Pond turtles

I saw an ad for pond turtles--has anyone ever put any in their pond? It seems like a cute idea!

rubybeetle

I wouldn't do it. I had a friend who kept pet turtles. She feed them goldfish. I don't know if all turtles eat fish, so be careful.

In New Jersey, it is actually illegal to keep turtles as pets. I'm not sure why. I wouldn't mind having some turtles around my pond. I think many eat worms and insects as well.

wow i have never heard of this. Will have to look into it more. I think this would be neat, myself. Does anyone on here have any?

I do know that it is illegal to have some turtles as pets. Check with your local zoo or animal agency to find out your areas rules on turtles.

Illegal to keep turtles as pets? Never heard of that! I was thinking about it too, but I am worried that it'll crawl off, dry up, and die!

Not sure what kind of turtles they are selling. Painted turtles are pretty common in most of the US. I have one that shows up occasionally but doesn't stick around long (see pic).

I kept them as pets as a kid and they will eat anything they can catch. So they will eat your fish.

I used to have red-eared sliders. They will eat fish. They eat feeder goldfish. I thought they would not eat fish bigger than them so I added a large Pleco and a large gold fish. They ate the fins off the goldfish and then small bites. It was soon dead. I have heard they will also take chucks out of large Koi.

Mosquito fish are very fast and smart. It takes draining and making sure nothing is put back in that has them in it.

I have three pond size painters. Mine will eat smaller fish (5 inches or less) if they can catch them. Painters are basically vegetarians, so they will love your water lettuce, anacharis, hornwort. They don't seem to like any lily's. They like to pack hunt and corner a fish in my tank. In my pool they don't bother the fish are too fast. They love to eat the bugs.

Bob.