Okay, I think it is a red-eared slider(not snapper) turtle. I googled some images, and I am pretty sure that is what kind of turtle it is. Vicki

When RESs are young, they eat plants and animals but when they become an adult, they are just vegetarians. Your 10" turtle sounds like an adult.

Happy ponding,
Scott

Thank you, Scott. I haven't noticed the turtle being aggressive toward the fish. He seems like a fairly easy-going fella. My gold fish are not tiny, about 3 to 4 inches long. I suppose they will get some larger, don't really know. Take care. Vicki

I sure wish a turtle would show up in my pond.. how fun to watch, and now that you have cleared some of the greenery you can see him more.
Darla

I have had a yellow bellied slider for 8 years. Kept him in an aquarium until just recently. He lived for several years with some small goldfish that grew quite large. Someone gave me two red-earred sliders, put them in the aquarium and they went on a feeding frenzy in the middle of the night. Woke up to dead half-eaten goldfish and a big mess. I got rid of them. Now my yellow bellied is in the pond with goldfish. He's happy. :)

I'm amazed that your turtles stay in the pond, we haven't ever had that happen....so..my husband built an above ground pond that they can't get out of
{{gwi:222029}}

That is so cool! I had one in my swimming pool a couple of months ago and had to get him/her out. That was interesting, chasing him around the swimming pool! He was about 10 or 12 inches and very sweet! I released him in a small stream nearby....now I wish I had kept him since we are building a pond.
I'm happy for you, I think you will enjoy him!

I tried growing waterlilies in the 1 acre pond behind our house, and the turtles ate all the waterlilies. I actually saw them munching on them, and they were red eared sliders. I have a baby soft shell turtle who showed up in my garden pond, but as soon as he misbehaves, out he goes!

I have a red eared slider as a pet. He is in our home in a 20 gallon tank. I wisk I had a pond to put him in so he'd have more freedom. Once my pond is built, I'll let him in it, but I'll still keep the tank indoors so I can have somewhere to put him for the most part. I'm afraid he'll run away or hurt himself getting out of the pond if I let him stay in there permanently. I've bought fish for him to eat and they because his little friends. He never bothered them. I've had my turtle for almost 2 years now. My SIL has one and he is extremely carnivorous so I guess it depends on the turtle. She put 20 feeder fish in there and boy was it a blood bath. She's been feeding him fish since she got him about 3 years ago so I think he developed a taste or habit of it. If your little guy hasn't messed with them, he probably is okay. We named our turtle Dunker. They love to sit and sunbathe if you have any flat rocks for him to climb on.

Darla, I have no idea where he came from. We have had a lot of rain so maybe he washed in or maybe he was someones pet. I really don't know. He is a lot of fun to watch.

Moonie, no dead fish yet. I am keeping my fingers crossed. As I said earlier, he really doesn't seem that interested in the fish.

Kalypsogirl, your above ground pond is very pretty. I don't know if this turtle will stay or not. He may decide to move on.

Computerklutz, I can just see you chasing that turtle around your pool. The one in my pond ducks out of sight as soon as I get too close!

flgargoyle, I am sorry about your waterlilies. My next door neighbor tried to get some lilies started in her pond, and her turtle continually ate them.

growingup, I am hoping my turtle will make friends with the little fishies, too. I saw him sunning on a rock by my pool today. I have several flat rocks around the perimeter of my pond.

Thank you all for your turtle experiences that you shared with me. I will just wait and see. Vicki

We have a 24'x 48' inground swimming pool that for a variety of reasons, we haven't used in the last 3 years--just kept a cover on it that now needs replacing. Anyway, water has accumulated on top of the cover and recently my husband took a picture of an honest to goodness snapping turtle sunning himself on the edge. His shell is a good 7-8" long. One thing is sure, when we do start to use that pool again, we will have a professional pool care company come out to do it! We have a great assortment (eyes rolling) of frogs in the pool that some nights will keep us awake. This morning, I saw a snake trying to catch one of the frogs. Yeah, we must do something about that pool. I'm thinking of a big water garden. Right now, it's only benefit is that it's 43,000 gallons of water for fire suppression--which I hope we'll never need.

Mogardener,if you do decide to make a water garden that would be quite a big one. You could have a wide assortment of plants and fish in it. I know what you mean about noisy frogs. I used to have one that kept me awake with his loud croaking. Vicki