Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We had two painted turtles in out 20x24' pond with lili pads, big peices of driftwood, rocks, and other water plants and now we only have one. They were about the same size as eachother except the one the left was a little smaller. Anyways we had them in our pond and all and one day the smaller one left and i found him in the woods walking around. The next day the same thing, and yet this morning he/she left again, but this time we couldn't find em. So now we have one painted in our pond and I am wondering why the otherone may have left?

what city/state are you in? How deep is your pond? What else is in your pond? How big are the turtles? How big are the front claws on the turtles?

*Stevens Point/Wisconsin
*depth of pond is 2'-6'
*Other animals in pond inclued 3 bass, 2 walleye, and 1 catfish
*Turtle size 5-7" long
*Claw size of turtles 1 1/2" approxamitly (however you spell that)

Sometimes when u don't have a fence they do that. I have a frog that jumps over the fence all the time and goes into this window hole where he can't get out. We took him from a yucky poluted stream and gave him a nice home 2. They just like to do that.

if the front claws on both look about the same and are about 1 1/2", it sounds like you have 2 males. Perhaps the big one intimidates the smaller one and hes looking for his own pond.

Like I said, this afternoon notch wasn't in the pond but later that day when my dad came home from work he was 8^)!!!!!

Even if your turtles are both males and it's a "this ponds not big enough for the both of us thing". Turtles will travel. I work near a series of small lakes and I've found snappers and diamondbacks a 100 yards and more away from any water. Just recently there's been a couple of posts with people finding Painteds in their yards and driveways. The one post said they were a 1/4 mile from the nearest water.
These guys can get around if they have a mind to.
If you want to keep your guy at home, you're going to have to fence him in.
Bob, Philadelphia.