Do you know anyone with a large net you could drag across the pond? You might call the local humane society.

Call your animal control officer serving your county....they may be able to help or at least have some information on how to get the turtle out.

Yeah, what a about a pool net? Do you know anyone with a swimming pool?

How big is it? Can you get a picture of it and post it here? It would help to know what kind of turtle it is. I'm guessing it's a snapping turtle and if that is the case, you need to be careful. I believe that snappers eat fish. We have lots of snappers in the lakes around here that's why I would assume they eat fish. We find the mud turtles all over the place and not always by a big body of water. I love turtles but I can understand why you wouldn't want in your pond.

It may have just came to your pond on its own. I know one did to our pond. We caught it and took it back to our small creek. Two days later it was back. This time we took it to a creek farther away. Yes, they eat fish. I hate snakes in the pond worse. Harder to catch. I have also had to catch bullfrogs. Hope you get your critter caught.

Sue

Black is snapper ,rough shell,ugly as hecklong toenails,painted turtles are black w/orange bellys,they have stripes on face neck like a florescent green they dont bite ,doubt its a box,watch if its a snapper even tiny ones bite,

How about string with a fish hook and worm on the end of it....I caught a large turtle that way once.

patti

good luck

Why do you think somebody put the turtle there? Did they tell you they found it on the road?

I have a little pond with fish we put there; all kinds of animals - raccoons, deer, turtles, frogs, toads, birds, feral cats, and once we saw a coyote drinking! - come to visit. We live on an ordinary lot that backs up to a small woods in a midwest suburb. Yes, sometimes they eat the fish, sometimes they knock over the plants, sometimes they knock the rocks into the pond, but we enjoy it immensely.

I think your turtle will wander away all by itself for the winter. It is probably native to your area and knows how to survive.

My pond is nowhere near as big as yours, yet the fish usually survive the winter under the ice. I have no idea how they do it, as we do not heat or filter the water. I love having this little pond.

I love turtles but I love my ponds more, so I would be upset too, although my koi are two feet long and I don't think any turtle could eat them. I'd suggest a very large net to slowly skim the pond bottom.

Thanks for all the input. We have a large net but have not been able to catch it so far, they really are pretty quick and have extremely good eyesight/hearing!! I know it is native to our province and was put in the pond because the girl told me after she did it....she found it on a road and thought I would like it.
My koi aren't very large yet, they are all new just this year and they winter over under the ice. I just don't think a turtle could because it can't bury itself to hibernate. If it dies through the winter it will rot and the gases will build up under the ice and kill all the fish. That is was typically kills pond fish, not the ice but the gases. I've had ponds for 20+ yrs.
The design of the pond makes it hard for it to even get out, there is only one area that it can climb out. I designed it with straight down sides so raccoons etc. would have a hard time "fishing". It has figured out an area to get in and out easily by using the filter pipe.
I don't wish any harm to the turtle, I also don't know what kind it is. It does have a striped neck and son said it has red marks on it. The shell is very dark. It is about the size of a football.
It is not showing any signs of leaving so far :( I used to have a pet tortoise so I do know how nasty a bite can be. Their jaws can be razor sharp.
They are calling for rain all week so it probably won't even try to come out for sunning...at least then I may have a chance.

This is Turk. He was the size of a quarter when we got him and larger than a saucer when he managed to escape the pond. He spent the first 8 years in an aquarium in the house, then as he was getting bigger, we built a small 350 gallon pond for him. The pond was meant to be built in a way he could not escape. Along comes a big rain storm, water level rose, he easily escapes. That's been 2 years and we still look for him.

Turk is a yellow belly slider. He was always easy to catch with our hands. He didn't eat the goldfish, but we were given 2 red ear sliders. They went on a feeding frenzy in the middle of the night after not having bothered the fish in weeks.

Yeah, you definitely need to get that turtle out.

What size is your pond? I'd just keep at it with the net until you get the little booger!

Turk

Turtles are great pets when they have their own home...not my pond with the koi! But this one is not anyones pet, it is a wild turtle...we have 3 kinds here in New Brunswick, box turtles, painted turtles and snapping turtles. They almost ran over it with the car, stopped and picked it up and brought it here.
We have two ponds a small 8' X 10' 2.5' deep one and a large 18' X 14" 5-6' deep pond. The girl put him in the smaller pond but he made his way to the larger one. With the large pond there is no way of trying to get a net down into the middle to get him.
I will keep trying...been reading about making a bucket trap that I might try.

