Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Types of fish to choose Adding Turtles

So, the wife really likes turtles and wants to see if I can add any to the pond. The pond is over a year old and all I have seen is 2 snapping turtles, which I am on the fence about letting stay in the pond. She wants more of the native painted turtle or yellow belly turtles. I have not seen any and wondering if stocking a few would be a bad idea? I tried searching on this topic on the forum and couldn't find anything.
Appreciate your thoughts, thank you.

Welcome to Pond Boss!!!

I think your question is a new one for the forum.

Many of believe that if you dig a pond, turtles will show up. I assume that your two snapping turtles just showed up on their own.

I can't see how stocking some turtles would be a bad idea.

Depending on how far away another BOW is, the painted turtles might show up on their own, Where in Indiana are you?

North of Indianapolis in Boone County.

Be aware that if the food buffet is not adequate and the snapping turtles are present when you add other turtle species there may be competition and territorial issues between the larger and smaller types of turtles. Proper food amount and acceptable habitat need to be present for the introduced turtles to say as residents in the pond. IMO I would remove the snapping turtles before adding the painted or yellow belly types. There could be competition with the bully winning the residence issue.

Thanks, I have not seen the snapping turtles for a few months now. But, when I do I will remove them.

Interesting. Explains why I haven't seen any painted turtles recently.

My policy has evolved tremendously since subscribing. The big snappers hit the road or the lead may hit them. The Red eared, yellow belly , and painted are welcome . Had a nice hatch this year of Red eared sliders . The little turtles don't eat much floating Optimal BG , and the big CC will thin them .

I guess my appreciation for snapping turtles is shared only by other people who also keep bird feeders in their back yard in order to watch Cooper's Hawks eat song birds.

Cody Note: Actually the snapping turtles eat more sick, dying and dead fish than live healthy fish. The Cooper's Hawk / song bird thing comparing it to turtles in reality is more like watching turkey buzzards eat carrion.

The Turtle Guardian website describes them as the “turkey-vultures of the lake.” Snapping turtles keep ponds clean by eating carrion. They also eat fish, frogs, snakes — and birds. And probably those that do get eaten are the slow, injured or ones lagging behind and the snapping turtle is helping promote the healthy gene pool by reducing the number of weakest individuals. This could be considered a way of helping the pond.
Reptile expert and iguana specialist Wendy Townsend said. “It’s really about: Can they catch it?” Most carnivores, she said, won’t expend the energy chasing something they can’t catch. “They’ll eat fish that are wounded ¬— creatures that are slow, injured or lagging behind — if they notice they have a different way of swimming, for instance.”
David Carroll in his book, “The Year of the Turtle.” They’ll eat whatever they can get hold of, he said, but “only very rarely capture waterfowl or game fish, contrary to frequent reports.” And, he reminded me: Ducks co-evolved with snapping turtles, and both are still here.
From https://pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/the-common-snapping-turtle/

Theo , ours was a family of Road Runners , they would lay in wait in some deeper , thicker grass , when the ground birds were busy , it was a brown flash into the ground feeders , an ez trot back to the deeper grass and feathers flew as they plucked the ground bird. It became quite the source of entertainment for I and my wife, Very similar to feeding my forage fishes , and a predator slashing through them. Great entertainment.

Turtles? Lusk said, a long time ago: Anytime a turtle catches a fish; the fish deserved it.

When the spring rains got our creek running again, I had one deep hole where I would always sneak up and check the fish population.

I turns out that it also supported three large turtles (about dinner-plate size). It held a snapping turtle, a red-ear slider, and a soft shell. I saw the same three turtles all (apparently) peacefully co-existing for at least a month.

We didn't get much rain in the summer and when my water flow rate got too low, the algal bloom became so dense that I could no longer observe my turtles or fish.