Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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in ponds, of course. Turtle traps work best from my experience. These can either be funnel traps, basking traps, or hinge door traps. Just make sure the trap floats or at least the top stays above water. you dont want to check your trap after a big rain and find dead turtles inside. The first year I caught turtles, I bought a big dip net. I think I caught 3 that year. The first time I checked my first funnel trap, it was destroyed by the weight of the 13 turtles inside. My first funnel was made of 1/4 hardware cloth. Then I upgraded to 1/2 inch. Rabbit cage wire works much better, I started using 1/2x1 or 1x2 mesh. Lately ive been working on making a mostly plastic trap so it wont rust. Safety fencing can be bought at your local hardware store and its cheaper than metal, but needs to be supported so its harder to work with. From a research project I read a few years ago, Canned Creamed Corn was the top bait for catching a wide variety of turtles. Also, crayfish and fish are good baits. Ive caught a number of turtles in unbaited traps. Location of the trap is definitely a factor. Place the trap near turtle activity. If you dont know what a turtle trap looks like, or arent to handy with building stuff, try an online search for turtle traps. Also, a funnel trap is basically like a minnow trap with a larger, turtle shaped hole, and it basically works by making escape more difficult than entry.

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Please don't catch wild turtles. If you want a turtle go online and adopt one. There are many turtles out there that need homes and it's alot better than taking them out of their home in the wild.

Catching wild turtles for commercial purposes is harmful for native turtles. I dont think catching a wild turtle for home use is gonna put much of a strain on the wild population. In fact it would do many pet owners some good to learn about wild turtle habitat in person rather than just reading a book or from what the guy at the pet store tells you. Adopt a turtle online? Never heard of it. I hope you dont get the wrong idea from me. I catch and release hundreds of wild turtles every year. Occasionally I keep one or two for observation, and administer medical care to those who need it. Currently I do have 2 young turtles in my care. One baby painted turtle and a baby common snapping turtle. I caught them both wild by hand. The snapping turtle had a leech which I have removed. They are both well fed and cared for. Their chances of survival in the wild are very slim. Had I been a raccoon or bird, they would both be dead now.

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can u post a pic or direct me to a site with instructions on how to catch them (im pretty handy when it comes to making things).

Thanx for all of the help!!!!!

Adopt a turtle from turtle homes. They have or can get just about every species of turtle. They don't even charge a fee. They just ship them to your house via overnight airborne express. You only need to pay the shipping fee and sometimes you don't even need to pay that.

Wild populations are in sever decline. Don't help that cause.

You never heard of adopting a turtle online because you never looked. This is the first site that came up with Google when I typed in the symple words "adopt a turtle" http://www.bio.tamu.edu/users/heather/Adopt.htm
These turtles need homes. Why take a baby turtle out of the wild and ruin it's chances for reproducing when it's older when you can adopt a turtle that needs a home. Those turtles that you take out of the wild may be the only ones out of the whole batch taht end up surviving and continuing on to reproduce.

I dont know if you've ever been to that site, but all the 'rescues' with webpage links dont exist anyone, the only one that does is in a foriegn language. I doubt the others are in existance. I tried to adopt a turtle once and i had to submit ridiculous amounts of proof that i was able to care for the animal. When i did all this, i never even got a response. What a waste of time. Are you aware of the amount of stress that is placed on a turtle during shipping? The price of shipping a fish is nearly $30, do u really want to think of the price of shipping a turtle. Its nearly double. the turtles that you get from the pet store are raised on farms, so you arent taking from the wild. These farms do exist if you dont believe me, i've been to them. There's nearly 5 in an hours drive from my house. So pet store, turtle farm, or caught, its alot better than the hassel of trying to adopt a turtle. The people who run the agencies are zealots.

Well, while I respect that your accusations of zealotry may be founded in some cases I must tell you that you are grossly misinformed.
(1) there are at least a dozen places from which you can adopt a turtle (and they are desperately in need of adoptees as many many rescues are overcrowded)

(2) they do require varying amount of proof of your competence on turtle care. , I have had to submit photos of my enclosures showing uvb lights, thermometers etc....the point is there's no sense taking a turtle from someone who didn't care for it well ( which is after all, what most rescues do most of the time) only to give it to somebody else who won't care for it well.

(3)having worked in the pet trade i can tell you close to 80 percent of turtles sold are wild caught. Very few species are farmed successfully and most turtle farms sell mostly babies (it makes no sense to sell adults as they are the breeders) and most pet stores will not buy turtles under 4 inches. Most turtle farms turtles go to asia or europe for pets and food or to internet turtle dealers who get away with selling small turtle better than pet stores.

(4)The cost of shipping a turtle under 8 pounds via ariborne express is about 26 dollars for about 1000 miles. But it does depend upon distance and zip codes involved. (i just sent one this morning) Fish, by the way, come in large boxes which hold 20 - 400 depending upon size for about 12 dollars per box.

I do think there is a little fanatacism among some of the animal rescue and rehab people. And i also think that sometimes they make it difficult to find and complete the application process and this deters many people. so smetimes they shoot themselves in the foot. But i think you may not be able to imagine how many turtles are shot by teenageers, run over by cars, eaten (which i don't really object to), killed by draining of wetlands (do you live anywhere between Boston and Miami, East of the Appalachians? (not much space left for anybody, turtles included, it seems))or collected by turtle keepers like us.
Now the painted turtle population is probaly not in any danger (though dorsalis is declining in many places and this is reflected in the increasing prices asked for them (though they breed easily in captivity so it may not be a problem)) but this was once said of the spotted turtle.
70 years ago it was thought to be among the most abundant turtles in the country. Now they have been extirpated from entire counties and i know many a turtle hunter who has never seen one in the wild.
So think carefully before you judge either side of the collecting issue. And realize adopting IS a real and viable option, even if its not the easist one to engage.

I personally believe if everyone caught their own reptile, nothing would be in danger of extirpation. The problem is when one person catches one for 500 people, then you have a problem. But im not going to force that issue. Here in Kansas most reptiles are still in abundance. As for the danger of the little turtle that I caught being the one from the litter that might survive, well thats too bad. I caught him by hand, not a trap, and apparently he wasnt careful enough. But whether or not there will be sufficient turtles to reproduce I know the answer is a definite yes. The reason Ive had so much experience with trapping turtles, is I have trapped and tagged turtles at my sites for years. I know how many turtles are out there, I catch the same turtles over and over, and I know that catching one for a pet is not an issue with my turtles. My site is on a security patrolled and authorized access only Coal fired power plant. No one messes with my turtles except me.

well, it depends upon species and locations. BUt thera re about 6 billion humand on earth now. There are certain turtle populations whose wild numbers are thought to be fewer than 100, 000 in North america 9to say nothing of Asian and Soith American species which are in trouble and whose numbers are in soe cases far lower)
But trapping a fewed painted or snapper or slider won't hurt the populations. Of course iyts is always better to take hatchlings from the wild then adults sinc emost turtles are slow to reach sexual maturity. Pleasemake sure any turtle you return to the wild can fend for itself. If they are overly domesticated they may wait for food and approach humans and therefore become quite unfit.

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