Ok this is a long, yet interesting story about my day. Well to day I was home doing nothing and my younger brother, Owen (11), starts having a conversation with me and eventually asks me if I want to go fishing down at local farm. They have some animals for the kids by mainly its and orchard and its like in the middle of the city but its a quiet wooded suburban area so its nice place to go and not to far from where I live, I usually go herping down there as well. Well I though I'd be a good big brother and go fishing with him for awhile.
When we got down there, we went through the orchard, and got to the pond we set up and put out lines out and set up some minnow traps we had made out of coke bottles. Well after an hour into we have caught nothing but we knew there were fish because of all the jumping and splashing they were doing so it was very annoying. Then finally Owen got a bite and tried to real it in. You could tell there was something huge on the line but it wasn't fighting like a big fish plus this isn't a very big pond so I wasn't expecting any real big fish. Well eventually I grabbed the line with my hands and started pulling it in. As it started to get into the shallower water I could see the round shape come out of te murky depths. At this point I knew it was a turtle and I was thinking to myself "Oh great hes got a snapping turtle". But then as the turtle got closer it poked its head of of the water I could see its dead give away markings on its head. I jumped down into the water because I didn't want to loose it and I grabbed it an brought it up onto land. Sure enough it was a huge Red Eared Slider.
Now as a person who can name all the native reptiles of Massachusetts off the top of my head I knew Red Ears aren't a Native Species. I know there are some introduced populations in part of the state but this is the first time I have ever seen one in my city so I beilive this one was somebody's pet who just brought it down to the pond and realeased it. At the size she is she is definately a female(12" shell length), I have a size 13 shoe and shes as big as my shoe! Also I believe she is gravid becuase she has to large, ping pong ball shapes the are between her tail and back legs on both sides. I'm not completely sure on that(turtle experts help me out!) but the thing that scares me is if she is gravid that means there is likely atleast 1 more turtle in that pond. I'm afraid that if there are more Red Ears there that they could eventually spread to other larger ponds in my area where there are very large populatiuons of native turtle such as painteds, musks, snappers, and even a small population of spotted turtles(which are threatened in MA) and out compete them for food, basking, and nesting sites(especially the poor little spotteds). Any body have any thought of something I could do, like should I report this or something? I'd be really upset if they spread into other ponds and wiped out the native turtles.
After we caught her I cleaned off the leeches she had on her, took the hook out of her cheek (she never actually bit it but some how got it stuck in her cheek?), checked her over, took some pictures, and brought her home until I can figure out what to do with her. For now shes in a plastic kiddy pool with a lay box full of a sand coconut fiber mixture I made for nestin/basking spot, a lamp, and a chicken wire ramp thats held down with large rocks. It is kind of makeshift but its the best that I can do for now. Any help, info, or advise would be great! Thanks!
