a fish.  We do not notice a loss of fish.  mayne they eat some juvenile mosquito fish?  if so, good!
I am In So Cal, so we have mild winters. not a problem.
I suggest you see if Red ears are local in the wild. If so I guess they can take your zone.
If not check out what aquatic turtles  are native.
They do mess up a few Lillie's, but thats ok. They do in nature too.
Hope this helps.
Members: please post if you have some information to share.

[Julles]

Turtles WILL eat fish.  That's what they do in the wild.  Fish are (one of) their natural foods.  Yes, turtles are slow.  But they can move with lightening speed when dinner is swimming by.  They can and do catch fish in my pond - and eat them.  They will especially catch slow swimmers like fantails and goggle-eyes.

I have a lot of turtles (just discovered a nest of 18 eggs -from my African sideneck, I'm guessing, and am totally delighted!).  I keep the turtles in a seperate fenced hopefully-escape-proof enclosure with their own ponds.  I do have fish in there, but they are cull fish and 22c PetSmart fish, totally intended to be food.  However, some of them have lived for years and are quite large. 

But ryunkins, fantails, telescope eyes - never.  Sushi! 

[PondmaninAL]

Your goldfish are slow swimmers which means that they could end up turtle food. Turtles also produce a lot of waste. You will need a really good filter or you can be happy with green water. Adult Red-eared sliders are vegetarians but juveniles will eat plants and animals.

[Jerry]

I have a good filter, a "Skippy" beats the heck out of many that are more expensive.\Clean water always.

Julles. I don't doubt you at all.  It is just that I have never had a problem

[aravenschild]

Thank you for all the suggestions and advice,.. I guess if we are gonna have turtles we need another pond.....

Thanks again,
vicky

[tranquility]

Thank you for all the suggestions and advice,.. I guess if we are gonna have turtles we need another pond.....

Thanks again,
vicky

don't forget that turtles will go from pond to pond...also I think you have to fence them in if you really really want them to stay...We get red-eared sliders every year that show up in the ponds..but, come fall they go back to the creek behind our house...
Lawanna

[aravenschild]

I don't think I have to worry about the wild turtles invading my pond, nor turtles traveling from pond to pond

The pond I have now is above ground, the sides being nearly 24 inches tall, if we do decide to get a turtle, it would be housed in a similiar type pond, with an island for basking in the middle

Until then, we'll just leave the turtles alone..........

[Jerry]

I did have a neighbor bring my  turtle home after she found it in her swimming pool.  It could not get out.
How it got there is a mysterey.

[LeeAnne151]

Wild animals just don't realize they are our pets and supposed to stay put. 

I had a native newt in an aquarium for at least six years, built the pond, put him outside and he disappeared in an hour, never to be seen again.  :'(  No other ponds or natural areas near me so he likely died.

[turtlemike]

I once rebuilt a mud pond on top of the hill.  I drained it and ended up with 2 5gal. buckets full of spotted newts,tadpoles and water scorpions.   I carried them down the hill to another pond about 200 ft elevation down the hill and dumped them in.   
       This was in 1988, a big drought year around here.     When the fall rains finally arrived and the cleaned out pond refilled I was walking by it in the rain and there was a line of thousands of newts coming from the lower pond, head to tail 3 or 4 wide marching in mass back home to the upper pond.

[Julles]

Mike, that is amazing!  Are you sure that's a true story?  Man, I would have loved to have seen that.  Kind of like lemmings.

[Double S]

I'm in a 5/6 zone and RES are wild here. I have them in our ponds all the time.  We do now also have a fenced pond just for turtles to keep them put.  I do nothing in the winter and they are still there in the spring.

[iriscottage]

I too have an above ground pond and would have to put some sort of island in the middle. Anyone got ideas? Maybe I just shouldn't get a turtle. And I am in KY so I don't know what I'd do with him in the winter.

[Double S]

In one of our ponds, my son took a couple "turtle docks" you buy from any petstore.  They are made to suction cup to the side of a tank.  He took those off.  Instead add fishing line and a weight so it floats and semi stays in one spot.  We see the turtles up on it daily.  The largest size isn't huge....but probably 15".  Big enough for us.

[Dale D]

don't forget that turtles will go from pond to pond...also I think you have to fence them in if you really really want them to stay...We get red-eared sliders every year that show up in the ponds..but, come fall they go back to the creek behind our house...
Lawanna

They could be overwintering in your pond as well.
I'm up in British Columbia and we have Red ears overwintering up here, despite the fact that they are native to the Southern states. I'm sure some don't make it through the winter, but, enough do that they are considered an invasive species here (and just about everywhere else in the world).