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1. How many turtles is too many ?
2. Should all willow tress be cut from around a 1/2 acre pond ?
3. Should small bass (8oz) be removed ?


rgreer
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I think more information is required to help with your enquiries.

How many turtles do you think you have and what kind/size are they?

How close to the pond edge are the trees and how big/many are there?

What are your pond management goals? What are your current stocking densities? How many and what kind of fish in the pond? How long are the 8oz. fish?


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I agree with Pottsy except for willow trees. They "drink" a lot of water and spread quicker than liberals.

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1. This pond is small, maybe, one half acre.
2. Turtles are plentiful, always six to eight on the surface.
3. Probably ten large willow trees (6-8 inches) diameter
4. Pond is stocked with brim and largemouth bass. Largest caught 21/2 pounds
5. Would want to grow larger bass without overpopulating the lake.
6. Brim are small and I have put 8-10 coppernose in the pond about one year ago.
7. The pond level gets two to three feet low several times each year.


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I agree on the willow trees. Definitely get them off the damn to prevent possible damage. They spread like wildfire. I just got through cutting down about 50 1-3" that sprouted up during the last year.

With the turtles, it depends on the kind. I used to have the painted turtles (not sure of the name, but they have nice green, yellow and red behind the ears) and they didn't seem to do much damage. Than one day I noticed little different bump sticking out of the water. Not the single one, but kind of double, like a baby aligator. Than all of the painted turtles disappeared and I had one big double bump left. Everytime the feeder goes off, it shaps up about one fis/5 sec.
Last weekend I even saw about a 10" catfish swiming in circles on the top, as if dying, than I noticed this head around it. I never saw the body of this thing, but it's big and it moves quickly through the water. I think it is a big snapping turtle and I think I killed it this Sunday, but one of those is clearly too many for my pond. How many are too many of the other kinds, I don't know. But I don't think that 5 of those combined don't eat the number or the size of fish that this one did. (3/4 ac pond)

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Painted turtles are pretty harmless in a pond... snapping turtles, most notably Aligator Snapping turtles are another story as Ed pointed out.

As for the willow trees, certainly I think any trees actually on the dam should be removed unless you know the specifics on their water requirements and root structure. I believe another topic post mentioned willow roots up to 100 feet long?


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Thanks, guys for the response. I cut at least ten Willows this past week. Now, I have a big mess to clean up. Another queation, I caught a small (6oz) fish that is yellow in color with a distingtive brown dot on each gill. This fish didn't put up a great fight. It hit a four inch dark purple plastic worm. What kind of fish is this ??? It looked like a yellow brim with a crappie sized mouth.


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What do pond turtles eat ?? Do they eat fist eggs?? We have probably taken 150 out of the pond since June. Did we make a mistake ?


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150 out of a 0.5 ac lake? Are you running a turle hatchery ;-)? I would say that qualifies as too many turtles. I imagine they eat little bit of everything. I rutinely see one of these turtles hanging on one side of a pellet and a catfish on the other side. Typically it is the catfish trying to take it from the turtle's mouth.

Here is a quote I found on the internet:

http://www.scsc.k12.ar.us/BoubelikB/painted_turtle_information.htm
"Painted Turtles can be found sunning themselves on rocks and logs and along the shores of ponds, lakes , and streams. Painted Turtles are omnivorous, eating fish, insects, aquatic plants, fruits and berries. Older Painted Turtles become more herbivorous as they mature.

Because of their size and adaptability to captivity, Painted Turtles are often kept as pets. They have a calm nature and often exhibit comical behavior."

and another one

http://www.herpnet.net/Minnesota-Herpetology/turtles/W.Painted_Turtle.html

"Western painted turtles are omnivorous, but because they have a fixed tongue, they can not swallow on land. Obviously, their food must be obtained and eaten in the water. They spend time chasing fishes, aquatic insects, tadpoles, frogs, crayfish, snails, etc. They also consume carrion and will browse on different forms of aquatic vegetation. The taste for the herbivorous portion of their diet is acquired with age; the young are mostly carnivorous. "

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>>What do pond turtles eat ?? Do they eat fish eggs??

Probably not, fish eggs are probably too small for them to notice

Turtles will eat snails, crustaceans, any bugs that fall in the water at a small size, tadpoles... turtles will adapt... If they can catch it and it fits in their mouth they will try it.

At a larger size, they tend to scavenge what is easy to find and to catch, their diets can be quite vegetarian as adults, snappers will dine heavily on succulent water lily stems

I've sat by ponds, tossing in tidbits to rather sad and desperate looking turtles and watched every fish in sight dash in to steal their tidbits, the chances of a turtle catching fish or a frog is shall we say low, where the critters are healthy

Maybe the turtles are smart, thinking, one day you will be on the menu, when you are past your best, .. come the day when water conditions conspire to do large fishkills, mr. turtle be the one dining big time...

Sure turtles will chase some bait on a fishing line (well, they think it is there for them, don't they) And when fish die you probably will find turtles will scavenge.

You could say turtles 'tidy up' the dead stuff...

Turtles are easy to catch with a humane trap and a bait, especially aggressive snapping turtles, expect one trap to catch a big snapping turtle a day, quite easily...

Regards, andy

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Thank you all for your reply.

rgreer


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turtles..."often exhibit comical behavior". ???

now that would be something...never seen a turtle laugh. but if i ever find a turtle telling a knock-knock joke, i'm gonna make some money!!!

mark

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1 is to many they create problems, willow trees cut if they are on or near damn or on the downflow side there roots cause problems leaks, dont remove small bass remove the larger thats 1 to 3 pounds that is the theory behind slot limits on state owned lakes. usually 12-15 inches have to be removed to let smaller grow and bigger survive. Check with your dnr about slot limits.

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there was a topic on this site before about how to construct turtle traps i think. if not, i've seen them for sale in various magazines and you could probably type "turtle traps" in your search engine. wonder if it is possible to sell them to pet stores if they are those kind that make good "pets". mark

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I would definitly look into selling turtles if I had them at densities arund 300/acre. Painted turtles make popular pets, check local legislation on how many you can keep. I wouldn't remove them all, if any. Alligators might be a diffrent story but I wouldn't worry about turtles eating a few minnows.

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and if you come across one with "comical behavior", let us know!!!

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If ever you kept a turtle and it gets used to being hand fed, they beg like fury at the first sign of their favourite food providers footsteps... In a pond where fish compete for tid bits, the turtles got to pose and perform for attention, they definitely learn to 'entertain'

On the other hand, when you fish a snapping turtle out of a pond and it's not accustomed to the undignified act of being parted with its favourite pond, it will entertain you with it's sense of homour by turning toward you and remorslessly chase you, chomping merrily at anything they can reach. They do grin and chuckle in between bites...

\:\)

Regards, andy
http://community.webshots.com/user/adavisus


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