Baby Alligator Turtle found my pond :-(

[fishin4cars]

The turtle table has a light designed to emit 10 uv I put him in there today for about a hour and left him under the light in a bowl of water. I'm going to give him some outdoor time as well when it warms up next week, (suppose to be back up to 80 next week here) I have a outside pen that they both can go in and just have to add a large bowl or shallow dish of water for him to sit in while he's getting sun. i leave the succalta out for 4-5 hours when temps are above 80 but I have to keep him in the indoor enclose during the cooler weather. he's a desert tortoise so temps below 70 make him cold and want to hibernate.

 

[CountryEscape]

OK, I had to look up your tortoise and came up with this picture, which is adorable! Like a picture of Daddy, Mommy and Baby. Not sure if the picture will be the right size or not, as I copied it from a website.


So, how large is your land turtle? I guess they won't bother each other, as one is water and the other is land. Looks like the land turtle is going to be the largest of the two when full grown, too.

 

[fishin4cars]

Mine is like the baby on the Mama's back, He is about the size of a tennis ball now, when I got him two month's ago he was just bigger than a golf ball. that doesn't sound like much but I would say he has probably doubled in size since I got him. Houdini is cool too, he's feeding VERY well! I've given him a few things and so far the only thing he's turned down are the aquatic turtle pellets. Funny, none of the five turtles we have will eat any turtle pellets. The 3 Musk turtles pretty much feed off of snails, insects, tadpoles, and such in the pond they are in, ( No longer in the koi pond) I was feeding them some koi pellets every two or three days but i guess like the koi they have slowed down on their eating and not coming to the shallow for food since the water has been cooling off.
When full grown the snapper could actually be the larger of the two. A full grown sulcatta gets about 24-28" long and can weigh 100 lbs, I've seen snappers that were 36" across and weighed close to 150# But I have heard of some bigger. .thing is though, I could see a Sulcatta grow to full size from a baby, They can get full size in 15-25 years and live to be over 100, on the alligator snapper It takes them 30-50 years to get 30"-36" shells That would put me 90-110 years old, I doubt I will live that long and even if i do, I doubt i would still be keeping a alligator snapping turtle in a nursing home! lol

 

[HARO]

You never know, Larkin. I hear some nursing homes encourage pets. John

 

[j.w]

Yep and they can't be any worse to get along w/ than John's dearly departed MIL

Notice the fur in his mouth...........yikes!

 

[HARO]

Yup, j.w., she'd put any snapping turtle to shame! :twisted: John

 

[fishin4cars]

LOL, I bet that cat was really surprised. I don't usually like any kind of injury to another animal but I couldn't help but laugh. Looks like all he got was fur but he did get a mouth full!

 

[CountryEscape]

LOL, JW I showed that to my sister who has a cat almost identical to that one, and to my brother who loves cats. We all had a good laugh watching it over and over, got more out of it each time it repeated. Thanks for sharing.

 

[sissy]

poor kitty took a licking but he is still ticking .I'm sure he now watches that turtle

 

[PremiumKoi]

I was cleaning out my skimmer tonight, and there was this little bugger.
View attachment 38407
He's only 1.5" from nose to end of his shell. I'll put him back into my farm pond. Neighbors said they found 3 babies in their ditch in front of their house (across the road from where my pond is in my pasture), so I knew they were in the neighborhood. My baby slider that found my pond about a month ago gets to stay, but not this little guy. I just worry how many others got into the pond, too!
Anyone have any suggestions on how to keep them out? He had to climb a minimum of 6" to get up and over the wall, so I guess putting up a solid fence would be the only way. Probably easier to catch and release them instead.

Larger ones would destroy your fish so the fence could be a good idea.

 

[CountryEscape]

Turns out this wasn't an alligator turtle after all, just a "common" snapping turtle. I agree, PremiumKoi, I do NOT want any snappers in my ponds. I've never seen one in there except the baby, though. I do get painted turtles every now and then, though, and they are welcome. I realize they could eat baby fish, but since all my fish are grown up, that's not a concern. The turtles wander in from my pasture pond, which is maybe 200 yards away from my back yard, out in the horse pasture. I can't keep them from wandering around, so I just am vigilant to watch for them to appear. Had a VERY large snake last year in the goldfish pond, tried to relocate him back to the pasture pond, but when it came back a month later, I had to kill it. Only other alternative would have been to relocate it, and I didn't fancy putting it in my car. LOL