It's not a box turtle. :0) You can make a trap for it. A floating island....about 2' x 2' with 6" metal tubular sides. That way the turtle can climb into the floating island, but can't climb out. Use some hamburger meat as bait. Turtles can't digest meat fat, but they love the smell and they will eat it.

(My dad made a turtle trap when I was little. It worked really well)

Moonie - that is sad about your Turk!! Maybe someday he will reappear!! We had an indoor cat that got out on moving day about 10 years ago.....we still "look".....

Ditto what nicole said...it's not a box turtle. If it basks, it is probably a slider. They have stripes on their heads, and some have red markings on their heads. Snapping turtles do not bask and seldom leave the pond. I doubt anyone who isn't very familar with turtles could have just picked up a snapping turtle and put it in the pond.

I hope you catch it and take it somewhere to a natural pond and release it.

juelli - Yes, it's a terrible feeling to keep looking year after year in vane, isn't it? Are you in the same house now?

I think I posted here after we lost Turk. The thing is, our entire property is fenced so we really expected to find him, especially in the spring. Never happened. We didn't think he would dig out under the fence but figured he would just keep walking along looking for a way out rather than dig. DH climbed into the crawlspace of the house thinking he might have gotten under there. We pulled the floor out in an older shed. The whole backyard was turned upside down.

That pond was never a good idea. It was during his second summer out there that he got away. He overwintered in the house. I hope he didn't starve or freeze. :(

Just a little more info on the slider thing.... some sliders have only yellow markings. And I believe in the painted family, that very young ones do not have the red markings on their lower neck like adults. But they should have the red markings on the legs and bridge of the top shell.

In the meantime, can you use a net to catch your koi and maybe keep them safe in a kiddie pool with a screen on top until the turtle can be captured?

we have a heater for our fish, and a sometime visiting frog..but after the heron discovered our fish (twice!), we built a structure over them. as an added precaution, dh now has wire, too, lol...they're his babies, lol...we start with cheapie goldfish, so not as expensive as your koi! dh does have a pool strainer, with a telescoping handle...

maybe if you baited outside the pond, mr turtle might be coaxed out and away?

When we first bought our house, we built a little fishpond. We had seaweeds, goldfish and small tutrles. The turtles ate the goldfish and the birds (crows, etc) came and ate the turtles. An experiment in ecology gone wrong. Everything died. I filled in the space and moved on.

jannie, no offense, but your post made me laugh out loud. Talk about good ideas gone awry!!! Sorry for your loss. Looks like you took the lesson and moved on.

Hahaha...I have to agree with murraysmom, Jannie!! I burst out laughing also. 20+ yrs ago when I first put in the original little pond we had an extremely similar event happen...but I kept at it and now have the two ponds.
Love your take on it all though!!
No sign of him today so far but it is pouring rain out. Keeping my fingers crossed that he may have moved on??

That trap that Nicole suggests sounds promising. I'm wondering if you could put some heavy boards in, sticking out, to help him get out or if the pond is shaped that you could put a few planks across to help. Try putting some of that hamburger out to lure him. Since you do say there is one place he can get out at maybe try putting the hamburger a foot or so from there, and leading away...lol.

Good luck. Btw, I don't think he'd necessarily have to dig in any mud to overwinter, but..for your koi's sake let's hope you get in out soon.

You could try a have-a-heart trap baited with something turtles like to eat. We've used it to catch a couple of unwanted armadillos. We released them near the river and they dove in and swam across to the next county. No more worries and I had no idea that they could swim.

Tammy

Just be advised that most water turtles can not swallow outside of water. He may grab that hamburger and head straight back to the water.

Since you haven't seen him, maybe he has moved on. I wouldn't count on it, though.

I could never have a pond here. To many snakes, cats and other critters.

we have a wire trap to catch snappers they love my baby swans.my turtles are 12' to we had a 2'snapper.The cage is retangle he walks in over a spring legde,ledge to get rotten chicken you tie on the back of cage he goes the door shuts.we take them miles away,we got one now in farm pond.nao to like a sporting goods store.or like somone said remove fish he'll leave.

I wonder if those of you that have made these traps could post a photo of them? I am looking at making a bucket type one outside the pond. You dig a hole, put the bucket in, cover the bucket with a material and put bait on it. When the turtle tries to get to the bait it falls in the bucket. Kind of makes sense to me but he is in the pond 98% of the time! I am going to use meat and berries as the bait.
I'd like to see what kind of traps etc. you guys are thinking about.
Thanks.
Bulldinkie...how lucky you are to have swans! They are so beautiful.