Other Turtle Discussion :: Do Turtles need or want Friends?

[unclejoe]

I have been debating whether to get Philbert (Midland Painted Hatchling) a friend or not.

What is the consensus of more experienced turtle owners. Do turtles like or need a friend? will he be happy by himself? If a friend is a good idea,, should I get one now while he is really young or wait till he is a bit older?

I know in the wild, that turtles of different species appeared to get along really well,, on the other hand it also appeared that only one male yellow bellied slider ruled the pond.. If any other males even of different species showed up in the pond, Ie soft shells RES or other Yellow bellied sliders didn't last more then a couple days in the pond and they were gone. I worry if I get Philbert a friend and he ends up male and the newbie we get ends up male that they won't get along when they are sexually mature.

what is everyone's thoughts on this??

[steve]

Mainly it's best to keep alone unless you are prepared (and have the resources) to separate. I'm not sure what was going on in that pond, I would hope there was enough room for all of them.

[Kansasslider]

There is always a risk they won't get along. So far mine do get along but I'm ready if they don't.

[unclejoe]

Oh I believe the ponds were big enough, they could come and go as they wanted.. and most of our 14 turtles that came to feeding through the summer, hung out in the pond that was in our backyard.




This was the other end of it with the bridge going over the middle of it..



Some of them at Feeding time. The only time we ever saw any aggression at feeding time was the bigger female soft shells would snap at the younger ones.. Other then that no one bothered
anyone else, after four years of getting them used to it they would literally stand in line and take turns coming up the bank to our chairs for food..



I have a picture of all the sliders sun bathing on the bank but I have to locate it.
Here it is, I thought we had a couple RES in the pic too but not this one, this pic was taken in 2011 cause Franklin was only with us season one, after that we never saw him again.

[steve]

The ponds connected? It looks like such a great place for them to live.

[unclejoe]

Yes it was one big pond most of the time, unless we went through a real dry spell then the water under the bridge dried up as the water levels fell. Not that it bothered the turtles since they could just walk across land to get where they wanted.. This Pond was about 2 acres in size all together, we also had a pond across the field in front of our house that was at least 4 acres and as I mentioned in other posts a depression behind our house that filled with water in Rainy season to about 2 ' deep and it was probably half acre in size. Momma and Sheldon spent whole summers in this shallow pond until it dried up to a puddle. They had a lot of choices within a few hundred feet depending on what their needs were.. We often saw turtles on the move in the early mornings. We only ever saw 2 hatchlings in the four years we lived there. The yellow bellied especially liked to be in groups, was very seldom you ever saw just one. Surprising enough We had 3 huge female Soft Shells in that pond and you could see them floating near each other as well.. But they were aggressive to each other when it came to food..lol It was a turtles haven to live there other then this pond got sprayed for plant growth, We think its one of the reasons the turtles moved to the other ponds for a few weeks at a time to get their greens..

[unclejoe]

Pond behind the house when it was full,



Same Pond all dried up:



Large Pond we called the Lake. This was the only pond we ever saw gators in.. Twice in the four yrs being there a gator was sited in it.

[unclejoe]

So the turtles had a lot of choices in habitats depending on their moods, but pretty much from March to December we had the regulars at the pond in front of our house.. The first pic with the bridge in it. One or two would disappear for a week or so then be back.. but around mid December they would all leave for at least 8 weeks. I know they didn't hibernate in Florida but maybe they just slowed down and didn't eat. We sure missed them those couple of months when they were all gone.. lol

[steve]

Very interesting observations Joe. I'd also wonder where those turtles were going all those times. Also kind of cool that they had their own turtle "friends"

[devilduck]

That lake is the ideal turtle tank

[unclejoe]

Yep and it was very easy to maintain.. Eco Friendly