OK, i know this cant be the first time this has been discussed but i cant find anything here when i do the searches (i know its the indian not the arrow).

none the less,

1. how does one judge what a healthy population of turtles in a pond is (i know they are benificial?

2. IF there actually are too many, what problems would that be causing?

Stony, TX

Turtles normally don't impact the population of healthy fish in a pond. I say normally because there is nothing that is 100% when it relates to ponds.

What species of turtle? As far as I know, the only turtle that targets live fish is the Alligator Snapping Turtle, and they aren't very common.

I saw a couple of small snappers crossing a road the other day. I was going to stop, pick them up, and place them on the side of the road they were going to but I would have been a sitting duck as there was a hill behind me. I just hate it when people run over them for the fun of it.

I thought the common snapper ate live fish too?

Any water turtle will eat a live fish, if the fish is slow or dumb enough to be eatin by a turtle it prolly deserved to die via natural selection

cabeus, they are the buzzards of the pond and act as the clean up crew. They are mostly vegetarians and enjoy fish feed. They benefit it but I have no idea what is too many. How big is the pond and how many turtles do you have.

i have two ponds, each about an acre 15'-17'deep
the turtles roam back and forth between the two but i would say i am in the 15-20 large adult range.

i'm not 100% exactly sure what kind they are, i'll try to "jump" one here soon and get a pic, my guess is that they are red ear, i just havent made an effort to id them.

They definitely are NOT snappers (even though i have seen huge ones in my area.)

thanks for the interest and input

CH

I'm pretty neutral about them. I have found that a Grandson with a 22 can make a pretty good dent in the population.

The problem with water turtles is that if'n you are a fisherman, the turtles steal your bate! I hate the bastages! A 1,000 fps, .177 caliber pellet gun will eliminate them, post haste!

I've never had one steal my bait and I can only think of a couple times where I've actually caught one on a pole.. Trot lines another story..

I've caught a crap load of turtles on stink bait and chicken livers. Turtles are so thick in my area though a log will have turtles sitting on turtles.

I do not see much harm in them either. But they do seem to take your bait, especially if you are catfishing.

I understand that turtles are probably too slow to catch healthy fish but, are they a threat to fish eggs during the spawning season - could this be a real feast for them ?

I'm considering thinning the turtles in my 5 acre pond. They do a number on the vegetation I try and establish, despite eating at the fish feeder twice a day.

I was postulating the minimum quantity of turtles needed to fulfill the buzzard role. Perhaps 1-1.5 per acre? I know the population would readjust to equilibrium at some point after I thinned them out but it might give my veg a chance to establish.

On that note, I'm not sure if they have any real predators once they get dinner plate size. Maybe I could get a 10' gator to keep them in check. I know the coons and possums keep the turtle nests in check.

Most aquatic turtles are Carnivores or omnivores but prefer meat over vegetation.. Might have a muskrat problem though

We have big soft shell turtles here in Georgia and they are fish hunting machines. They have a neck that is as long as their shell, and will lay in wait where I feed. As the bream come to feed they shoot that long neck out and and rarely miss. Their only redeemable quality is they taste reeeeal gooood.

red ear sliders in my pond... found one box turtle... ..caught on soft shell... ..but mostly red ear~....

I cut down a tree about 15' long and put it half in my pond. The turtles love to sit and sun on it. I use a .22 air powered pellet gun that doesn't let them limp off (it also doesn't let the neighbors know what's going on).

I do not care for them. I was told they eat grass shrimp and I paid too much money for my shrimp to be turtle food.

For the most part, I've never found turtles to be predators. They probably catch something every now and then but have a super low metabolism.

Dave:

A client has a 1/10th acre forage pond where there are FHM and Papershells in it. Last year there were lots of sliders (turtles) in it. The papershell population was virtually nil. This year we've worked on keeping the turtles out and when a minnow trap is put in deeper water, there will be 10 Papershells in it from a few hour soak.

I think keeping the turtles down helped the Papershell population. It didn't seem to make a difference with the FHM population.