Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Three turtles have taken up residence in our fish pond. This is the largest one, in the front corner of our pond, near the plants - his (her ?) shell is about 8" long.

Here's another turtle at the base of the waterfall, climbing on the rocks.

Does anyone know what kind of turtles these are?

That's amazing, turtles finding your pond. I didn't realize there were turtles just "wandering" around looking for ponds! LOL They are big, aren't they. I'm clueless about the type, though someone will know, I'm sure.
Norma

Well ,Im no authority on turtles, the only kind I know are the garden variety box turtles, which these could be. Of course one way to find out if they are snappers is to stick a finger in front of their nose and who can blame them for moving in to such a wonderful spot.....Shorty

Three toed box turtle

the one whose head i can see is definitely a three toed box turtle.

They are box tuttles and you should consider your self lucky. They are great turtles that just found a great spot to cool off.They eat incects and vegtables just reserch three toed box turtles. ps where do you live? scott

We live in a somewhat rural area (where else could you build an 11' x 22' pond, LOL!), southwest of St Louis, Missouri. We're near an almost outer-outer suburb of St Louis County - near enough to have access to the stores, etc, but far enough to have a 4-acre property, including about 1.5 acres of lawn. Of course, since my DH started building ponds and waterfalls, we have less "lawn" than we used to! (See our current pond projects on the Pondscaping board and pictures of our Koi on the Koi forum.)

Marilyn

:>

no way it's a 3-toed they almost never get 8".. maybe a gulf coast

yes...the first picture is definately a 3-toed box turtle. The one climbing the waterfall resembles a box turtle in shape as well.
-Mike

Where do you live?

Since we're in central eastern Missouri (a bit southwest of St Louis), I sort of doubt it's a Gulf Coast box turtle, so I guess it must be a three-toed box turtle. Maybe this one "bulked up", LOL!